2003ApJ...583L..75G

We have performed for the first time in the literature a two-dimensional structural analysis on the barred lenticular and face-on galaxies NGC 4608 and NGC 5701. The results indicate that either these galaxies have never had large disks or their disks were almost completely destroyed by their strong bars because of secular evolution processes. We discuss these surprising conclusions, checking for signs of secular evolution, considering bar-forming instabilities, and suggesting, based on N-body simulations, a new mechanism to form bars in spheroids, which includes nonspherical halos. Quantitative predictions from our new mechanism are compared with those from other recent models for bar formation and evolution.