Bar fraction in lenticular galaxies: dependence on luminosity and environment

TL;DR

This study investigates how the presence of bars in lenticular galaxies depends on their luminosity and environment, revealing that fainter and cluster galaxies have higher bar fractions.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive analysis of bar fractions in lenticular galaxies across different luminosities and environments using optical and near-infrared data.

Findings

Faint lenticular galaxies have a higher bar fraction than bright ones.

Cluster lenticulars show more bars than field counterparts.

Bar fraction is influenced by both luminosity and environment.

Abstract

We present a study of bars in lenticular galaxies based on a sample of 371 galaxies from the SDSS-DR 7 and 2MASS in optical and near-infrared bands, respectively. We found a bar in 15% of the lenticular galaxies in our sample, which is consistent with recent studies. The barred galaxy fraction shows a luminosity dependence, with faint lenticular galaxies (MK > -24.5, total absolute magnitude in K band) having a larger fraction of bars than bright lenticular galaxies (MK < -24.5). A similar trend is seen when Mr = -21.5, the total absolute magnitude in SDSS r band is used to divide the sample into faint and bright lenticular galaxies. We find that faint galaxies in clusters show a higher bar fraction than their counterparts in the field. This suggests that the formation of bars in lenticular galaxies not only depends on the total luminosity of galaxy but also on the environment of the host galaxy.