Properties of galaxies with ring structures

Abstract

Aims: We present a statistical analysis of different characteristics of ringed spiral galaxies with the aim of assessing the effects of rings on disk galaxy properties. Methods: We built a catalog of ringed galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 14 (SDSS-DR14). Via visual inspection of SDSS images, we classified the face-on spiral galaxies brighter than $g < 16.0$ mag into galaxies with: an inner ring, an outer ring, a nuclear ring, both an inner and an outer ring, and a pseudo-ring. In addition to rings, we recorded morphological types and the existence of bars, lenses, and galaxy pair companions with or without interaction. With the goal of providing an appropriate quantification of the influence of rings on galaxy properties, we also constructed a suitable control sample of non-ringed galaxies with similar redshift, magnitude, morphology, and local density environment distributions to those of ringed ones. Results: We found 1868 ringed galaxies, accounting for 22% of the full sample of spiral galaxies. In addition, within galaxies with ringed structures, 46% have an inner ring, 10% an outer ring, 20% both an inner and an outer ring, 6% a nuclear ring, and 18% a partial ring. Moreover, 64% of the ringed galaxies present bars. We also found that ringed galaxies have both a lower efficiency of star formation activity and older stellar populations (as derived with the $D_n(4000)$ spectral index) with respect to non-ringed disk objects from the control sample. Galaxies with ringed structures present an excess of high metallicity values compared to non-ringed ones, which show a $12 + \rm Log (\rm O /\rm H)$ distribution toward lower values. These findings seem to indicate that rings are peculiar structures that produce an accelerating galactic evolution, strongly altering the physical properties of their host galaxies.