Characterizing Bars at z~0 in the OSUBSGS: Implications for the Evolution of Barred Galaxies

Critical insights on galaxy evolution stem from studying local and high redshift bars. We present results on bars at z ~ 0, based on OSUBSGS B and H images of 180 spirals. (1) The deprojected bar fraction is 60% in H and 44% in B, confirming the ubiquity of local bars. The results before and after deprojection are almost identical, which is encouraging for high redshfit studies. (2) Most (71%) bars have moderate to high strengths or ellipticity (0.50 = 0.4) large-scale bars in the B band at z ~ 0 is 35 +/- 6%. This is comparable to the value of 30 +/- 6% reported earlier for similar systems at z ~ 0.2 - 1.0 or lookback times of 3 - 8 Gyr, thereby ruling out cosmogonies where the bar fraction declines strongly with redshift