Year: 2026
Type: preprint
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 $90\,\mathring{\rm A}$ - $1000\,{\rm μm}$ 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 $λλ$1032,1038 $\mathring{\rm A}$ emission in the context of the cooling flow problem.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Carnegie Institution of Washington, University of Pennsylvania, Ohio State University, California Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Notre Dame, University of Portsmouth, New Mexico State University, Space Telescope Science Institute, York University, University of Oxford, University of Sussex, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Office of Science, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Colorado Boulder, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Division of Astronomical Sciences, High Energy Physics, Integrated Electronics Engineering Center, Binghamton University, Planetary Science Division, Fermilab, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Awards: G1039895795, G1800429324, G1813527838, G272672434, G3204085874, G387521742, G4182629103, G433322167, G4518818167, G498139845, G5159282255, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G58316358, G6273510985, G6756316859, G6876926712, Management and Operations of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, G7406122311, G767601387, G8210229802, G823181903, G8292014801, G8404944017, G8934477357, G969889393, G988696487
OpenAlex ID: W7212006278