The clustering of barred galaxies in the local Universe
  We study the clustering properties of barred galaxies using data from the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We compute projected redshift-space two-point
cross-correlation functions w_p(r_p) for a sample of nearly 1000 galaxies for
which we have performed detailed structural decompositions using the methods
described in Gadotti (2009). The sample includes 286 barred galaxies. The
clustering of barred and unbarred galaxies of similar stellar mass is
indistinguishable over all the scales probed (~20kpc - 30Mpc). This result also
holds even if the sample is restricted to bars with bluer g-i colours (and
hence younger ages). Our result also does not change if we split our sample of
barred galaxies according to bar-to-total luminosity ratio, bar boxyness,
effective surface brightness, length, or the shape of the surface density
profile within the bar. There is a hint that red, elliptical bars are more
strongly clustered than red and less elliptical bars, on scales >~ 1 Mpc,
although the statistical significance is not high. We conclude that there is no
significant evidence that bars are a product of mergers or interactions. We
tentatively interpret the stronger clustering of the more elliptical bars as
evidence that they are located in older galaxies, which reside in more massive
haloes.
