Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Aims. With the aim of assessing the effects of bars on disk galaxy properties, we present an analysis of different characteristics of spiral galaxies with strong bars, weak bars and without bars. Methods. Weidentified barred galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). By visual inspection of SDSS images we classified the face-on spiral galaxies brighter than g < 16.5 mag into strong-bar, weak-bar, and unbarred galaxies. With the goal of providing an appropriate quantification of the influence of bars on galaxy properties, we also constructed a suitable control sample of unbarred galaxies with similar redshifts, magnitudes, morphology, bulge sizes, and local density environment distributions to those of barred galaxies. Results. We found 522 strong-barred and 770 weak-barred galaxies; this represents a bar fraction of 25.82% with respect to the full sample of spiral galaxies, in good agreement with several previous studies. We also found that strong-barred galaxies show lower efficiency in star formation activity and older stellar populations (as derived with the Dn(4000) spectral index) with respect to weakbarred and unbarred spirals from the control sample. In addition, there is a significant excess of strong-barred galaxies with red colors. The color-color and color–magnitude diagrams show that unbarred and weak-barred galaxies are more extended towards the blue zone, while strong-barred disk objects are mostly grouped in the red region. Strong-barred galaxies present an important excess of high metallicity values compared to unbarred and weak-barred disk objects, which show similar 12 + log(O/H) distributions. Regarding the mass-metallicity relation, we found that weak-barred and unbarred galaxies are fitted by similar curves, while strongbarred ones show a curve that falls abruptly with more significance in the range of low stellar masses (log(M∗/M) < 10.0). These results would indicate that prominent bars produced an accelerating effect on the gas processing, reflected in the significant changes in the physical properties of the host galaxies.
Authors: Vera Rueda, Gustavo Matías, Alonso Giraldes, Maria Sol, Coldwell Lloveras, Georgina Vanesa
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Princeton University, Ohio State University, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pittsburgh, Case Western Reserve University, Drexel University, Universität Basel, University of Portsmouth, New Mexico State University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, U.S. Naval Observatory, Fermilab, Los Alamos National Laboratory
OpenAlex ID: W3124615622