Bibcode
Lütticke, R.; Pohlen, M.; Dettmar, R.-J.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.417, p.527-539 (2004)
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4
2004
Journal
Citations
16
Refereed citations
12
Description
Inspecting all 1224 edge-on disk galaxies larger than 2arcmin in the
RC3 on Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) images (Lütticke et al.
cite{lue2000a}) we have found several galaxies with extraordinary
bulges meeting two criteria: they are box shaped and large in respect to
the diameters of their galaxies. These bulges are often disturbed, show
frequently prominent irregularities and asymmetries, and some possess
possible merger remnants or merging satellites. For these bulges we have
introduced the term ``Thick Boxy Bulges'' (TBBs). About 2% of all disk
galaxies (S0-Sd), respectively 4% of all galaxies with box- and
peanut-shaped (b/p) bulges, belong to this class of galaxies. Using
multicolour CCD and NIR data we have enlarged and followed up our sample
of nearly 20 galaxies with a TBB. The disturbed morphology of a large
fraction of these galaxies shows that many of the TBB galaxies are not
dynamically settled. For the TBBs the extent of the box shape seems to
be too large to result from a normal bar potential. Therefore we
conclude that two classes of b/p bulges exist with different origins.
While most (˜96%) b/p bulges can be explained by bars alone
(Lütticke et al. cite{lue2000b}), the extended boxy structures of
TBBs result most likely from accreted material by infalling satellite
companions (soft merging).