Low Surface Brightness Galaxies in the SDSS: the link between
  environment, star-forming properties and AGN
  Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release 4 (DR 4), we
investigate the spatial distribution of low and high surface brightness
galaxies (LSBGs and HSBGs, respectively). In particular, we focus our attention
on the influence of interactions between galaxies on the star formation
strength in the redshift range $0.01 < z < 0.1$. With cylinder counts and
projected distance to the first and fifth-nearest neighbor as environment
tracers, we find that LSBGs tend to have a lack of companions compared to HSBGs
at small scales ($<2$ Mpc). Regarding the interactions, we have evidence that
the fraction of LSBGs with strong star formation activity increases when the
distance between pairs of galaxies ($r_{p}$) is smaller than about four times
the Petrosian radius ($r_{90}$) of one of the components. Our results suggest
that, rather than being a condition for their formation, the isolation of LSBGs
is more connected with their survival and evolution. The effect of the
interaction on the star formation strength, measured by the average value of
the birthrate parameter $b$, seems to be stronger for HSBGs than for LSBGs. The
analysis of our population of LSBGs and HSBGs hosting an AGN show that,
regardless of the mass range, the fraction of LSBGs having an AGN is lower than
the corresponding fraction of HSBGs with an AGN. Also, we observe that the
fraction of HSBGs and LSBGs having an AGN increases with the bulge luminosity.
These results, and those concerning the star-forming properties of LSBGs as a
function of the environment, fit with the scenario proposed by some authors
where, below a given threshold of surface mass density, low surface brightness
disks are unable to propagate instabilities, preventing the formation and
evolution of massive black holes in the centers of LSBGs.
