Finding Turbulence within E+A Galaxies that Could Govern Star Formation

This research studies “E+A galaxies” in the international SDSS-MaNGA galaxy survey, which has so far obtained data for 5,000 nearby galaxies over 3 years. These galaxies are in the “green valley” of the galaxy color- magnitude diagram, and optical spectra that have (1) strong hydrogen- Balmer absorption lines, (2) little or no [OII] emission, and (3) a strong D4000 break. All of these qualities indicate that these galaxies have unusually large stellar populations intermediate age. So far, 39 E+A galaxies have been found. This research will have two primary objectives: <i> to study E+A galaxies identified near the Coma Berenices cluster of galaxies to see how the galaxies’ surrounding environments affect their star formation histories, and <ii> to examine the distribution of interstellar molecular gas within the galaxies’ centers, to see signs of active galactic nuclei and turbulence that could turn star formation on or off in these very interesting objects.