| Author(s) and Co-Author(s) with Affiliation: Susnata Chattopadhyay(Department of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur, India - 741246), Soumavo Ghosh(Department of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, India - 453552), Dimitri A. Gadotti(Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK), Zoe A. Le Conte(Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK), Taehyun Kim(Department of Astronomy and Atmospheric Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea - 41566), Virginia Cuomo(Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de La Serena, Av. Raúl Bitrán 1305, 1700000, La Serena, Chile), Camila de Sa Freitas(European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107 Vitacura, Casilla 19001 Santiago de Chile), E. Athanassoula(Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, CNES, LAM, Marseille, France) |
| Abstract: Stellar bars are one of the most common non-axisymmetric structures in disc galaxies in the local Universe as well as in high redshift (z ~4) disc galaxies, as recently revealed by the JWST observations. The properties of stellar bars play a crucial role in shaping up the bar-driven long-term evolution in disc galaxies. However, a systematic observational study of redshift evolution of bar properties (such as strength and length) encompassing a wide range of redshifts, is largely missing till date. In this contributed presentation, using a sample of ~ 625 barred galaxies, carefully chosen from SDSS, HST COSMOS and JWST CEERS surveys, I will present a systematic investigation of the evolution of bar properties with redshift (0.02 < z < 3.2). I will further show a novel usage of dark gap, a preferential light deficit along the bar minor axis, as an indirect measure of the bar properties (strength and length). I will also demonstrate that the strength and extent of dark gaps show negligible evolution over a major redshift range considered here, with a moderate increasing trend from the higher redshift regime, and a slight decreasing trend only towards the lower redshift regime. I will further discuss the implications of this unprecedented study of redshift evolution of bar properties over such an extensive redshift range in the context of bar formation and the initial rapid growth phase at early cosmic times. (Ref: Chattopadhyay, S., Ghosh, Soumavo et al., 2026, soon to be submitted to the MNRAS) |
