J-PLUS: Impact of bars on quenching timescales in nearby green valley disc galaxies

¹ Observatório Nacional, Rua General José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20921-400, Brazil
e-mail: jpncavalcante@gmail.com
² University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1090, USA
³ Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP 05508-090, Brazil
⁴ Departamento de Física Teórica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
⁵ Observatório do Valongo, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Ladeira Pedro Antônio 43, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20080-090, Brazil
⁶ Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, SE, Brazil
⁷ Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YB, UK
⁸ Departamento de Astronomia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, RS 91501-970, Brazil
⁹ Departamento de Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad Andres Bello, 700 Fernandez Concha, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
¹⁰ Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Observatooriumi 1, 61602 Tõravere, Estonia
¹¹ Departamento de Física Teórica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain
¹² Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón (CEFCA), Unidad Asociada al CSIC, Plaza San Juan 1, 44001 Teruel, Spain
¹³ European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)/ESA, Madrid, Spain
¹⁴ PITT PACC, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
¹⁵ DIPC, Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 4, 20018 Donostia-san Sebastián, Spain
¹⁶ Center for Space Science and Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA

Received: 26 January 2019
Accepted: 11 July 2019

Abstract

Context. Between the blue cloud and the red sequence peaks on the galaxy colour–magnitude diagram there is a region sparsely populated by galaxies called the green valley. In a framework where galaxies mostly migrate on the colour–magnitude diagram from star forming to quiescent, the green valley is considered a transitional galaxy stage. The details of the processes that drive galaxies from star-forming to passive systems still remain unknown.

Aims. We aim to measure the transitional timescales of nearby galaxies across the green valley, through the analysis of Galaxy Evolution Explorer and Javalambre Photometric of Local Universe Survey photometric data. Specifically, we seek to study the impact of bars on the quenching timescales.

Methods. We developed a method that estimates empirically the star formation quenching timescales of green valley galaxies, assuming an exponential decay model of the star formation histories and through a combination of narrow and broad bands from the Javalambre Photometric of Local Universe Survey and Galaxy Evolution Explorer. We correlated these quenching timescales with the presence of bars.

Results. We find that the Javalambre Photometric of Local Universe Survey colours F0395 −g and F0410 −g are sensitive to different star formation histories, showing, consequently, a clear correlation with the D_n(4000) and H_δ, A spectral indices. We measured quenching timescales based on these colours and we find that quenching timescales obtained with our new approach are in agreement with those determined using spectral indices. We also compared the quenching timescales of green valley disc galaxies as a function of the probability of hosting a bar. We find that galaxies with high bar probability tend to quench their star formation slowly.

Conclusions. We conclude that: (1) Javalambre Photometric of Local Universe Survey filters can be used to measure quenching timescales in nearby green valley galaxies; and (2) the resulting star formation quenching timescales are longer for barred green valley galaxies. Considering that the presence of a bar indicates that more violent processes (e.g. major mergers) are absent in host galaxies, we conclude that the presence of a bar can be used as a morphological signature for slow star formation quenching.