Spiral-Induced Star Formation in the Outer Disks of Galaxies

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Scientific paper

Ultraviolet observations with GALEX demonstrate that nearly 30% of galaxies have UV emission, indicating star formation, beyond their optical extent. Studying this emission sheds light on star formation in low metallicity and high gas fraction environments, conditions similar to those present during the early stages of disk formation. Here, we address whether extended UV emission is consistent with the gas surface density threshold for star formation inferred from Halpha radial profiles of galaxies. Over-densities in extended gas disks owing to spiral structure induce star formation, and therefore UV emission, in outer disks. To explore whether this is consistent with the observed UV emission, we run smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of isolated disk galaxies with fiducial star formation laws. We use these simulations to quantify the properties of star formation induced by spiral structure in outer disks. For direct comparison with observations, we use the 3-D radiative transfer code Sunrise to create simulated FUV and Ks-band images. Though we are unable to reproduce galaxies classified as Type II Extended Ultraviolet (XUV) disks, Type I XUV disks can be naturally reproduced by spiral induced over-densities in extended gas disks.

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