SDSS-IV MaNGA: Distinct Structural Growth and Star Formation in Low and High Surface Brightness Disks

TL;DR

This study analyzes the structural and star formation differences between low and high surface brightness galaxies, revealing that LSB galaxies are less efficient, more extended, and exhibit signs of ongoing outer-disk star formation fueled by gas accretion.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of LSB and HSB galaxies using deep imaging and spatially resolved data, highlighting their distinct growth and star formation patterns.

Findings

LSB galaxies are predominantly low-mass and larger in size.

LSB galaxies have lower star formation rates and metallicities.

Outer regions of LSB galaxies show signs of ongoing star formation and gas accretion.

Abstract

We analyze a clean sample of 1,118 late-type, face-on galaxies without AGN contamination from the MaNGA survey. Their photometric structures are quantified via two-component (bulge+disk) decompositions on deep $g$-band images from the DESI Legacy Survey. Using a disk central surface brightness of $\mu_{\rm 0,d,cor}$(g) = 22 $\pm$ 0.3 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ (corrected for inclination and cosmic dimming) as the classification threshold, we identify 159 low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies, 388 LSB candidates, and 571 high surface brightness (HSB) galaxies. LSB galaxies are predominantly low-mass ($M_\ast < 3 \times 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$), exhibiting 29\% larger effective radii, 15\% lower star formation rates (SFRs), and 12\% reduced gas-phase metallicities than HSB counterparts at comparable masses. These differences cause systematic offsets from standard scaling relations. Despite comparable gas content, LSB galaxies host older stellar populations, longer gas depletion times, and less efficient star formation. Spatially resolved analyses further reveal that LSB galaxies display centrally suppressed $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$, flatter SFR gradients, and rising specific SFR profiles toward their outskirts. Together with steeper negative metallicity gradients, these trends suggest ongoing gas accretion fueling outer-disk star formation. Consistently, the outer regions of LSB galaxies exhibit stronger H$\delta_A$ absorption and lower D$_n$4000 indices, indicating fading A-star populations. Moreover, LSB galaxies show lower $\Sigma_{\ast}$ across all $R/R_e$ and more centrally depleted stellar mass profiles on an absolute radial scale, compared with HSB and large-size star-forming galaxies. Collectively, LSB galaxies represent a distinct population with slow evolution, inefficient star formation, and continued susceptibility to late-time gas accretion and peripheral star formation.