The origin and properties of red spirals: Insights from cosmological simulations

Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: lokas@camk.edu.pl

Received: 16 June 2022
Accepted: 19 September 2022

Abstract

A significant fraction of spiral galaxies are red, gas-poor, and have low star formation rates (SFRs). We study these unusual objects using the IllustrisTNG100 simulation. Among 1912 well-resolved disk galaxies selected from the last simulation output, we identify 377 red objects and describe their properties and origins using a few representative examples. The simulated red spirals turn out to be typically very gas-poor, have very low SFRs, are more metal-rich, and have larger stellar masses than the remaining disks. Only about 13% of red spirals suffered strong mass loss and thus could have resulted from environmental quenching by ram pressure and tidal stripping of the gas, or similar processes. The majority of red disks were probably quenched by feedback from the active galactic nucleus (AGN). This conclusion is supported by the higher black hole masses and lower accretion rates of red disks, as well as the larger total AGN feedback energies injected into the surrounding gas in the kinetic feedback mode implemented in the IllustrisTNG simulations. The timescales of the gas loss correlate with the black hole growth for the AGN-quenched galaxies and with the dark-matter loss for the environmentally quenched ones. The red spirals are more likely to possess bars, and their bars are stronger than in the remaining disks, which is probably the effect of gas loss rather than the reason for quenching.