Evolution Through the Post-Starburst Phase: Using Post-Starburst Galaxies as Laboratories for Understanding the Processes that Drive Galaxy Evolution

Abstract

Post-starburst (or "E+A") galaxies trace the fastest and most dramatic processes in galaxy evolution. Recent work studying the evolution of galaxies through this phase have revealed insights on how galaxies undergo structural and stellar population changes as well as the role of various feedback mechanisms. In this review, I summarize recent work on identifying post-starburst galaxies; tracing the role of this phase through cosmic time; measuring stellar populations, on-going star formation, morphologies, kinematics, interstellar medium properties, and AGN activity; mechanisms to cause the recent starburst and its end; and the future evolution to quiescence (or not). The review concludes with a list of open questions and exciting possibilities for future facilities.

arXiv comment23 pages, 4 figures, Invited review for PASP, Accepted for publication in PASP

References in corpus (197)

• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
• The Global Schmidt Law in Star Forming Galaxies
• Starburst99: Synthesis Models for Galaxies with Active Star Formation
• The Host Galaxies of AGN
• Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Main Galaxy Sample
• A Unified, Merger-Driven Model for the Origin of Starbursts, Quasars, the Cosmic X-Ray Background, Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Spheroids
• Galaxy Bimodality due to Cold Flows and Shock Heating
• Overview of the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey: Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory
• Galactic Winds
• 3D-HST+CANDELS: The Evolution of the Galaxy Size-Mass Distribution since $z=3$
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling III: model calibration, comparison, and evaluation
• The Star Formation Rate and Dense Molecular Gas in Galaxies
• Differential Galaxy Evolution in Cluster and Field Galaxies at z=0.3
• Modeling the Panchromatic Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies
• Massive Molecular Outflows and Evidence for AGN Feedback from CO Observations
• Environmental Effects on Late-Type Galaxies in Nearby Clusters
• Mid-Infrared Selection of AGN with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. I. Characterizing WISE-Selected AGN in COSMOS
• The SAURON project -- IX. A kinematic classification for early-type galaxies
• The Centers of Early-Type Galaxies with HST. IV. Central Parameter Relations
• The ATLAS3D project - III. A census of the stellar angular momentum within the effective radius of early-type galaxies: unveiling the distribution of Fast and Slow Rotators
• A comprehensive classification of galaxies in the SDSS: How to tell true from fake AGN?
• Quasar feedback revealed by giant molecular outflows
• Compaction and Quenching of High-z Galaxies in Cosmological Simulations: Blue and Red Nuggets
• Stellar Feedback in Galaxies and the Origin of Galaxy-scale Winds
• A Spectroscopic Catalog of 10 Distant Rich Clusters of Galaxies
• The Las Campanas Redshift Survey
• The Properties of Poor Groups of Galaxies: I. Spectroscopic Survey and Results
• A Continuum of H- to He-Rich Tidal Disruption Candidates With a Preference for E+A Galaxies
• Statistical Properties of Collisionless Equal- and Unequal-Mass Merger Remnants of Disk Galaxies
• Galaxy Merger Morphologies and Time-Scales from Simulations of Equal-Mass Gas-Rich Disc Mergers
• The Atlas3D project -- IV: the molecular gas content of early-type galaxies
• The Environment of ``E+A'' Galaxies
• SDSS IV MaNGA - Spatially resolved diagnostic diagrams: A proof that many galaxies are LIERs
• The Discovery of 1000 km/s Outflows in Massive Post-starburst Galaxies at z=0.6
• The ATLAS${}^{3D}$ project - XXV: Two-dimensional kinematic analysis of simulated galaxies and the cosmological origin of fast and slow rotators
• Discovery of an AGN-Driven Molecular Outflow in the Local Early-Type Galaxy NGC 1266
• On the Origin of [OII] Emission in Red Sequence and Post-starburst Galaxies
• Sub-millimeter galaxies as progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies
• The Starburst-Driven Molecular Wind in NGC 253 and the Suppression of Star Formation
• Galaxy Zoo : 'Hanny's Voorwerp', a quasar light echo?
• Star Formation in Galaxy Mergers with Realistic Models of Stellar Feedback & the Interstellar Medium
• The Nature of LINER-like Emission in Red Galaxies
• Fast and inefficient star formation due to short-lived molecular clouds and rapid feedback
• Dissipation and Extra Light in Galactic Nuclei: II. 'Cusp' Ellipticals
• Timing the starburst-AGN connection
• A Large Population of Massive Compact Post-Starburst Galaxies at z>1: Implications for the Size Evolution and Quenching Mechanism of Quiescent Galaxies
• MOSFIRE Spectroscopy of Quiescent Galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5. II - Star Formation Histories and Galaxy Quenching
• Tidal Disruption Events Prefer Unusual Host Galaxies
• Star formation and AGN activity in SDSS cluster galaxies
• Optical Spectral Signatures of Dusty Starburst Galaxies
• Marvin: A Toolkit for Streamlined Access and Visualization of the SDSS-IV MaNGA Data Set
• Post-starburst galaxies: more than just an interesting curiosity
• The Nature of Starbursts: I. The Star Formation Histories of Eighteen Nearby Starburst Dwarf Galaxies
• Bursty stellar populations and obscured AGN in galaxy bulges
• Selection and photometric properties of K+A galaxies
• 266 E+A Galaxies Selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 2: The Origin of E+A Galaxies
• Breathing in Low Mass Galaxies: A Study of Episodic Star Formation
• Shape asymmetry: a morphological indicator for automatic detection of galaxies in the post-coalescence merger stages
• The Galaxy Zoo survey for giant AGN-ionized clouds: past and present black-hole accretion events
• The Hidden Mass and Large Spatial Extent of a Poststarburst Galaxy Outflow
• The Phase Space and Stellar Populations of Cluster Galaxies at z ~ 1: Simultaneous Constraints on the Location and Timescale of Satellite Quenching
• The environments of starburst and post-starburst galaxies at z=0.4-0.8
• The evolution of post-starburst galaxies from z=2 to z= 0.5
• The Spectral Energy Distribution of Post-Starburst Galaxies in the NEWFIRM Medium-Band Survey: A Low Contribution from TP-AGB Stars
• The Detailed Evolution of E+A Galaxies into Early Types
• The UV properties of E+A galaxies: constraints on feedback-driven quenching of star formation
• The total infrared luminosity may significantly overestimate the star formation rate of recently quenched galaxies
• Hdelta-Selected Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey I: The Catalog
• The Andromeda galaxy's most important merger about 2 billion years ago as M32's likely progenitor
• The weirdest SDSS galaxies: results from an outlier detection algorithm
• The Host Galaxies of Tidal Disruption Events
• Discovery of Large Molecular Gas Reservoirs in Post-Starburst Galaxies
• Enhanced Dense Gas Fraction in Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies
• Suppression of Star Formation in NGC 1266
• Galaxy Mergers Drive Shocks: an Integral Field Study of GOALS galaxies
• Hubble Space Telescope Near-infrared and Optical Imaging of Faint Radio Sources in the Distant Cluster Cl0939+4713
• K+A Galaxies as the Aftermath of Gas-Rich Mergers: Simulating the Evolution of Galaxies as Seen by Spectroscopic Surveys
• The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: the local E+A galaxy population
• How to quench a galaxy
• E+A Galaxies and the Formation of Early Type Galaxies at z~0
• The IMACS Cluster Building Survey: II. Spectral Evolution of Galaxies in the Epoch of Cluster Assembly
• The ATLAS3D project - XXII. Low-efficiency star formation in early-type galaxies: hydrodynamic models and observations
• Tidal Disruption Event Host Galaxies in the Context of the Local Galaxy Population
• From Starburst to Quiescence: Testing AGN feedback in Rapidly Quenching Post-Starburst Galaxies
• The imprint of rapid star formation quenching on the spectral energy distributions of galaxies
• The role of AGN in the colour transformation of galaxies at redshifts z~1
• The Massive Ancient Galaxies At $z>3$ NEar-infrared (MAGAZ3NE) Survey: Confirmation of Extremely Rapid Star-Formation and Quenching Timescales for Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe
• Heart of Darkness: the influence of galactic dynamics on quenching star formation in galaxy spheroids
• Fast and slow paths to quiescence: ages and sizes of 400 quiescent galaxies from the LEGA-C survey
• Near Infrared spectroscopy of post-starburst galaxies: a limited impact of TP-AGB stars on galaxy SEDs
• The evolution of the cold interstellar medium in galaxies following a starburst
• Dynamical Delays Between Starburst and AGN Activity in Galaxy Nuclei
• Outflowing Galactic Winds in Post-starburst and AGN Host Galaxies at 0.2<z<0.8
• Shocked POststarbust Galaxy Survey I: Candidate Poststarbust Galaxies with Emission Line Ratios Consistent with Shocks
• A dependence of the tidal disruption event rate on global stellar surface mass density and stellar velocity dispersion
• Massive post-starburst galaxies at z > 1 are compact proto-spheroids
• The star formation histories of z~1 post-starburst galaxies
• The Spatial Distribution and Kinematics of Stellar Populations in E+A Galaxies
• Clocking the Evolution of Post-Starburst Galaxies: Methods and First Results
• Massive quenched galaxies at z~0.7 retain large molecular gas reservoirs
• COS-Burst: Observations of the Impact of Starburst-Driven Winds on the Properties of the Circum-Galactic Medium
• The origins of post-starburst galaxies at z<0.05
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The mechanisms for quiescent galaxy formation at $z<1$
• A new method for classifying galaxy SEDs from multi-wavelength photometry
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Quenching of star formation in clusters I. Transition galaxies
• Origin of E+A galaxies: I. Physical properties of E+A's formed from galaxy merging and interaction
• Dissecting Galaxies: Spatial and Spectral Separation of Emission Excited by Star Formation and AGN Activity
• The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Environments of Poststarburst Galaxies at z~0.1 and z~0.8
• Stellar feedback as the origin of an extended molecular outflow in a starburst galaxy
• Massive Compact Galaxies with High-Velocity Outflows: Morphological Analysis and Constraints on AGN Activity
• The structure of post-starburst galaxies at $0.5<z<2$: evidence for two distinct quenching routes at different epochs
• Radio Continuum Observations of the Galactic Center: Photoevaporative Proplyd-like Objects near Sgr A*
• VLA HI Imaging of the brightest spiral galaxies in Coma II. The HI Atlas and deep continuum imaging of selected early type galaxies
• Shocked POststarburst Galaxy Survey II: The Molecular Gas Content and Properties of a Subset of SPOGs
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: Refining Strong Line Diagnostic Classifications Using Spatially Resolved Gas Dynamics
• Galaxy Zoo: building the low-mass end of the red sequence with local post-starburst galaxies
• A closer view of the radio-FIR correlation: disentangling the contributions of star formation and AGN activity
• The Relation between Galaxy Structure and Spectral Type: Implications for the Buildup of the Quiescent Galaxy Population at 0.5<z<2.0
• Towards a physical picture of star-formation quenching: the photometric properties of recently-quenched galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• After The Fall: The Dust and Gas in E+A Post-Starburst Galaxies
• The Delay Time Distribution of Tidal Disruption Flares
• The Post-Starburst Evolution of Tidal Disruption Event Host Galaxies
• The Ages of Starbursts in Post-Starburst Galaxies
• Spatial Distribution of the Starbursts in Post-Starburst Coma Cluster Galaxies
• Post-Starburst Galaxies in SDSS-IV MaNGA
• ALMA measures rapidly depleted molecular gas reservoirs in massive quiescent galaxies at z~1.5
• Direct evidence of AGN-feedback: a post starburst galaxy stripped of its gas by AGN-driven winds
• The kinematics and spatial distribution of stellar populations in E+A galaxies
• A Search for HI in E+A Galaxies
• E+A Galaxies with Blue Cores: Active Galaxies in Transition
• OmegaWINGS: The first complete census of post starburst galaxies in clusters in the local universe
• What triggers galaxy transformations? The environments of post-starburst galaxies
• The Typical Massive Quiescent Galaxy at z$\sim$3 is a Post-starburst
• The GOGREEN survey: Post-infall environmental quenching fails to predict the observed age difference between quiescent field and cluster galaxies at z>1
• Separating Line Emission from Star Formation, Shocks, and AGN Ionisation in NGC 1068
• MUSE Reveals a Recent Merger in the Post-starburst Host Galaxy of the TDE ASASSN-14li
• GASP XXIV. The history of abruptly quenched galaxies in clusters
• Color gradients along the quiescent galaxy sequence: clues to quenching and structural growth
• The strong correlation between post-starburst fraction and environment
• Evolution of the cold gas properties of simulated post-starburst galaxies
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: Spatially resolved star-formation histories and the connection to galaxy physical properties
• The Properties of Post-Starburst Quasars Based on Optical Spectroscopy
• The enhancement of rapidly quenched galaxies in distant clusters at 0.5<z<1.0
• The diverse evolutionary pathways of post-starburst galaxies
• The identification of post-starburst galaxies at z~1 using multiwavelength photometry: a spectroscopic verification
• Diffuse and Gravitationally Stable Molecular Gas in the Post-Starburst Galaxy NGC 5195
• High-velocity outflows in massive post-starburst galaxies at z > 1
• Current Star Formation in Post-Starburst Galaxies?
• The Structure of Tidal Disruption Event Host Galaxies on Scales of Tens to Thousands of Parsecs
• The Diverse Molecular Gas Content of Massive Galaxies Undergoing Quenching at z~1
• Evidence of ongoing AGN-driven feedback in a quiescent post starburst E+A galaxy
• Multi-phase outflows in post starburst E+A galaxies -- II. A direct connection between the neutral and ionized outflow phases
• The [O III] Nebula of the Merger Remnant NGC 7252: A Likely Faint Ionization Echo
• An ALMA view of star formation efficiency suppression in early-type galaxies after gas-rich minor mergers
• Abundance diagnosis of E+A (post-starburst) galaxies
• The HI content of E+A galaxies
• The cold gas content of post-starburst galaxies
• Inverse stellar population age gradients of post-starburst galaxies at z=0.8 with LEGA-C
• From Star-Forming Spirals to Passive Spheroids: Integral Field Spectroscopy of E+A Galaxies
• The Role of Active Galactic Nuclei in the Quenching of Massive Galaxies in the SQuiGGLE Survey
• The Evolution of the Interstellar Medium in Post-Starburst Galaxies
• Stellar population gradients in the cores of nearby field E+A galaxies
• Stellar population gradients and spatially resolved kinematics in luminous post-starburst galaxies
• Active Galactic Nuclei and the Truncation of Star Formation in K+A Galaxies
• E+A and Companion Galaxies - I : A Catalogue and Statistics
• Post-Starburst Quasars: Bridging the Gap Between Post-Starburst Galaxies and Quasars
• A large sample of Kohonen selected E+A (post-starburst) galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• CXOGBS~J173620.2--293338: A Candidate Symbiotic X-ray Binary Associated with a Bulge Carbon Star
• Welcome to the Twilight Zone: The Mid-Infrared Properties of Poststarburst Galaxies
• Why Post-Starburst Galaxies are Now Quiescent
• The current star formation rate of K+A galaxies
• On the role of the post-starburst phase in the build-up of the red-sequence of intermediate redshift clusters
• HST/WFC3 grism observations of $z\sim 1$ clusters: evidence for evolution in the mass-size relation of quiescent galaxies from poststarburst galaxies
• From starburst to quiescence: post-starburst galaxies and their large-scale clustering over cosmic time
• Starburst and post-starburst high-redshift protogalaxies: The feedback impact of high energy cosmic rays
• Identifying Tidal Disruption Events via Prior Photometric Selection of Their Preferred Hosts
• The Evolution of Post-Starburst Galaxies from $z\sim 1$ to the Present
• The spectral energy distributions of K+A galaxies from the UV to the mid-IR: stellar populations, star formation and hot dust
• Violent quenching: molecular gas blown to 1000 km/s during a major merger
• SQuIGG$\vec{L}$E Survey: Massive z$\sim$0.6 Post-Starburst Galaxies Exhibit Flat Age Gradients
• Dense and Warm Molecular Gas and Warm Dust in Nearby Galaxies
• Some Die Filthy Rich: The Diverse Molecular Gas Contents of Post-starburst Galaxies Probed by Dust Absorption
• A Panchromatic Survey of Post-starburst Mergers: searching for feedback
• Integral Field spectroscopy of two HI rich E+A galaxies
• Discovery of a vast ionized gas cloud in the M51 system
• Gas accretion as fuel for residual star formation in Galaxy Zoo elliptical galaxies
• The IMACS Cluster Building Survey: V. Further Evidence for Starburst Recycling from Quantitative Galaxy Morphologies
• Stellar and Molecular Gas Rotation in a Recently-Quenched Massive Galaxy at z~0.7
• A methodology to select galaxies just after the quenching of star formation
• Evolution of Starburst Galaxies in the Illustris Simulation
• After the interaction: an efficiently star-forming molecular disk in NGC5195
• EA01A/B : high-resolution HI imaging of an interacting pair of post-starburst (E+A) galaxies
• Evidence for Late-Time Feedback from the Discovery of Multiphase Gas in a Massive Elliptical at $z=0.4$
• Star formation histories and evolution of 35 brightest E+A galaxies from SDSS DR5
• Spitzer IRS observations of k+a galaxies: A link between PAH emission properties and AGN feedback?
• Population and spectral synthesis: it doesn't work without binaries
• Extremely Low Molecular Gas Content in the Vicinity of a Red Nugget Galaxy at $z=1.91$

Cited by in corpus (41)

• Recovering the star formation histories of recently-quenched galaxies: the impact of model and prior choices
• COSMOS2020: Exploring the dawn of quenching for massive galaxies at 3 < z < 5 with a new colour selection method
• Rapid Quenching of Galaxies at Cosmic Noon
• Cosmic Vine: A z=3.44 large-scale structure hosting massive quiescent galaxies
• Fading AGN in Post-Starburst Galaxies
• Star Formation Suppresion by Tidal Removal of Cold Molecular Gas from an Intermediate-Redshift Massive Post-Starburst Galaxy
• Tidal disruption events in post-starburst galaxies: the importance of a complete stellar mass function
• The Compact Structures of Massive $z\sim 0.7$ Post-Starburst Galaxies in the SQuIGG$\vec{L}$E Sample
• Post-Starburst Properties of Post-Merger Galaxies
• The environment of AGN dwarf galaxies at z$\sim$0.7 from the VIPERS survey
• The role of mass and environment in the build up of the quenched galaxy population since cosmic noon
• The State of the Molecular Gas in Post-Starburst Galaxies
• A Multiwavelength view of IC 860: What Is in Action inside Quenching Galaxies
• Star formation and molecular gas properties of post-starburst galaxies
• Chemical evolution of local post-starburst galaxies: Implications for the mass-metallicity relation
• Resolved Molecular Gas Observations of MaNGA Post-starbursts Reveal a Tumultuous Past
• Merger Signatures are Common, but not Universal, In Massive, Recently-Quenched Galaxies at z~0.7
• The large molecular gas fraction of post-starburst galaxies at z > 1
• No evidence for excess AGN activity in recently quenched massive galaxies at cosmic noon
• High-velocity outflows persist up to 1 Gyr after a starburst in recently-quenched galaxies at z > 1
• Age and metal gradients in massive quiescent galaxies at $0.6\lesssim z\lesssim 1.0$: implications for quenching and assembly histories
• Ages and metallicities of quiescent galaxies: confronting broadband ($UVJ$) colours with stellar absorption lines
• DESI Survey Validation Spectra Reveal an Increasing Fraction of Recently Quenched Galaxies at $z\sim 1$
• Quenching in the Right Place at the Right Time: Tracing the Shared History of Starbursts, AGNs, and Post-starburst Galaxies Using Their Structures and Multiscale Environments
• SCAT Uncovers ATLAS's First Tidal Disruption Event ATLAS18mlw: A Faint and Fast TDE in a Quiescent Balmer Strong Galaxy
• On energetics and progenitors of Odd Radio Circles: A causal connection with tidal disruption of stars?
• DESI Massive Post-Starburst Galaxies at $\mathbf{z}\sim 1.2$ have compact structures and dense cores
• The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: The EGS deep field -- III. The evolution of faint submillimeter galaxies at $z<4$
• Evolution of Gas Flows along the Starburst to Post-Starburst to Quiescent Galaxy Sequence
• Do Post-Starburst Galaxies Host Compact Molecular Gas Reservoirs?
• Central Concentration of Asymmetric Features in Post-starburst Galaxies at $z\sim 0.8$
• The diverse quenching pathways of post-starburst galaxies in SDSS-IV MaNGA
• Do Red Galaxies Form More Stars Than Blue Galaxies?
• Radio Variability in Recently-Quenched Galaxies: The Impact of TDE or AGN Driven Outflows
• Evidence for Multiple Types of Post-Starburst Galaxies
• Selecting Post-Starburst Galaxies Based on Star Formation History
• Post-starburst galaxies in the centers of intermediate redshift clusters
• Spatially Resolved Kinematics of Post-starburst Galaxies
• SQuIGGLE: Studying Quenching in Intermediate-z Galaxies -- Gas, AnguLar Momentum, and Evolution
• Now you see it, now you don't: Star formation truncation precedes the loss of molecular gas by ~100 Myr in massive post-starburst galaxies at z~0.6
• EMBERS I: Low redshift post-starburst galaxies are frequently depleted in molecular gas relative to star forming progenitors