Secular evolution of galaxies XXIII Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics Edited by J. Falc´on-Barroso and J. H. Knapen arXiv:1304.3529v1 [astro-ph.CO] 12 Apr 2013 Galaxy morphology Ronald J. Buta Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama Box 870324, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
[email protected] Abstract Galaxy morphology has many structures that are suggestive of various processes or stages of secular evolution. Internal perturbations such as bars can drive secular evolution through gravity torques that move gas into the central regions and build up a flattened, disk-like central bulge, or which may convert an open spiral pseudoring into a more closed ring. Interaction between individual components of a galaxy, such as between a bar and a dark halo, a bar and a central mass concentration, or between a perturbation and the basic state of a stellar disk, can also drive secular transformations. In this series of lectures, I review many aspects of galaxy morphology with a view to delineating some of the possible evolutionary pathways between different galaxy types. 2.1 Introductory remarks A principal goal of extragalactic studies has been to understand what drives the morphology of galaxies. It is important to determine the dynamical and evolutionary mechanisms that underlie the bewildering array of forms that define the various galaxy classification schemes used today (e.g., Sandage & Bedke 1994; Buta et al. 2007), because this will allow us to establish the relationships, if any, between different galaxy types. Physical