Which phenomenon can accelerate the transition to a gas-starved elliptical in dense environments?
Answer
Ram-pressure stripping as a galaxy moves through the intracluster medium
While mergers set the stage for the initial structure of large ellipticals, environmental effects are critical for maintaining their gas-starved state, especially in dense regions like the Virgo Cluster. Ram-pressure stripping occurs when a galaxy moves rapidly through the hot, diffuse gas (intracluster medium) filling the cluster space. This motion creates a drag force that efficiently strips away the galaxy's cooler, loosely bound interstellar gas reservoirs, starving it of the fuel required for future star formation more effectively than the initial merger event alone might achieve.
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