Circumnuclear regions in barred spiral galaxies - I. Near-infrared imaging

We present subarcsecond-resolution, ground-based, near-infrared images of t he central regions of a sample of 12 barred galaxies with circumnuclear sta r formation activity, which is organized in ring-like regions typically 1 k pc in diameter. We also present Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared images of 10 of our sample galaxies, and compare them with our ground-based data. Although our sample galaxies were selected for the presence of circumnucle ar star formation activity, our broad-band near-infrared images are heterog eneous, showing a substantial amount of small-scale structure in some galax ies, and practically none in others. We argue that, where it exists, this s tructure is caused by young stars, which also cause the characteristic bump s or changes in slope in the radial profiles of ellipticity, major axis pos ition angle, surface brightness and colour at the radius of the circumnucle ar ring in most of our sample galaxies. In seven out of 10 HST images, star formation in the nuclear ring is clearly visible as a large number of smal l emitting regions, organized into spiral arm fragments, which are accompan ied by dust lanes. Near-infrared colour index maps show much more clearly t he location of dust lanes and, in certain cases, regions of star formation than single broad-band images. Circumnuclear spiral structure thus outlined appears to be common in barred spiral galaxies with circumnuclear star for mation.