Gas mass fractions and star formation in blue-sequence E/S0 galaxies

Abstract

Recent work has identified a population of low-redshift E/S0 galaxies that lie on the blue sequence in color versus stellar mass parameter space, where spiral galaxies typically reside. While high-mass blue-sequence E/S0s often resemble young merger or interaction remnants likely to fade to the red sequence, we focus on blue-sequence E/S0s with lower stellar masses (M * 1.0, demonstrating that morphological transformation is possible if the detected gas can be converted into stars. These gas-to-stellar mass ratios are comparable to those of spiral and irregular galaxies and have a similar dependence on stellar mass. Assuming that the H I is accessible for star formation, we find that many of our blue-sequence E/S0s can increase in stellar mass by 10%-60% in 3 Gyr in both of two limiting scenarios, exponentially declining star formation (i.e., closed box) and constant star formation (i.e., allowing gas infall). In a constant star formation scenario, about half of the blue-sequence E/S0s require fresh gas infall on a timescale of ≲3 Gyr to avoid exhausting their atomic gas reservoirs and evolving to the red sequence. We present evidence that star formation in these galaxies is bursty and likely involves externally triggered gas inflows. Our analysis suggests that most blue-sequence E/S0s are indeed capable of substantial stellar disk growth on relatively short timescales. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society.