Molecular Gas in Candidate Double-barred Galaxies. I. The Diverse Morphology and Dynamics of NGC 2273 and NGC 5728

Double bars have been proposed as a means of transporting molecular gas past inner Lindblad resonances into the nuclear regions, where it can fuel active or starburst nuclei. Thus far, the existence of double bars has been determined predominantly through analysis of near-infrared images, which can tell us little about the dynamics and inflow rates of these systems. We have observed two double-bar galaxy candidates (NGC 2273 and NGC 5728) in …