Extended UV Disks and UV-Bright Disks in Low-Mass E/S0 Galaxies

Abstract

We have identified 15 XUV disks in a largely field sample of 38 E/S0 galaxies with stellar masses primarily below ~4 x 10^10 M_sun and comparable numbers on the red and blue sequences. We use a new purely quantitative XUV disk definition requiring UV extension relative to a UV-defined star formation threshold radius. The 39(+-9)% XUV-disk frequency for these E/S0s is roughly twice the ~20% reported for late types, possibly indicating that XUV disks are associated with galaxies experiencing weak or inefficient star formation. Consistent with this interpretation, the XUV disks in our sample do not correlate with enhanced outer-disk star formation as traced by blue optical outer-disk colors. However, UV-Bright (UV-B) disk galaxies with blue UV colors outside their optical 50% light radii do display enhanced optical outer-disk star formation as well as enhanced atomic gas content. UV-B disks occur with a 42(+9/-8)% frequency, and the combined XUV/UV-B frequency is 61(+-9)%. For both types, UV colors typically imply <1 Gyr ages. XUV disks occur over the full sample mass range and on both sequences, suggesting an association with galaxy interactions or another general evolutionary process. In contrast, UV-B disks favor the blue sequence and may also prefer low masses, perhaps reflecting the onset of cold-mode accretion or another mass-dependent evolutionary process. Virtually all blue E/S0s in the gas-rich regime below stellar mass M_t ~ 5 x 10^9 M_sun (the "gas-richness threshold mass") display UV-B disks. [abridged]