We present the first large-scale study of E+A galaxies that incorporates photometry in the ultraviolet ( UV ) wavelengths . E+A galaxies are ‘ post-starburst ’ systems , with strong Balmer absorption lines indicating significant recent star formation , but without [ OII ] and H \alpha emission lines which are characteristic of ongoing star formation . The starburst that creates the E+A galaxy typically takes place within the last Gyr and creates a high fraction ( 20-60 percent ) of the stellar mass in the remnant over a short timescale ( < 0.1 Gyrs ) . We find a tight correlation between the luminosity of our E+A galaxies and the implied star formation rate ( SFR ) during the starburst . While low-luminosity E+As ( M ( z ) > -20 ) exhibit implied SFRs of less than 50 M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } , their luminous counterparts ( M ( z ) < -22 ) shows SFRs greater than 300 and as high as 2000 M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } , suggesting that luminous and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies in the low-redshift Universe could be the progenitors of massive nearby E+A galaxies . We perform a comprehensive study of the characteristics of the quenching that truncates the starburst in E+A systems . We find that , for galaxies less massive than 10 ^ { 10 } M _ { \odot } , the quenching efficiency decreases as the galaxy mass increases . However , for galaxies more massive than 10 ^ { 10 } M _ { \odot } , this trend is reversed and the quenching efficiency increases with galaxy mass . Noting that the mass threshold at which this reversal occurs is in excellent agreement with the mass above which AGN become significantly more abundant in nearby galaxies , we use simple energetic arguments to show that the bimodal behaviour of the quenching efficiency is consistent with AGN and supernovae ( SN ) being the principal sources of negative feedback above and below M \sim 10 ^ { 10 } M _ { \odot } respectively . The arguments assume that quenching occurs through the mechanical ejection or dispersal of the gas reservoir and that , in the high mass regime ( M > 10 ^ { 10 } M _ { \odot } ) , the Eddington ratios in this sample of galaxies scale as M ^ { \gamma } , where 1 < \gamma < 3 . Finally , we use our E+A sample to estimate the time it takes for galaxies to migrate from the blue cloud to the red sequence . We find migration times between 1 and 5 Gyrs , with a median value of 1.5 Gyrs .