The effects of bar strength and kinematics on galaxy evolution – II. The global and local impacts of slow-strong bars

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Authors: Petra Mengistu, Karen L Masters, Tobias Géron, R J Smethurst, Chris Lintott, B D Simmons
Cited by: 1
References: 149

Abstract

ABSTRACT There is now clear evidence, from a variety of studies, that galactic bars contribute to and/or accelerate processes that quench galaxies. However, bars have a variety of strengths and pattern speeds, and previous work has suggested that slow and strong bars impact their hosts the most. In this paper, we continue to investigate the impact of bar strength and bar speed on host galaxy evolution in a sample of barred galaxies identified via classifications from Galaxy Zoo. We perform a comprehensive assessment of star formation tracers spanning a variety of time-scales, based on spatially resolved spectroscopic information from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. Specifically, we examine the radial distributions of EW [H $\alpha$], H $\delta _\mathrm{A}$, H $\beta$, and Dn4000; spectral data that trace star formation on current, intermediate, and much longer time-scales. We investigate how these star formation tracers vary with respect to each other in diagnostic evolutionary planes for eight categories of barred galaxies (combinations of star forming or quenching; strong and weak; fast and slow). We continue to find that slow-strong bars drive the quenching of their hosts the most by triggering active star formation throughout the barred region; however, we note some additional complexity: we observe that stronger bars boost star formation at the bar centre while slower bars have increased star formation along the bar. This work adds to the growing evidence that galactic bars have both global and local impacts on their host galaxies.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Galaxies: Formation Evolution Phenomena Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Space Technology and Applications

Publication details

Journal / source
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Volume
548
Issue
2
Publication date
1 April 2026
Language
EN