Thursday 22 April at 2:30pm

Jean-Rene Roy - Universite de Laval, Canadian Gemini Project Scientist

"The Transformation of Spiral Galaxies"

ABSTRACT: "I will present evidence of the influence of bars in inducing strong radial flows of interstellar gas in galaxy discs. By comparing the radial abundance profiles of various morphological types of spirals, I will argue that the observed trends are consistent with a morphological evolution of disc galaxies by the action of a bar forming and dissolving over ~10^9 yr : later type galaxies (Sd, Sc, Sbc) evolve into earlier-type disc galaxies (Sb, Sa) through the transitory SBc and SBb phases."