We propose to carry out observations of a sample of 14 barred galaxies
with PHOT. Related observations in the Central Program with CAM will
provide fruitful information on the distribution of the warm
dust inside HII regions and of the PAHs emission. Here we propose to
further investigate the emission properties of these bright infrared
sources looking at different wavelenghts to dicriminate the
temperatures of dust components.
Hydrodynamical studies show that the gravitational potential due to
the presence of the bar exerts a torque which drives an inflow of the
gas along the bar toward the center. In the presence of an Inner
Lindblad Resonance, this gas accumulates in a nuclear ring, where
active star formation takes place. The conclusion is that bars are
playing a major role in triggering star formation.
It is therefore not surprising that analyses of starburst galaxy
samples showed that there is a preponderance of bar features.
Following Soifer (1987), barred galaxies are the most luminous
infrared sources among normal galaxies; in fact, around 50% of their
total luminosity is emitted at long wavelengths, while this percentage
is about 30% for normal spirals. As suggested by previous works on
this subject (Mazzei et al, 1992, 1994), looking at suitables infrared
spectral ranges, we can recover the current value, as well as the past
trend of the star formation rate.