Related papers: The 3D structure of the Galactic bulge
We review the observed morphological, photometric, and kinematic properties of boxy/peanut (B/P) shape bulges. Nearly half of the bulges in the nearby edge-on galaxies have these characteristics, which fraction is similar to the observed…
The color-magnitude diagrams of $\sim 1 \times 10^6$ stars obtained for 19 fields towards the Galactic bulge with the OGLE project reveal a well-defined population of bulge red clump stars. We found that the distributions of the…
I discuss results from the COSMOS survey, showing that the fraction of disc galaxies that is barred decreases considerably with look-back time from z ~ 0.2 to z ~ 0.8. This decrease is more important for small mass and low luminosity…
Our Galaxy is a barred spiral. Recent work based on the COBE NIR data implies a small bulge-bar and a disk with a short scale-length. The corotation radius of the bar is in the range 3-4.5 kpc. The stellar density distribution beyond the…
Our Galaxy is known to contain a central boxy/peanut-shaped bulge, yet the importance of a classical, pressure-supported component within the central part of the Milky Way is still being debated. It should be most visible at low…
The central kpc of barred galaxies exhibits a wealth of morphological information on different components with clear dynamical consequences. These include nuclear rings, spirals, bars, and more. We argue that this morphology is driven by…
Simulations and observations of galactic bars suggest they do not commonly evolve into bulges, although it is possible that the earliest bars formed bulges long ago, when galaxies were smaller, denser, and had more gas. The most highly…
We re-analyse photometric near-infrared data in order to investigate why it is so hard to get a consensus for the shape and density law of the bulge, as seen from the literature. To solve the problem we use the Besancon Galaxy Model to…
Recent observations have discovered the presence of a Box/Peanut or X-shape structure in the Galactic bulge. Such Box/Peanut structures are common in external disc galaxies, and are well-known in N-body simulations where they form following…
It has been suggested that the peanut-shaped bulges seen in some edge-on disk galaxies are due to the presence of a central bar. Although bars cannot be detected photometrically in edge-on galaxies, we show that barred potentials produce a…
We discuss the formation and evolution of boxy/peanut bulges (B/Ps) and present new simulations results. Orbital structure studies show that B/Ps are parts of bars seen edge-on, they have their origin in vertical instabilities of the disc…
We investigate the inner regions of the Milky Way with a sample of unprecedented size and coverage thanks to APOGEE DR16 and Gaia EDR3 data. Our inner Galactic sample has more than 26,000 stars within $|X_{\rm Gal}| <5$ kpc, $|Y_{\rm Gal}|…
The inner $\sim5$ kiloparsec (kpc) region of the Milky Way is complex. Unravelling the evolution of the Galaxy requires precise understanding of the formation of this region. We report a study focused on disentangling the inner Galaxy ($r <…
Simulations have shown that bars are subject to a vertical buckling instability that transforms thin bars into boxy or peanut-shaped structures, but the physical conditions necessary for buckling to occur are not fully understood. We use…
Barred galaxies have interesting morphological features whose presence and properties set constraints on galactic evolution. Here we examine barlenses, i.e. lens-like components whose extent along the bar major axis is shorter than that of…
By analyzing a N-body simulation of a bulge formed simply via a bar instability mechanism operating on a kinematically cold stellar disk, and by comparing the results of this analysis with the structural and kinematic properties of the main…
Boxy/peanut bulges in disk galaxies have been associated to stellar bars. In this talk, we discuss the different properties of such bulges and their relation with the corresponding bar, using a very large sample of a few hundred numerical…
We present here a thorough photometric analysis of double-barred galaxies, consisting of i) two-dimensional photometric decompositions including a bulge, inner bar, outer bar, and (truncated) disc; and ii) three-dimensional statistical…
It has been suggested that the peanut-shaped bulges seen in some edge-on disk galaxies are produced when bars in these galaxies buckle. This paper reviews the modelling which seeks to show how bars buckle, and I present a very simple new…
In its first part, this paper summarizes recent work on the mass and shape of the Galactic dark halo. The second part presents a review of the large-scale structure of the Milky Way, and of the evidence that the inner Galaxy is dominated by…