What internal mechanism related to a central supermassive black hole can prevent cold gas from forming stars?
Answer
Feedback from an active galactic nucleus (AGN) heating the surrounding gas.
AGN feedback involves jets or winds from the central black hole heating the reservoir of cold gas, preventing it from cooling enough to collapse into the molecular clouds necessary for star ignition.
Related Questions
What physical characteristic generally makes a galaxy appear predominantly red?Historically, what did the term "red galaxy" often serve as shorthand for?What is the classic archetype associated with a massive, quiescent red galaxy?What internal mechanism related to a central supermassive black hole can prevent cold gas from forming stars?What is unique about Red Nugget Galaxies observed in the early universe?What major shift has modern observation, particularly involving JWST, introduced regarding the definition of red galaxies?Finding red objects that maintain a spiral structure suggests what about their quenching process?What does the diversity in morphology (elliptical vs. spiral) among red galaxies suggest about their evolutionary paths?Besides AGN heating, what is another mechanism mentioned that can lead a galaxy to lose its star-forming gas supply?What does the *degree* of redness, measured via color indices, primarily indicate about a galaxy's history?