Surface photometry of low surface brightness galaxies

Abstract

Low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies are galaxies dominated by an exponential disc whose central surface brightness is much fainter than the value of mu_B(0) = 21.65 +/- 0.30 mag arcsec^-2 found by Freeman. In this paper we present broadband photometry of a sample of 21 late-type LSB galaxies. The median central surface brightness of the sample is mu_B(0) = 23.2 mag arcsec^-2 and the median scale length is 3.2 kpc, showing that LSB galaxies are normal-sized galaxies. We find colours that are comparable to or bluer than those of the more widely studied `normal' high surface brightness (HSB) galaxies. LSB galaxies are therefore not faded discs that have no current star formation. The colours cannot on the other hand be ascribed entirely to metallicity effects, but we can explain them by assuming a sporadic star formation rate scenario. LSB galaxies hence appear to be unevolved and quiescent objects, which give us an insight into the evolution of galaxies in an unperturbed environment.