THE BULGELESS SEYFERT/LINER GALAXY NGC 3367: DISK, BAR, LOPSIDEDNESS, AND ENVIRONMENT

NGC 3367 is a nearby isolated active galaxy that shows a radio jet, a strong bar, and evidence of lopsidedness. We present a quantitative analysis of the stellar and gaseous structure of the galaxy disk and search for evidence of recent interaction. Our study is based on new UBVRI Hα and JHK images and on archive Hα Fabry-Perot and H I Very Large Array data. From a coupled one-dimensional/two-dimensional GALFIT bulge/bar/disk decomposition a (B/D ∼ 0.07-0.1) exponential pseudobulge is inferred in all the observed bands. A near-infrared (NIR) estimate of the bar strength QmaxT(R) = 0.44 places NGC 3367 bar among the strongest ones. The asymmetry properties were studied using (1) the optical and NIR concentration-asymmetry-clumpiness indices, (2) the stellar (NIR) and gaseous (Hα, H I) A1 Fourier mode amplitudes, and (3) the H I-integrated profile and H I mean intensity distribution. While the average stellar component shows asymmetry values close to the average found in the local universe for isolated galaxies, the young stellar component and gas values are largely decoupled showing significantly larger A1 mode amplitudes suggesting that the gas has been recently perturbed and placing NGC 3367 in a global starburst phase. NGC 3367 is devoid of H I gas in the central regions where a significant amount of molecular CO gas exists instead. Our search for (1) faint stellar structures in the outer regions (up to μR ∼ 26 mag arcsec–2), (2) (Hα) star-forming satellite galaxies, and (3) regions with different colors (stellar populations) along the disk all failed. Such an absence is interpreted by using results from recent numerical simulations to constrain either a possible tidal event with an LMC like galaxy to some dynamical times in the past or a very low mass but perhaps gas rich recent encounter. We conclude that a cold flow accretion mode (gas and small/dark galaxies) may be responsible for the nuclear activity and peculiar (young stars and gas) morphology regardless of the highly isolated environment. Black hole growth in bulgeless galaxies may be triggered by smooth mass accretion.