Bibcode
DOI
Erwin, Peter; Beltrán, Juan Carlos Vega; Graham, Alister W.; Beckman, John E.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 597, Issue 2, pp. 929-947.
Advertised on:
11
2003
Journal
Citations
97
Refereed citations
83
Description
We present a detailed morphological, photometric, and kinematic analysis
of two barred S0 galaxies with large, luminous inner disks inside their
bars. We show that these structures, in addition to being geometrically
disklike, have exponential profiles (scale lengths ~300-500 pc) distinct
from the central, nonexponential bulges. We also find them to be
kinematically disklike. The inner disk in NGC 2787 has a luminosity
roughly twice that of the bulge; but in NGC 3945, the inner disk is
almost 10 times more luminous than the bulge, which itself is extremely
small (half-light radius ~100 pc, in a galaxy with an outer ring of
radius ~14 kpc) and has only ~5% of the total luminosity-a bulge/total
ratio much more typical of an Sc galaxy. We estimate that at least 20%
of (barred) S0 galaxies may have similar structures, which means that
their bulge/disk ratios may be significantly overestimated. These inner
disks dominate the central light of their galaxies; they are at least an
order of magnitude larger than typical ``nuclear disks'' found in
elliptical and early-type spiral galaxies. Consequently, they must
affect the dynamics of the bars in which they reside.