Color Gradients of Isolated Late-type Galaxies

Radial color gradient of disk galaxies has been a key tool for diagnosing the ages and metallicities of the stars and gas of these galaxies, and thus, the formation process of these disks. In many cases, observational data support the 'inside-out' picture of disk galaxy formation proposed by Larson (1976). In this scenario, gas within dark matter halos cools and accretes on to the outer disk while enhancing star formation in the disk. Recent discoveries of "extended ultra-viloet" (XUV) disks also show that majority of disk galaxy experience active star formation within out disks where gas surface density is quite low (Thilker et al. 2007; Gil de Paz et al. 2007). However, neither gas, nor stars stay put within galaxies. They rather migrate into bulges, disperse throughout galaxies, or flow into and out of galaxies via various mechanisms. There have been a few notable studies to investigate how radial star formation and metal abundance gradients vary across populations of disk galaxies systematically. However, the mechanisms driving gas transport are still poorly understood. Cross-matching various galaxy catalogs including KVAGC and UKIDSS, we are investigating if color gradients of late-type galaxies depend on their physical properties, especially on environmental properties. We will present the result from the pilot study on Karachentsev isolated galaxy catalog.