Publication
Star Formation Rates in Low Surface Brightness Galaxies
Pickering, T. E., Impey, C. D., van Gorkom, J. & Bothun, G. D., 1994, In : Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 26, p. 877Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

The low surface brightness (LSB) disk galaxies found in recent surveys
(e.g.,\ Schombert et al. 1992, AJ, 103, 1107) tend to be blue and gas
rich. These properties along with their low mean surface luminosity and
H i densities imply an inefficient mode of star formation. The Hα
images that we present of a sample of these galaxies show the weak star
formation in these galaxies relative to high surface brightness, Hubble
sequence spirals. Most LSB disks harbor only a handful of widely
scattered H ii regions and generally have low total Hα fluxes.
However, in some cases these scattered areas of star formation can be
quite vigorous. For example, the giant LSB disk galaxy F568-6 contains a
complex that is comparable in size, mass, and star formation rate to a
luminous irregular galaxy, but contributes only about 5% of the galaxy's
total blue luminosity (Bothun et al. 1990, ApJ, 360, 427). We present
neutral hydrogen images of some of the largest known LSB galaxies. The
gas in these galaxies is distributed in regularly rotating, giant, and
also very low H i surface brightness disks. A preliminary analysis shows
that if most of the gas is in atomic hydrogen, large parts of the disks
have total surface densities below the threshold for star formation to
set in.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 877 |
Journal | Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society |
Volume | 26 |
Publication status | Published - 1994 |
ID: 25236244