de Lorenzo-Cáceres, A.; Vazdekis, A.; Aguerri, J. A. L.; Corsini, E. M.; Debattista, Victor P.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 420, Issue 2, pp. 1092-1106.
Description
Double-barred galaxies are common in the local Universe, with
approximately one-third of barred spirals hosting a smaller, inner bar.
Nested bars have been proposed as a mechanism to transport gas to the
very central regions of the galaxy, trigger star formation and
contribute to the growth of the bulge. To test this idea, we perform for
the first time a detailed analysis of the photometry, kinematics and
stellar populations of a double-barred galaxy: NGC 357. We find that
this galaxy is either hosting a pseudo-bulge or a classical bulge
together with an inner disc. We compare the relative mean
luminosity-weighted age, metallicity and α-enhancement between the
(pseudo-)bulge, inner bar and outer bar, finding that the three
structures are nearly coeval and old. Moreover, the bulge and inner bar
present the same metallicity and overabundance, whereas the outer bar
tends to be less metal rich and more α-enhanced. These results
point out that, rather than the classical secular scenario in which gas
and star formation play a major role, the redistribution of the existing
stars is driving the formation of the inner structures. Based on
observations carried out at the European Southern Observatory (ESO
70.B-0338).
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