J-PLUS: Impact of bars on quenching timescales in nearby green valley disc galaxies
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 Dn(4000) and Hδ, 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.