The JWST view of the barred galaxy population in the SMACS0723 galaxy cluster

Abstract

The cosmic evolution of the barred galaxy population provides key information about the secular evolution of galaxies and the settling of rotationally dominated discs. We study the bar fraction in the SMACSJ0723.37323 (SMACS0723) cluster of galaxies at z = 0.39 using the Early Release Observations obtained with the NIRCam instrument mounted on the JWST telescope. As already found in nearby galaxy samples, we find that the bar fraction distribution of SMACS0723 is a strong function of the galaxy stellar luminosity/mass. The analogy with local clusters, such as Virgo and Coma, reveals a similar distribution among the three clusters for low-mass galaxies (log(M_star/M_sun) \leq 9.5). The comparison with a sample of local galaxies in a field environment shows a remarkable lack of bars in this low-mass regime for the SMACS0723 cluster (and therefore in Virgo and Coma) with respect to the field. At high masses (log(M_star/M_sun) \geq 10.25), galaxies in SMACS0723 show a slightly lower bar fraction than those in Coma. Our results support a scenario where cluster environment affects the formation of bars in a mass-dependent way. At high masses, the mild increase in the bar fraction of local clusters (Coma) with respect to both SMACS0723 and local field galaxies suggests a weak effect of cluster environment possibly triggering bar formation. On the other hand, low-mass galaxies show the same bar fraction in the three clusters (different redshifts) and a significant drop with respect to field galaxies at z=0, therefore suggesting that: i) the bar fraction of low-mass galaxies in clusters is not evolving during the last 4~Gyr, and ii) bar formation is severely inhibited in low-mass galaxies living in clusters (Abridged).