# SDSS-IV MaNGA: Stellar Population Gradients Within Barred Galaxies

## TL;DR

This study uses MaNGA survey data to analyze stellar age and metallicity gradients in barred galaxies, providing evidence that bars induce radial mixing across different galaxy types and evolutionary stages.

## Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive observational evidence that bars cause radial mixing of stellar populations in a large sample of galaxies.

## Key findings

- Age and metallicity gradients are flatter in barred regions.
- Bars facilitate radial mixing of stellar material.
- Results hold across various galaxy masses and bar types.

## Abstract

Bars in galaxies are thought to stimulate both inflow of material and radial mixing along them. Observational evidence for this mixing has been inconclusive so far however, limiting the evaluation of the impact of bars on galaxy evolution. We now use results from the MaNGA integral field spectroscopic survey to characterise radial stellar age and metallicity gradients along the bar and outside the bar in 128 strongly barred galaxies. We find that age and metallicity gradients are flatter in the barred regions of almost all barred galaxies when compared to corresponding disk regions at the same radii. Our results re-emphasize the key fact that by azimuthally averaging integral field spectroscopic data one loses important information from non-axisymmetric galaxy components such as bars and spiral arms. We interpret our results as observational evidence that bars are radially mixing material in galaxies of all stellar masses, and for all bar morphologies and evolutionary stages.