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Title:
The Central Region of Barred Galaxies: Molecular Environment, Starbursts, and Secular Evolution
Authors:
Jogee, Shardha; Scoville, Nick; Kenney, Jeffrey D. P.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, 1 University Station C1400, Austin, TX 78712-0259 .), AB(Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, MS 105-24, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125; .), AC(Yale University, Astronomy Department, New Haven, CT 06520-8101 .)
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 630, Issue 2, pp. 837-863. (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
09/2005
Origin:
UCP
ApJ Keywords:
Galaxies: Evolution, Galaxies: ISM, Galaxies: Spiral, Stars: Formation
DOI:
10.1086/432106
Bibliographic Code:
2005ApJ...630..837J

Abstract

Stellar bars drive gas into the circumnuclear (CN) region of galaxies. To investigate the fate of the CN gas and star formation (SF), we study a sample of barred nonstarbursts and starbursts with high-resolution CO, optical, Hα, radio continuum, Brγ, and HST data, and find the following. (1) The inner kiloparsec of bars differs markedly from the outer disk. It hosts molecular gas surface densities Σgas-m of 500-3500 Msolar pc-2, gas mass fractions of 10%-30%, and epicyclic frequencies of several 100-1000 km s-1 kpc-1. Consequently, in the CN region gravitational instabilities can only grow at high gas densities and on short timescales, explaining in part why powerful starbursts reside there. (2) Across the sample, we find bar pattern speeds with upper limits of 43-115 km s-1 pc-1 and outer inner Lindblad resonance radii of >500 pc. (3) Barred starbursts and nonstarbursts have CN SF rates of 3-11 and 0.1-2 Msolar yr-1, despite similar CN gas masses. The Σgas-m value in the starbursts is larger (1000-3500 Msolar pc-2) and close to the Toomre critical density over a large region. (4) Molecular gas makes up 10%-30% of the CN dynamical mass and fuels large CN SF rates in the starbursts, building young, massive, high-V/σ components. Implications for secular evolution along the Hubble sequence are discussed.
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