Abstract Details

Name: Renu Devi
Affiliation: Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Conference ID: ASI2025_641
Title: Understanding the role of stellar bar in quenching star formation in galaxies
Authors: D. Renu 1,2, Smitha Subramanian 1, Suhasini Rao 1,3, Koshy George
Authors Affiliation: 1 Indian Institute of Astrophysics, 2nd Block Koramangala, Bengaluru, 560034 2 Pondicherry University, R.V. Nagar, Kalapet, 605014, Puducherry, India 3 Department of Physics, University of Alberta, CCIS 4-181, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada 4 Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Scheinerstr. 1, Munich 81679, Germany
Mode of Presentation: Poster
Abstract Category: Galaxies and Cosmology
Abstract: Around two-third of disk galaxies host bars. In their later stages of evolution, bars can suppress star formation in the central regions of disk galaxies leading to internal quenching. Our aim is to understand the mechanisms of bar-driven quenching by studying barred galaxies (redshift < 0.06) at various stages of star formation (within the bar region) and evolutionary phases. Using spatially resolved UV-optical color maps , (NUV-r) color radial profiles & SED fitting, our goal is to infer the role of the bar in halting star formation. We analyze a sample of around 30 centrally quenched barred galaxies and find that the internal regions exhibit redder colors (NUV-r > 4 mag, indicating the age of stellar population in these regions to be older than >1 Gyr) and are quenched up to the bar length with their disks to be bluer in color establishing a direct link between the presence of the bar and internal quenching. Most barred galaxies in our sample host pseudo bulges and do not host AGN, indicating that the most probable reason for the internal quenching of these galaxies is the action of stellar bar. Additionally, we compare our findings with two control samples: star-forming barred galaxies and fully quenched barred galaxies, which evidently signify the role of the bar in internal quenching. Our results suggests that bars in their later stages of evolution turn the inner regions of galaxies redder, leading to quenching, with the effect being most prominent up to the ends of the bar and creating a region dominated by older stellar population. This may occur because bars have already funneled gas to the galactic center and the period of intense star formation is over. Individual galaxies from the above sample are further examined with deeper multiwavelength data providing a more comprehensive view of their star formation histories and structural evolution.