Bar formation and evolution in disc galaxies with gas and a triaxial halo: morphology, bar strength and halo properties

Abstract

We follow the formation and evolution of bars in N-body simulations of disc galaxies with gas and/or a triaxial halo. We find that both the relative gas fraction and the halo shape play a major role in the formation and evolution of the bar. In gas-rich simulations, the disc stays near-axisymmetric much longer than in gas-poor ones, and, when the bar starts growing, it does so at a much slower rate. Because of these two effects combined, large-scale bars form much later in gas-rich than in gas-poor discs. This can explain the observation that bars are in place earlier in massive red disc galaxies than in blue spirals. We also find that the morphological characteristics in the bar region are strongly influenced by the gas fraction. In particular, the bar at the end of the simulation is much weaker in gas-rich cases. The quality of our simulations is such as to allow us to discuss the question of bar longevity because the resonances are well resolved and the number of gas particles is sufficient to describe the gas flow adequately. In no case did we find a bar which was destroyed. Halo triaxiality has a dual influence on bar strength. In the very early stages of the simulation it induces bar formation to start earlier. On the other hand, during the later, secular evolution phase, triaxial haloes lead to considerably less increase of the bar strength than spherical ones. The shape of the halo evolves considerably with time. We confirm previous results of gas-less simulations that find that the inner part of an initially spherical halo can become elongated and develop a halo bar. However we also show that, on the contrary, in gas-rich simulations, the inner parts of an initially triaxial halo can become rounder with time. The main body of initially triaxial haloes evolves towards sphericity, but in initially strongly triaxial cases it stops well short of becoming spherical. Part of the angular momentum absorbed by the halo generates considerable rotation of the halo particles that stay located relatively near the disc for long periods of time. Another part generates halo bulk rotation, which, contrary to that of the bar, increases with time but stays small. Thus, in our models there are two non-axisymmetric components rotating with different pattern speeds, namely the halo and the bar, so that the resulting dynamics have strong similarities to the dynamics of double bar systems.