Impact of gas flows on the metallicity of barred galaxies

The relative contribution of secular processes to galaxy evolution is a hot topic under an intense debate. Numerical simulations predict that bars represent a very important mechanism for triggering gas inflows that lead to central star formation and that change both, the gas-phase and stellar phase metallicities in the center of the galaxies. We present a comparative study of the gaseous and stellar metallicities in the center of galaxies with and without bars using a sample of SDSS galaxies. Contrary to some previous studies, we do not find any difference in the gaseous or stellar abundances of barred and unbarred galaxies. We discuss the origin of the discrepancies with previous results. The present analysis constitute a very important piece of information in our understanding of the importance of bars in building central bulges and, in general, in our understanding of secular processes in disk galaxies .