The Habitability Trade-off: Chemical Decoupling And Quenching In Massive Galaxies

Massive galaxies experience complex evolutionary processes, including mergers and gas accretion, which can disrupt the chemical equilibrium between their stellar and gaseous components.

Using the IllustrisTNG (TNG100) simulation at z=0, we investigated the prevalence and physical properties of such chemically decoupled systems within the massive star-forming galaxy population.

We identify a substantial subpopulation (∼31.5% of the sample) that exhibits systematic stellar-gas decoupling, characterised by a metal-rich stellar component coexisting with a diluted gas reservoir. These non-equilibrium galaxies are closely linked to recent merger activity and partial quenching, and display systematically suppressed star-formation rates and reduced gas fractions, consistent with a transitional evolutionary phase.

We then examined the implications of this phase for galaxy-scale habitability prescriptions by applying a terrestrial planet abundance proxy that combines stellar mass, gas-phase metallicity, and the rate of sterilising events. Despite their diluted gas reservoirs, non-equilibrium galaxies dominate the high end of the inferred present-day habitability proxy distribution, exceeding equilibrium systems by more than an order of magnitude.

We interpret this as a habitability trade-off: the same gas dilution and quenching processes that reduce the efficiency of future terrestrial planet formation simultaneously create a transient phase of suppressed radiation hazards for existing planets.

The Andromeda galaxy (M31) shows qualitative similarities to this chemically decoupled population, suggesting that galaxies exiting their peak star-forming phase represent a distinct and highly relevant demographic for galaxy-scale habitability. Galactic habitability is therefore intrinsically time-dependent.

Schematic summary of the two galaxy populations identified in this work. This diagram is intended as a qualitative interpretation of the evolutionary phase associated with chemical decoupling. — astro-ph.GA

Ana Mitrašinović, Nataša Pavlov, Branislav Vukotić, Stanislav Milošević et al.

Comments: accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:2605.22510 [astro-ph.GA] (or arXiv:2605.22510v1 [astro-ph.GA] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.22510
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Submission history
From: Ana Mitrasinovic
[v1] Thu, 21 May 2026 14:00:20 UTC (2,256 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22510

Astrobiology, Astronomy,