A comparison of the UV and HI properties of the extended UV (XUV) disk galaxies NGC 2541, NGC 5832 and ESO406-042

Abstract

We present a UV study of 3 extended UV (XUV) galaxies that we have observed with the UVIT and the GMRT. XUV galaxies show filamentary or diffuse star formation well beyond their optical disks, in regions where the disk surface density lies below the threshold for star formation. GALEX observations found that surprisingly 30% of all the nearby spiral galaxies have XUV disks. The XUV galaxies can be broadly classified as Type 1 and Type 2 XUV disks. The Type 1 XUV disks have star formation that is linked to that in their main disk, and the UV emission appears as extended, filamentary spiral arms. The UV luminosity is associated with compact star forming regions along the extended spiral arms. The star formation is probably driven by slow gas accretion from nearby galaxies or the intergalactic medium (IGM). But the Type 2 XUV disks have star formation associated with an outer low luminosity stellar disk that is often truncated near the optical radius of the galaxy. The nature of the stellar disks in Type 2 XUV disks are similar to that of the diffuse stellar disks of low surface brightness galaxies. The star formation in Type 2 XUV disks is thought to be due to rapid gas accretion or gas infall from nearby high velocity clouds (HVCs), interacting galaxies or the IGM. In this paper, we investigate the star formation properties of the XUV regions of two Type 2 galaxies and one mixed XUV type galaxy and compare them with the neutral hydrogen (HI) emisison in their disks. We present preliminary results of our UVIT (FUV and NUV) observations of NGC 2541, NGC 5832 and ESO406-042, as well as GMRT observations of their HI emission. We describe the UV emission morphology, estimate the star formation rates and compare it with the HI distribution in these Type 2 and mixed XUV galaxies.