New clues on the role supermassive black holes play in galactic star formation

In a recent paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.5269), Dr Asa Bluck (University of Victoria) and his team studied the relationship between star formation and galaxy attributes. Dr Bluck examined over half a million local Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxies and determined that bulge mass (a region of snugly nestled stars within a larger arrangement) is most closely tied to the cessation of star formation. The close relationship between bulge mass and central supermassive black hole mass suggests that some form of AGN (active galactic nucleus) feedback may be responsible for the quenching of star formation.

This work has been highlighted by the RAS.