Molecular Gas Excitation in z ~ 0.7 Gas-Rich Post-starburst Galaxies from SQuIGGLE
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2026
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| author | D'Onofrio, Vincenzo R. Spilker, Justin S. Bezanson, Rachel Feldmann, Robert Goulding, Andy D. Greene, Jenny E. Kriek, Mariska Kumar, Anika Luo, Yuanze Narayanan, Desika Setton, David J. Suess, Katherine A. Verrico, Margaret E. |
| author_facet | D'Onofrio, Vincenzo R. Spilker, Justin S. Bezanson, Rachel Feldmann, Robert Goulding, Andy D. Greene, Jenny E. Kriek, Mariska Kumar, Anika Luo, Yuanze Narayanan, Desika Setton, David J. Suess, Katherine A. Verrico, Margaret E. |
| contents | Many post-starburst galaxies at $z\sim0.7$ have been shown to retain substantial molecular gas reservoirs yet host low ongoing star formation, suggesting that the remaining gas may be inefficient at forming stars during the early post-burst phase. We present new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array CO(5-4) observations of nine gas-rich post-starburst galaxies at $z\sim0.7$ from the Studying Quenching in Intermediate-z Galaxies: Gas, angu$\vec{L}$ar momentum, and Evolution (SQuIGG$\vec{L}$E) survey, providing a view of the molecular gas excitation in these systems. Combined with existing CO(2-1) data, we detect CO(5-4) in 8/9 targets and find that most have moderate CO excitation with $r_{52}\equiv L'_{\rm CO(5-4)}/L'_{\rm CO(2-1)}\approx0.1-0.3$. These systems show no clear trend between $r_{52}$ and either total or surface-density of star formation. Specifically, all objects have $Σ_{\mathrm{SFR}} \sim 0.01-1\ \text{M}_\odot\ \text{yr}^{-1}\ \text{kpc}^{-2}$, consistent with compact, modest star formation, even when allowing for buried activity, as these galaxies decline from their peak. One object J1448+1010, which has clear optical, mid-infrared, and radio indicators of an active galactic nucleus, is an outlier with $r_{52}\approx0.6$; its elevated excitation likely requires significant non-stellar heating, with a contribution from potentially obscured star formation. Together, most gas-rich SQuIGG$\vec{L}$E post-starbursts have moderately excited molecular gas alongside little to modest star-forming activity, indicating that the remaining gas hosts relatively suppressed star formation efficiencies instead of strong buried starburst activity. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_17766 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Molecular Gas Excitation in z ~ 0.7 Gas-Rich Post-starburst Galaxies from SQuIGGLE D'Onofrio, Vincenzo R. Spilker, Justin S. Bezanson, Rachel Feldmann, Robert Goulding, Andy D. Greene, Jenny E. Kriek, Mariska Kumar, Anika Luo, Yuanze Narayanan, Desika Setton, David J. Suess, Katherine A. Verrico, Margaret E. Astrophysics of Galaxies Many post-starburst galaxies at $z\sim0.7$ have been shown to retain substantial molecular gas reservoirs yet host low ongoing star formation, suggesting that the remaining gas may be inefficient at forming stars during the early post-burst phase. We present new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array CO(5-4) observations of nine gas-rich post-starburst galaxies at $z\sim0.7$ from the Studying Quenching in Intermediate-z Galaxies: Gas, angu$\vec{L}$ar momentum, and Evolution (SQuIGG$\vec{L}$E) survey, providing a view of the molecular gas excitation in these systems. Combined with existing CO(2-1) data, we detect CO(5-4) in 8/9 targets and find that most have moderate CO excitation with $r_{52}\equiv L'_{\rm CO(5-4)}/L'_{\rm CO(2-1)}\approx0.1-0.3$. These systems show no clear trend between $r_{52}$ and either total or surface-density of star formation. Specifically, all objects have $Σ_{\mathrm{SFR}} \sim 0.01-1\ \text{M}_\odot\ \text{yr}^{-1}\ \text{kpc}^{-2}$, consistent with compact, modest star formation, even when allowing for buried activity, as these galaxies decline from their peak. One object J1448+1010, which has clear optical, mid-infrared, and radio indicators of an active galactic nucleus, is an outlier with $r_{52}\approx0.6$; its elevated excitation likely requires significant non-stellar heating, with a contribution from potentially obscured star formation. Together, most gas-rich SQuIGG$\vec{L}$E post-starbursts have moderately excited molecular gas alongside little to modest star-forming activity, indicating that the remaining gas hosts relatively suppressed star formation efficiencies instead of strong buried starburst activity. |
| title | Molecular Gas Excitation in z ~ 0.7 Gas-Rich Post-starburst Galaxies from SQuIGGLE |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.17766 |