Milky Way mass galaxies with X-shaped bulges are not rare in the local Universe

Boxy/Peanut/X-shaped (B/P/X) bulges are studied using the 3.6 mum images from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies, and the K_s-band images from the Near-IR S0 galaxy Survey. They are compared with the properties of barlenses, defined as lens-like structures embedded in bars, with sizes of about 50% of bars and axial ratios of 0.6-0.9. Based on observations and recent simulation models we show evidence that barlenses are the more face-on counterparts of B/P/X-shaped bulges. Using unsharp masks 18 new X-shaped structures are identified, covering a large range of galaxy inclinations. The similar masses and red B-3.6 mum colors of the host galaxies, and the fact that the combined axial ratio distribution of the host galaxy disks is flat, support the interpretation that barlenses and X-shapes are physically the same phenomenon. In Hubble types -3
Comment: First submission (sent to astro-ph in June 2014) replaced with the version accepted to MNRAS Letters (Vol. 444, L80-84). The biggest difference to the previous submission is Fig. 2