Probing the molecular gas content of galaxies in an over-dense group at z 0.7: A test case for environmental quenching
Researchers studied molecular gas in a dense group at redshift 0.7 to test environmental quenching models. They found that group galaxies have significantly less molecular gas—20% to 40% of typical galaxies—and this gas is depleted faster than in field galaxies. This depletion, linked to tidal interactions and stripping, suggests environmental processes efficiently suppress the fuel needed for star formation.