Group-dominant elliptical galaxies CO spectra

Our observations confirm the presence of molecular gas in 4 of the 11 galaxies at >4{sigma} significance, and combining these with data from the literature we find a detection rate of 43+/-14%, significantly higher than for the wider population of elliptical galaxies, and comparable to the detection rate for nearby radio galaxies.

Those group-dominant galaxies which are detected typically contain ~2x10^8^M_{sun}_ of molecular gas, and although most have low star formation rates (<1M_{sun}_/yr) they have short depletion times, indicating that the gas must be replenished on timescales 10^8^yr. Almost all of the galaxies contain active nuclei, and we note that while CO detections are more common in the most radio-loud galaxies, the mass of molecular gas required to power the active nuclei through accretion is small compared to the masses observed.