Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XII. Quenching precedes bulge formation in dense environments but follows it in the field

Gentile, F.; Daddi, E.; Elbaz, D.; Enia, A.; Magnelli, B.; Billand, J. B.; Corcho-Caballero, P.; Cleland, C.; De Lucia, G.; D’Eugenio, C.; Fossati, M.; Franco, M.; Lobo, C.; Lyu, Y.; Magliocchetti, M.; Mamon, G. A.; Quilley, L.; Sorce, J. G.; Tarrasse, M.; Bolzonella, M.; Durret, F.; Gabarra, L.; Guo, S.; Pozzetti, L.; Quai, S.; Shankar, F.; Sangalli, V.; Talia, M.; Baes, M.; Fu, H.; Girardi, M.; Matthee, Jorryt J; Oesch, P. A.; Roberts, D.; Schaye, J.; Scott, D.; Spinoglio, L.; Altieri, B.; Amara, A.; Andreon, S.; Auricchio, N.; Baccigalupi, C.; Baldi, M.; Balestra, A.; Bardelli, S.; Bender, R.; Biviano, A.; Branchini, E.; Brescia, M.; Brinchmann, J.; Camera, S.; Cañas-Herrera, G.; Capobianco, V.; Carbone, C.; Carretero, J.; Casas, S.; Castellano, M.; Castignani, G.; Cavuoti, S.; Chambers, K. C.; Cimatti, A.; Colodro-Conde, C.; Congedo, G.; Conversi, L.; Copin, Y.; Courbin, F.; Courtois, H. M.; Cropper, M.; Da Silva, A.; Degaudenzi, H.; Dolding, C.; Dole, H.; Dubath, F.; Duncan, C. A.J.; Dupac, X.; Dusini, S.; Escoffier, S.; Fabricius, M.; Farina, M.; Farinelli, R.; Ferriol, S.; Finelli, F.; Fourmanoit, N.; Frailis, M.; Franceschi, E.; Fumana, M.; Galeotta, S.; George, K.; Gillis, B.; Giocoli, C.; Gracia-Carpio, J.; Grazian, A.; Grupp, F.; Gwyn, S.; Haugan, S. V.H.; Hoar, J.; Holmes, W.; Hook, I. M.; Hormuth, F.; Hornstrup, A.; Jahnke, K.; Jhabvala, M.; Joachimi, B.; Keihänen, E.; Kermiche, S.; Kiessling, A.; Kubik, B.; Kümmel, M.; Kunz, M.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Le Brun, A. M.C.; Ligori, S.; Lilje, P. B.; Lindholm, V.; Lloro, I.; Mainetti, G.; Maino, D.; Maiorano, E.; Mansutti, O.; Marggraf, O.; Martinelli, M.; Martinet, N.; Marulli, F.; Massey, R. J.; Medinaceli, E.; Mei, S.; Melchior, M.; Mellier, Y.; Meneghetti, M.; Merlin, E.; Meylan, G.; Mora, A.; Moresco, M.; Moscardini, L.; Nakajima, R.; Niemi, S. M.; Padilla, C.; Paltani, S.; Pasian, F.; Pedersen, K.; Percival, W. J.; Pettorino, V.; Pires, S.; Polenta, G.; Poncet, M.; Popa, L. A.; Raison, F.; Renzi, A.; Rhodes, J.; Riccio, G.; Romelli, E.; Roncarelli, M.; Saglia, R.; Sakr, Z.; Sapone, D.; Sartoris, B.; Schneider, P.; Schrabback, T.; Secroun, A.; Seidel, G.; Serrano, S.; Simon, P.; Sirignano, C.; Sirri, G.; Skottfelt, J.; Stanco, L.; Steinwagner, J.; Tallada-Crespí, P.; Taylor, A. N.; Teplitz, H. I.; Tereno, I.; Tessore, N.; Toft, S.; Toledo-Moreo, R.; Torradeflot, F.; Tutusaus, I.; Valenziano, L.; Valiviita, J.; Vassallo, T.; Verdoes Kleijn, G.; Veropalumbo, A.; Wang, Y.; Weller, J.; Zacchei, A.; Zamorani, G.; Zinchenko, I. A.; Zucca, E.; Allevato, V.; Ballardini, M.; Bozzo, E.; Burigana, C.; Cabanac, R.; Calabrese, M.; Cappi, A.; Di Ferdinando, D.; Escartin Vigo, J. A.; Hartley, W. G.; Huertas-Company, M.; Martín-Fleitas, J.; Matthew, S.; Mauri, N.; Metcalf, R. B.; Pezzotta, A.; Pöntinen, M.; Risso, I.; Scottez, V.; Sereno, M.; Tenti, M.; Viel, M.; Wiesmann, M.; Akrami, Y.; Andika, I. T.; Anselmi, S.; Archidiacono, M.; Atrio-Barandela, F.; Bertacca, D.; Bethermin, M.; Bisigello, L.; Blanchard, A.; Blot, L.; Böhringer, H.; Bonici, M.; Borgani, S.; Brown, M. L.; Bruton, S.; Calabro, A.; Camacho Quevedo, B.; Caro, F.; Carvalho, C. S.; Castro, T.; Cogato, F.; Conseil, S.; Contini, T.; Cooray, A. R.; Cucciati, O.; Desprez, G.; Díaz-Sánchez, A.; Di Domizio, S.; Diego, J. M.; Dimauro, P.; Duc, P. A.; Elkhashab, M. Y.; Fang, Y.; Finoguenov, A.; Fontana, A.; Fontanot, F.; Franco, A.; Ganga, K.; García-Bellido, J.; Gasparetto, T.; Gautard, V.; Gavazzi, R.; Gaztanaga, E.; Giacomini, F.; Gianotti, F.; Gonzalez, A. H.; Gozaliasl, G.; Guidi, M.; Gutierrez, C. M.; Hall, A.; Hemmati, S.; Hildebrandt, H.; Hjorth, J.; Kajava, J. J.E.; Kang, Y.; Kansal, V.; Karagiannis, D.; Kiiveri, K.; Kim, J.; Kirkpatrick, C. C.; Kruk, S.; Legrand, L.; Lembo, M.; Lepori, F.; Leroy, G.; Lesci, G. F.; Lesgourgues, J.; Leuzzi, L.; Liaudat, T. I.; Loureiro, A.; Macias-Perez, J.; Magnier, E. A.; Mannucci, F.; Maoli, R.; Martins, C. J.A.P.; Maurin, L.; Miluzio, M.; Monaco, P.; Moretti, C.; Morgante, G.; Naidoo, K.; Navarro-Alsina, A.; Nesseris, S.; Paoletti, D.; Passalacqua, F.; Paterson, K.; Patrizii, L.; Pisani, A.; Potter, D.; Radovich, M.; Rodighiero, G.; Sacquegna, S.; Sahlén, M.; Sanders, D. B.; Sarpa, E.; Scarlata, C.; Schneider, A.; Schultheis, M.; Sciotti, D.; Sellentin, E.; Smith, L. C.; Stanford, S. A.; Tanidis, K.; Testera, G.; Teyssier, R.; Tosi, S.; Troja, A.; Tucci, M.; Valieri, C.; Venhola, A.; Vergani, D.; Verza, G.; Vielzeuf, P.; Walton, N. A.

Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XII. Quenching precedes bulge formation in dense environments but follows it in the field

Gentile F et al. 2026. Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XII. Quenching precedes bulge formation in dense environments but follows it in the field. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 711, A12.

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2026_AstronomyAstrophysics_Euclid.pdf 3.48 MB [Published Version]

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202557633

Journal Article | Published | English

Scopus indexed

Author

Gentile, F.; Daddi, E.; Elbaz, D.; Enia, A.; Magnelli, B.; Billand, J. B.; Corcho-Caballero, P.; Cleland, C.; De Lucia, G.; D’Eugenio, C.; Fossati, M.; Franco, M.
All

Department

Matthee Group

Abstract

The well-known bimodality between star-forming discs and quiescent spheroids requires the existence of two main processes: galaxy quenching, causing the strong reduction of star formation, and morphological transformation, causing the transition from disc-dominated structures to bulge-dominated ones. In this paper, we aim to understand the link between these two processes and their relation with the stellar mass of galaxies and their local environment. Taking advantage of the first data released by the Euclid Collaboration, covering more than 60 deg2 with space-based imaging and photometry, we analyse a mass-complete sample of nearly one million galaxies in the range 0.25 < z < 1 with M* > 109.5 M⊙, using a combination of photometric and spectroscopic redshifts. We divide the sample into four sub-populations of galaxies, based on their star-formation activity (star-forming and quiescent) and morphology (disc-dominated and bulge-dominated). We then analyse the physical properties of these populations and their relative abundances in the stellar mass versus local density plane. Together with confirming the passivity-density relation and the morphology-density relation, we find that quiescent discy galaxies are more abundant in the low-mass regime of high-density environment where log10(1 + δ) > 1.3. At the same time, star-forming bulge-dominated galaxies are more common in field regions with log10(1 + δ) < 0.8, preferentially at high masses. Building on these results and interpreting them through comparison with simulations, we propose a scenario where the evolution of galaxies in the field significantly differs from that in higher-density environments. The morphological transformation in the majority of field galaxies takes place before the onset of quenching and is mainly driven by secular processes taking place within the main sequence, leading to the formation of star-forming bulge-dominated galaxies as intermediate-stage galaxies. Conversely, quenching of star formation precedes morphological transformation for most galaxies in higher-density environments. This causes the formation of quiescent disc-dominated galaxies before their transition into bulge-dominated ones.

Keywords

galaxies: evolution; galaxies: interactions; galaxies: statistics

Publishing Year

2026

Date Published

2026-07-01

Journal Title

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Publisher

EDP Sciences

Acknowledgement

FaGe, AnEn, EmDa, LoGa, SaQu, GaDe, MaTa, ChDe, LuPo acknowledge support from the ELSA project. “ELSA: Euclid Legacy Science Advanced analysis tools” (Grant Agreement no. 101135203) is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Innovate UK. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. UK participation is funded through the UK HORIZON guarantee scheme under Innovate UK grant 10093177. AnEn acknowledge support from the INAF MiniGrant 2023 “ADIEU: Anomaly Detections In EUclid”. CaLo acknowledges support by FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through grants UIDB/04434/2020 DOI: 10.54499/UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020 DOI: 10.54499/UIDP/04434/2020. The Euclid Consortium acknowledges the European Space Agency and a number of agencies and institutes that have supported the development of Euclid, in particular the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, the Austrian Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft funded through BMK, the Belgian Science Policy, the Canadian Euclid Consortium, the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt, the DTU Space and the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark, the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the Netherlandse Onderzoekschool Voor Astronomie, the Norwegian Space Agency, the Research Council of Finland, the Romanian Space Agency, the State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI) at the Swiss Space Office (SSO), and the United Kingdom Space Agency. A complete and detailed list is available on the Euclid website (www.euclid-ec.org). This work has made use of the Euclid Quick Release Q1 data from the Euclid mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), 2025, https://doi.org/10.57780/esa-2853f3b. This work has made use of CosmoHub, developed by PIC (maintained by IFAE and CIEMAT) in collaboration with ICE-CSIC. CosmoHub received funding from the Spanish government (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), the EU NextGeneration/PRTR (PRTR-C17.I1), and the Generalitat de Catalunya. Based on data from UNIONS, a scientific collaboration using three Hawaii-based telescopes: CFHT, Pan-STARRS, and Subaru www.skysurvey.cc. Based on data from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4-m Telescope at CTIO in Chile https://www.darkenergysurvey.org

Volume

711

Article Number

A12

ISSN

0004-6361

eISSN

1432-0746

IST-REx-ID

22265

Cite this

Gentile F, Daddi E, Elbaz D, et al. Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XII. Quenching precedes bulge formation in dense environments but follows it in the field. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 2026;711. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202557633

Gentile, F., Daddi, E., Elbaz, D., Enia, A., Magnelli, B., Billand, J. B., … Walton, N. A. (2026). Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XII. Quenching precedes bulge formation in dense environments but follows it in the field. Astronomy and Astrophysics. EDP Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202557633

Gentile, F., E. Daddi, D. Elbaz, A. Enia, B. Magnelli, J. B. Billand, P. Corcho-Caballero, et al. “Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XII. Quenching Precedes Bulge Formation in Dense Environments but Follows It in the Field.” Astronomy and Astrophysics. EDP Sciences, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202557633.

F. Gentile et al., “Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XII. Quenching precedes bulge formation in dense environments but follows it in the field,” Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 711. EDP Sciences, 2026.

Gentile F et al. 2026. Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XII. Quenching precedes bulge formation in dense environments but follows it in the field. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 711, A12.

Gentile, F., et al. “Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XII. Quenching Precedes Bulge Formation in Dense Environments but Follows It in the Field.” Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 711, A12, EDP Sciences, 2026, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202557633.

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