Red Cardinal
Unveiling the Formation of Massive Galaxies with the James Webb Space Telescope
ERC Starting Grant
Grant Agreement 101076080
PI: Sirio Belli
Host Institution: Università di Bologna
About
Massive galaxies are the first to form and the first to become quiescent, during a process called quenching in which the formation of new stars is shut down. Galaxy quenching is a key phase of galaxy evolution, but our physical understanding of it is still limited. In the Red Cardinal project we use the new James Webb Space Telescope, together with other space- and ground-based facilities, to investigate the stars, gas, dust, and supermassive black holes in distant galaxies, with the goal of understanding the key physical processes responsible for galaxy quenching.
The word cloud on the left was produced by NASA ADS using the Red Cardinal publications.
The Team
-
Sirio Belli (PI; Associate Professor)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5615-6018
- Letizia Bugiani (3rd-year PhD student)
-
Amir H. Khoram (3rd-year PhD student)
https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6563-282X
- Matteo Sapori (2nd-year PhD student)
- Caterina Liboni (1st-year PhD student)
Additionally, we collaborate with a wide network of international colleagues. The graph on the right shows the author network for the Red Cardinal publications (from NASA ADS).
Data Products
- JWST Spectroscopy for the Blue Jay survey (Belli et al. 2025)
- HST and JWST Photometry for the Blue Jay survey (Belli et al. 2025)
- Magellan/FIRE Spectrum of QSO J1439+1117 (Moretti et al. 2025)
- JWST spectrum for galaxy 11142 (Belli et al. 2024)
- JWST spectra for massive quiescent galaxies (Park et al. 2024)
Publications
Here are some of the publications produced by Red Cardinal; the full list is available on the NASA ADS.
- Belli, Bugiani, Park et al. (2025): The Blue Jay Survey: Deep JWST Spectroscopy for a Representative Sample of Galaxies at Cosmic Noon
- Khoram, Belli, Nipoti et al. (2025): Death by Impact: Evidence for Merger-Driven Quenching in a Collisional Ring Galaxy at Cosmic Noon
- Moretti, Belli, Rudie et al. (2025): Empirical Calibration of Na I D and Other Absorption Lines as Tracers of High-Redshift Neutral Outflows
- Liboni, Belli, Bugiani et al. (2025): Probing neutral outflows in z ~ 2 galaxies using JWST observations of Ca II H and K absorption lines
- Bugiani, Belli, Park et al. (2025): AGN Feedback in Quiescent Galaxies at Cosmic Noon Traced by Ionized Gas Emission
- Belli, Park, Davies et al. (2024): Star formation shut down by multiphase gas outflow in a galaxy at a redshift of 2.45
- Park, Belli, Conroy et al. (2024): Widespread Rapid Quenching at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST Deep Spectroscopy
- Davies, Belli, Park, et al. (2024): JWST reveals widespread AGN-driven neutral gas outflows in massive z ~ 2 galaxies