Evidence for a Strong End-On Bar in the Ringed Sigma-Drop Galaxy NGC
  6503
  We use WIYN High-resolution Infrared Camera (WHIRC) H (1.6 micron) band
imaging, archival Spitzer, HST, and GALEX data, simulations and data from the
literature to argue for the presence of a strong end-on bar in nearby spiral
galaxy NGC 6503. The evidence consists of both photometric and kinematic
signatures as well as resonant structures present in the galaxy which are most
often associated with bars. These include a central peak followed by a plateau
in the surface brightness profile, an extreme decrement in the central stellar
velocity dispersion (a sigma-drop), and the presence of an inner ring as well
as a circumnuclear disk with spiral structure. In this framework the previously
identified nuclear star-forming ring is instead a young inner ring spanned in
diameter by the strong end-on bar.
