Circumnuclear Starbursts in Barred Galaxies

Knapen, J. H.
Bibliographical reference

Barred Galaxies and Circumnuclear Activity. Proceedings of the NOBEL SYMPOSIUM 98 Held at Stockholm Observatory, Saltsjöbaden, Sweden, 30 November - 3 December 1995. Edited by A. Sandqvist and P. O. Lindblad. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York. Also Lecture Notes in Physics, volume 474, 1996, p.233

Advertised on:
1996
Number of authors
1
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
5
Refereed citations
5
Description
I discuss new observations of circumnuclear regions in barred galaxies, both of their kinematics and their near-infrared (NIR) morphology. New kinematic observations of M100 confirm that (1) the inner bar-like feature detected before in this galaxy is in fact a continuation of the large-scale stellar bar; and (2) the spiral arm-like sites of star formation in the circumnuclear zone are manifestations of density wave spiral structure in the core of this galaxy. From a NIR study of similar regions in other barred galaxies, I find that in many of these regions, sites of star formation are visible in the NIR images, implying that young stars are responsible for a non-negligible part of the NIR emission.