Bibcode
Fraser-McKelvie, Amelia; Merrifield, Michael; Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso; Peterken, Thomas; Masters, Karen; Krawczyk, Coleman; Andrews, Brett; Knapen, Johan H.; Kruk, Sandor; Schaefer, Adam; Smethurst, Rebecca; Riffel, Rogério; Brownstein, Joel; Drory, Niv
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Volume 488, Issue 1, p.L6-L11
Advertised on:
9
2019
Citations
29
Refereed citations
26
Description
Bars in galaxies are thought to stimulate both inflow of material and
radial mixing along them. Observational evidence for this mixing has
been inconclusive so far, however, limiting the evaluation of the impact
of bars on galaxy evolution. We now use results from the MaNGA integral
field spectroscopic survey to characterize radial stellar age and
metallicity gradients along the bar and outside the bar in 128 strongly
barred galaxies. We find that age and metallicity gradients are flatter
in the barred regions of almost all barred galaxies when compared to
corresponding disc regions at the same radii. Our results re-emphasize
the key fact that by azimuthally averaging integral field spectroscopic
data one loses important information from non-axisymmetric galaxy
components such as bars and spiral arms. We interpret our results as
observational evidence that bars are radially mixing material in
galaxies of all stellar masses, and for all bar morphologies and
evolutionary stages.
Related projects
Spiral Galaxies: Evolution and Consequences
Our small group is well known and respected internationally for our innovative and important work on various aspects of the structure and evolution of nearby spiral galaxies. We primarily use observations at various wavelengths, exploiting synergies that allow us to answer the most pertinent questions relating to what the main properties of
Johan Hendrik
Knapen Koelstra