The Astronomical Journal, 149:1 (14pp), 2015 January doi:10.1088/0004-6256/149/1/1 © 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. STAR FORMATION PROPERTIES IN BARRED GALAXIES. III. STATISTICAL STUDY OF BAR-DRIVEN SECULAR EVOLUTION USING A SAMPLE OF NEARBY BARRED SPIRALS Zhi-Min Zhou1, Chen Cao2,3,4, and Hong Wu1 1 Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China;
[email protected],
[email protected] 2 School of Space Science and Physics, Shandong University at Weihai, Weihai, Shandong 264209, China;
[email protected] 3 Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy & Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Weihai, Shandong 264209, China 4 Visiting Scholar, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA Received 2014 March 18; accepted 2014 September 9; published 2014 November 25 ABSTRACT Stellar bars are important internal drivers of secular evolution in disk galaxies. Using a sample of nearby spiral galaxies with weak and strong bars, we explore the relationships between the star formation feature and stellar bars in galaxies. We find that galaxies with weak bars tend coincide with low concentrical star formation activity, while those with strong bars show a large scatter in the distribution of star formation activity. We find enhanced star formation activity in bulges toward stronger bars, although not predominantly, consistent with previous studies. Our results suggest that different stages of the secular process and many other factors may contribute to the complexity of the secular evolution. In addition, barred galaxies with intense star formation in bars tend to have active star formation in their bulges and disks, and bulges have higher star formation densities than bars and disks, indicating the evolutionary effects of bars.