Reigniting the FUSE I: Star Formation in Massive Elliptical Galaxies
Abstract
In this inaugural paper of our "Reigniting the FUSE" series, we present the data collection & reduction, methodology, and preliminary results for a comprehensive and homogeneous reanalysis of all 30 massive elliptical galaxies that have archival far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectra with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). We perform SED fitting to these spectra, with aperture-matched photometry from GALEX, SDSS, DES/DECaLS, 2MASS, and WISE, and construct a catalogue of high quality constraints on their stellar masses, star formation histories, stellar and gas-phase metallicities, and dust opacities. As a part of this analysis, we have also compiled a comprehensive modern set of stellar template libraries, with high resolution in the FUV, and broad coverage from 90 mathringA - 1000 μm at lower resolution, which is made available through modified versions of FSPS and Python FSPS. We find strong evidence to suggest that the youngest stars in these systems do not form out of recycled gas from the old stellar populations, but instead are fueled either by gas cooling out of the hot circumgalactic/intracluster medium, or cool gas stripped from nearby or merging dwarf systems. Future papers in this series will reexamine the O VI λλ1032,1038 mathringA emission in the context of the cooling flow problem.
Related
- Reigniting the FUSE II: O VI Emission in Massive Elliptical Galaxies
- O VI Emission in Starbursting BCGs: An HST-COS Extension of "Reigniting the FUSE"
- The MAGE Project: Size Evolution and Disk Formation in Massive Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn
- How Quickly Did the Giants Form? Constraining the Formation Timescales of Massive Quiescent Galaxies at Cosmic Noon Using Chemical Evolution Modelling
- DeepDive: Simultaneous Formation of Massive Quiescent Galaxies in High-redshift Galaxy Overdensities
BibTeX
@misc{reefe2026reigniting,
title = {{Reigniting the FUSE I: Star Formation in Massive Elliptical Galaxies}},
author = {Michael Reefe and Michael McDonald and Eric Miller and Thomas Brown},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.05675},
eprint = {2609.05675},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.05675},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Reigniting the FUSE I: Star Formation in Massive Elliptical Galaxies
AU - Michael Reefe
AU - Michael McDonald
AU - Eric Miller
AU - Thomas Brown
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/04
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.05675
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.05675
AB - In this inaugural paper of our "Reigniting the FUSE" series, we present the data collection & reduction, methodology, and preliminary results for a comprehensive and homogeneous reanalysis of all 30 massive elliptical galaxies that have archival far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectra with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). We perform SED fitting to these spectra, with aperture-matched photometry from GALEX, SDSS, DES/DECaLS, 2MASS, and WISE, and construct a catalogue of high quality constraints on their stellar masses, star formation histories, stellar and gas-phase metallicities, and dust opacities. As a part of this analysis, we have also compiled a comprehensive modern set of stellar template libraries, with high resolution in the FUV, and broad coverage from 90 mathringA - 1000 μm at lower resolution, which is made available through modified versions of FSPS and Python FSPS. We find strong evidence to suggest that the youngest stars in these systems do not form out of recycled gas from the old stellar populations, but instead are fueled either by gas cooling out of the hot circumgalactic/intracluster medium, or cool gas stripped from nearby or merging dwarf systems. Future papers in this series will reexamine the O VI λλ1032,1038 mathringA emission in the context of the cooling flow problem.
ER -