Galaxy Zoo and ALFALFA: Atomic Gas and the Regulation of Star Formation in Barred Disc Galaxies
Karen L. Masters (ICG Portsmouth/SEPNet), Robert C. Nichol (ICG, Portsmouth/SEPNet), Martha P. Haynes (Cornell), William C. Keel (Alabama),, Chris Lintott (Oxford), Brooke Simmons (Yale), Ramin Skibba (Arizona), Steven, Bamford (Nottingham), Riccardo Giovanelli (Cornell)

TL;DR
This study investigates the relationship between atomic gas content and the presence of large-scale bars in disc galaxies, revealing a significant inverse correlation and discussing potential causal mechanisms affecting galaxy evolution.
Contribution
It provides the first large-scale analysis linking atomic gas content with bar fraction, highlighting residual correlations at fixed stellar mass and proposing multiple causal explanations.
Findings
Bar fraction is lower in gas-rich disc galaxies.
Residual correlation exists between gas content and bar presence at fixed stellar mass.
Bars may influence star formation by regulating gas inflow and consumption.
Abstract
We study the observed correlation between atomic gas content and the likelihood of hosting a large scale bar in a sample of 2090 disc galaxies. Such a test has never been done before on this scale. We use data on morphologies from the Galaxy Zoo project and information on the galaxies' HI content from the ALFALFA blind HI survey. Our main result is that the bar fraction is significantly lower among gas rich disc galaxies than gas poor ones. This is not explained by known trends for more massive (stellar) and redder disc galaxies to host more bars and have lower gas fractions: we still see at fixed stellar mass a residual correlation between gas content and bar fraction. We discuss three possible causal explanations: (1) bars in disc galaxies cause atomic gas to be used up more quickly, (2) increasing the atomic gas content in a disc galaxy inhibits bar formation, and (3) bar fraction…
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