Pattern speed of the stellar bar in NGC 7479

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 297; no. 4; pp. 1052 - 1059
• Main Authors: Laine, S., Shlosman, I., Heller, C. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 11.07.1998
• Subjects: galaxies: individual: NGC 7479; galaxies: ISM; galaxies: kinematics and dynamics; galaxies: spiral; galaxies: structure; hydrodynamics; galaxies: structure; hydrodynamics; galaxies: kinematics and dynamics; galaxies: spiral; galaxies: ISM; galaxies: individual: NGC 7479
• ISSN: 0035-8711; 1365-2966
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.01512.x

We study the pattern speed of the bar in NGC 7479 by comparing observations with numerical simulations of gas flow in a two-dimensional gravitational potential, derived from observations. The best agreement between the observations and the modelling is achieved for the fast bar pattern speed of 27 km s−1 kpc−1, when the corotation radius is at 50 arcsec, i.e. 1.1 times the radial length of the bar. This result is supported by the gas and dust lane morphologies, star formation distribution, projected velocity field and overall morphology. We find that star formation is most likely to be triggered close to the large-scale shocks and dust lanes in the bar. The net gas inflow rate in the simulations at 1-kpc radius is 4–6 M⊙ yr−1 at intermediate times.