On the lack of stellar bars in Coma dwarf galaxies

TL;DR

This study investigates the presence of stellar bars in dwarf and larger galaxies within the Coma cluster using high-resolution HST images, revealing that bars are mainly found in a specific luminosity and mass range and are unaffected by cluster location.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of bar fractions across a wide luminosity range in a galaxy cluster, highlighting the link between bars and stellar disks in dwarf galaxies.

Findings

Bars are present in galaxies with -22 < M_r < -17.

Bar fraction remains consistent from cluster center to outskirts.

Bars are reliable indicators of cold stellar disks.

Abstract

We present a study of the bar fraction in the Coma cluster galaxies based on a sample of ~190 galaxies selected from the SDSS-DR6 and observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Survey (ACS). The unprecedented resolution of the HST-ACS images allows us to explore the presence of bars, detected by visual classification, throughout a luminosity range of 9 mag (-23 < M_r < -14), permitting us to study the poor known region of dwarf galaxies. We find that bars are hosted by galaxies in a tight range of both luminosities (-22 < M_r < -17) and masses (10^9 < M*/Msun < 10^11). In addition, we find that the bar fraction does not vary significantly when going from the center to the cluster outskirts, implying that cluster environment plays a second-order role in bar formation/evolution. The shape of the bar fraction distribution with respect to both luminosity and mass is well matched by the luminosity distribution of disk galaxies in Coma, indicating that bars are good tracers of cold stellar disks.