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Title:
Conduction and the Star Formation Threshold in Brightest Cluster Galaxies
Authors:
Voit, G. M.; Cavagnolo, K. W.; Donahue, M.; Rafferty, D. A.; McNamara, B. R.; Nulsen, P. E. J.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824; , , .), AB(Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824; , , .), AC(Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824; , , .), AD(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802; .), AE(Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline Street N, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5, Canada.; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 01238.), AF(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 01238.)
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 681, Issue 1, pp. L5-L8. (ApJL Homepage)
Publication Date:
07/2008
Origin:
UCP
ApJ Keywords:
Galaxies: Cooling Flows, Galaxies: Clusters: General, Galaxies: Elliptical and Lenticular, cD, X-Rays: Galaxies: Clusters
DOI:
10.1086/590344
Bibliographic Code:
2008ApJ...681L...5V

Abstract

Current models of galaxy evolution suggest that feedback from active galactic nuclei is needed to explain the high-luminosity cutoff in the galaxy luminosity function. Exactly how an AGN outflow couples with the ambient medium and suppresses star formation remains poorly understood. However, we have recently uncovered an important clue to how that coupling might work. Observations of Hα emission and blue light from the universe's most luminous galaxies, which occupy the centers of galaxy clusters, show that star formation happens only if the minimum specific entropy of the intracluster gas is <~30 keV cm2. Here we suggest that this threshold for star formation is set by the physics of electron thermal conduction, implying that conduction is critical for channeling AGN energy input toward incipient star-forming regions and limiting the progress of star formation.
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