Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Testing for relics of past strong buckling events in edge-on galaxies: Simulation predictions and data from S$^{4}$G |
| Authors: |
Cuomo, V., Debattista, V. P., Racz, S., Anderson, S. R., Erwin, P., Gonzalez, O. A., Powell, J. W., Corsini, E. M., Morelli, L., Norris, M. A. |
| Publication Year: |
2022 |
| Collection: |
Astrophysics |
| Subject Terms: |
Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| More Details: |
The short-lived buckling instability is responsible for the formation of at least some box/peanut (B/P) shaped bulges, which are observed in most massive, $z=0$, barred galaxies. Nevertheless, it has also been suggested that B/P bulges form via the slow trapping of stars onto vertically extended resonant orbits. The key difference between these two scenarios is that when the bar buckles, symmetry about the mid-plane is broken for a period of time. We use a suite of simulations (with and without gas) to show that when the buckling is sufficiently strong, a residual mid-plane asymmetry persists for several Gyrs after the end of the buckling phase, and is visible in simulation images. On the other hand, images of B/P bulges formed through resonant trapping and/or weak buckling remain symmetric about the mid-plane. We develop two related diagnostics to identify and quantify mid-plane asymmetry in simulation images of galaxies that are within 3{\deg} of edge-on orientation, allowing us to test whether the presence of a B/P-shaped bulge can be explained by a past buckling event. We apply our diagnostics to two nearly edge-on galaxies with B/P bulges from the ${\it Spitzer}$ Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies, finding no mid-plane asymmetry, implying these galaxies formed their bulges either by resonant trapping or by buckling more than $\sim 5$ Gyr ago. We conclude that the formation of B/P bulges through strong buckling may be a rare event in the past $\sim 5$ Gyr.
Comment: Accepted for pubblication in MNRAS |
| Document Type: |
Working Paper |
| DOI: |
10.1093/mnras/stac3047 |
| Access URL: |
http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.12255 |
| Accession Number: |
edsarx.2210.12255 |
| Database: |
arXiv |
