4.7 Article

Galaxy Zoo: secular evolution of barred galaxies from structural decomposition of multiband images

Journal

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 473, Issue 4, Pages 4731-4753

Publisher

OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx2605

Keywords

galaxies: bulges; galaxies: evolution; galaxies: general; galaxies: star formation; galaxies: stellar content; galaxies: structure

Funding

  1. Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) [ST/MJ0371X/1]
  2. STFC Grant [ST/K502236/1]
  3. National Aeronautics and Space Administration through Einstein Postdoctoral Fellowship [PF5160143]
  4. National Aeronautics Space Administration [NAS803060]
  5. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
  6. Leverhulme Trust
  7. National Science Foundation
  8. US Department of Energy
  9. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  10. Japanese Monbukagakusho
  11. Max Planck Society
  12. Higher Education Funding Council for England
  13. American Museum of Natural History
  14. Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, University of Basel
  15. University of Cambridge
  16. Case Western Reserve University
  17. University of Chicago
  18. Drexel University
  19. Fermilab
  20. Institute for Advanced Study
  21. Japan Participation Group
  22. Johns Hopkins University
  23. Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics
  24. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
  25. Korean Scientist Group
  26. Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST)
  27. Los Alamos National Laboratory
  28. Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA)
  29. Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA)
  30. New Mexico State University
  31. Ohio State University
  32. University of Pittsburgh
  33. University of Portsmouth
  34. Princeton University
  35. United States Naval Observatory
  36. University of Washington
  37. Science and Technology Facilities Council [ST/N003179/1] Funding Source: researchfish
  38. STFC [ST/L000695/1, ST/N003179/1] Funding Source: UKRI

Ask authors/readers for more resources

We present the results of two-component (disc+bar) and three-component (disc+bar+bulge) multiwavelength 2D photometric decompositions of barred galaxies in five Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) bands (ugriz). This sample of similar to 3500 nearby (z < 0.06) galaxies with strong bars selected from the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project is the largest sample of barred galaxies to be studied using photometric decompositions that include a bar component. With detailed structural analysis, we obtain physical quantities such as the bar-and bulge-to-total luminosity ratios, effective radii, S ' ersic indices and colours of the individual components. We observe a clear difference in the colours of the components, the discs being bluer than the bars and bulges. An overwhelming fraction of bulge components have S ' ersic indices consistent with being pseudo-bulges. By comparing the barred galaxies with a mass-matched and volumelimited sample of unbarred galaxies, we examine the connection between the presence of a large-scale galactic bar and the properties of discs and bulges. We find that the discs of unbarred galaxies are significantly bluer compared to the discs of barred galaxies, while there is no significant difference in the colours of the bulges. We find possible evidence of secular evolution via bars that leads to the build-up of pseudo-bulges and to the quenching of star formation in the discs. We identify a subsample of unbarred galaxies with an inner lens/ oval and find that their properties are similar to barred galaxies, consistent with an evolutionary scenario in which bars dissolve into lenses. This scenario deserves further investigation through both theoretical and observational work.

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