Why Are Some Optically Red Spirals NUV-r Blue?

TL;DR

This study compares NUV-r blue and red spiral galaxies, revealing that differences mainly occur in outer disks and are linked to star formation activity, with blue spirals showing signs of recent gas accretion and ongoing star formation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the structural and star formation differences between NUV-r blue and red spirals, highlighting the role of environment and gas accretion in their evolution.

Findings

NUV-r red spirals are fully quenched in star formation.

NUV-r blue spirals have larger outer disks at a given mass.

Blue spirals likely acquire new gas through interactions or accretion.

Abstract

To understand the complicated formation processes of disk galaxies, we carry out a comparative study for NUV-r blue and red spiral galaxies drawn from a parent sample of u-r red spirals with $M_{*} > 10^{10.5} M_{\odot}$ at 0.02 < z < 0.07, based on the optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the ultraviolet (UV) data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). The analyses of the images and surface brightness profiles in the NUV and optical bands show that the differences between NUV-r blue and red spirals mainly occur in the outer disks (1-3 $R_{\rm e}$), and the contrast in NUV band is much larger than that in the optical bands. Both the positions on the star formation main sequence diagram and the NUV-r color profiles suggest that NUV-r red spirals have been fully quenched, whereas NUV-r blue spirals host quenched bulges and inner disks, as well as star-forming outer disks. Particularly, the disk mass-size relations indicate that, at a given disk mass, NUV-r blue spirals possess larger optical disks than NUV-r red spirals, by a factor of $\sim 1.20$. The environments and optical morphologies are consistent with the scenario that NUV-r blue spirals obtained fresh fuel for star formation either by interacting or merging with gas-rich galaxies or through accreting surrounding HI gas.