Bibcode
Block, D. L.; Puerari, I.; Knapen, J. H.; Elmegreen, B. G.; Buta, R.; Stedman, S.; Elmegreen, D. M.
Referencia bibliográfica
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.375, p.761-769 (2001)
Fecha de publicación:
9
2001
Revista
Número de citas
58
Número de citas referidas
48
Descripción
The relative bar torques for 45 galaxies observed at K-band with the 4.2
m William Herschel Telescope are determined by transforming the light
distributions into potentials and deriving the maximum ratios of the
tangential forces relative to the radial forces. The results are
combined with the bar torques for 30 other galaxies determined from our
previous K-band survey (Buta & Block cite{buta01}). Relative bar
torques determine the degree of spiral arm forcing, gas accretion, and
bar evolution. They differ from other measures of bar strength, such as
the relative amplitude of the bar determined photometrically, because
they include the bulge and other disk light that contributes to the
radial component of the total force. If the bulge is strong and the
radial forcing large, then even a prominent bar can have a relatively
weak influence on the azimuthal motions in the disk. Here we find that
the relative bar torque correlates only weakly with the optical bar type
listed in the Revised Shapley-Ames and de Vaucouleurs systems. In fact,
some classically barred galaxies have weaker relative bar torques than
classically unbarred galaxies. The optical class is a poor measure of
azimuthal disk forcing for two reasons: some infrared bars are not seen
optically, and some bars with strong bulges have their azimuthal forces
so strongly diluted by the average radial force that they exert only
small torques on their disks. The Hubble classification scheme poorly
recognizes the gravitational influence of bars. Applications of our bar
torque method to the high-redshift universe are briefly discussed. Based
on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope, operated on
the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish
Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de
Astrofísica de Canarias.