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Paper: Do Some Bulges Result from Merging?
Volume: 165, The Third Stromlo Symposium: The Galactic Halo
Page: 95
Authors: Dettmar, Ralf-Juergen; Luetticke, Rainer
Abstract: Inspecting a sample of edge-on galaxies selected from the RC3 (de Vaucouleurs et al., 1991) with D25>2 arcmin ( 1350 galaxies) on the "Digital Sky Survey" we have identified a class of approx. 20 disk galaxies with prominent, large, and boxy bulges. These bulges all show irregularities and asymmetries which are suggestive for them being formed just recently and not yet dynamically settled. We will present some examples and first results from CCD follow-up observations. While the large frequency of box- or peanut shaped bulges in disk galaxies (nearly 50%) is best explained by the response of the stellar disk to a bar potential we propose soft-merging of companions as the most likely scenario for the evolution of this new class of thick boxy bulges.
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