Related papers: Three-Dimensional Bar Structure and Disc/Bulge Sec…
I review some of the work on bars which is closely linked to the bar/bulge system in our Galaxy. Several independent studies, using totally independent methods, come to the same results about the 3D structure of a bar, i.e., that a bar is…
The existence of a classical bulge in disk galaxies holds important clue to the assembly history of galaxies. Finding observational evidence of very low mass classical bulges particularly in barred galaxies including our Milky Way, is a…
We have performed two-dimensional multicomponent decomposition of 144 local barred spiral galaxies using 3.6 $\mu {\rm m}$ images from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies. Our model fit includes up to four components (bulge,…
We explore trends in the morphology and line-of-sight (los) velocity of stellar populations in the inner regions of disc galaxies, using N-body simulations with both a thin (kinematically cold) and a thick (kinematically hot) disc which…
We have observed 60 edge-on galaxies in the NIR in order to study the stellar distribution in galaxies with box/peanut-shaped bulges. The much smaller amount of dust extinction at these wavelengths allows us to identify in almost all target…
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 model the formation of a bar plus box/peanut bulge (BP bulge) component in a Milky Way-like disc galaxy using simulations of isolated multi-component systems that evolve from equilibrium initial conditions. The simulations are designed…
From a sample of 84 local barred, moderately inclined disc galaxies, we determine the fraction which host boxy or peanut-shaped (B/P) bulges (the vertically thickened inner parts of bars). We find that the frequency of B/P bulges in barred…
Boxy/peanut and X-shaped (BP/X) bulges are prominent features in edge-on disk galaxies and are believed to be vertically thickened bars. Despite their relevance in bar evolution, a statistically robust census of these structures in large…
We use high resolution collisionless $N$-body simulations to study the secular evolution of disk galaxies and in particular the final properties of disks that suffer a bar and perhaps a bar-buckling instability. Although we find that bars…
Some 30% of disc galaxies have a pronounced central bar feature in the disc plane and many more have weaker features of a similar kind. Kinematic data indicate that the bar constitutes a major non-axisymmetric component of the mass…
The vertical profiles of disc galaxies are built by the material trapped around stable periodic orbits, which form their "skeletons". According to this, the knowledge of the stability of the main families of periodic orbits in appropriate…
(Abridged) A robust analysis of galaxy structural parameters, based on the modeling of bulge and disk brightnesses in the BVRH bandpasses, is presented for 121 face-on and moderately inclined late-type spirals. Each surface brightness (SB)…
We use the bulge Sersic index n and bulge-to-total ratio (B/T) to explore the fundamental question of how bulges form. We perform 2D bulge-disk-bar decomposition on H-band images of 143 bright, high stellar mass (>1.0e10 solar masses)…
We use N-body simulations of bar formation in isolated galaxies to study the effect of bulge mass and bulge concentration on bar formation. Bars are global disk instabilities that evolve by transferring angular momentum from the inner to…
We have measured the radial light profiles and global shapes of bars using two-dimensional 3.6 $\mu m $ image decompositions for 144 face-on barred galaxies from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G). The bar surface…
We investigate whether the formation mechanism of boxy and peanut-shaped (B/PS) bulges could depend on the gas content of the galaxy. We have performed N-body simulations with and without a gaseous component. In the second case star…
(Abridged) A variety of formation scenarios was proposed to explain the diversity of properties observed in bulges. Studying their intrinsic shape can help in constraining the dominant mechanism at the epochs of their assembly. The…
We review the observational evidences concerning the three-dimensional structure of the Galactic bulge. Although the inner few kpc of our Galaxy are normally referred to as {\it the bulge}, all the observations demonstrate that this region…
We present the results of two-component (disc+bar) and three-component (disc+bar+bulge) multiwavelength 2D photometric decompositions of barred galaxies in five SDSS bands ($ugriz$). This sample of $\sim$3,500 nearby ($z<0.06$) galaxies…