The GALEX Arecibo SDSS survey: III. Evidence for the Inside-Out
  Formation of Galactic Disks
  We analyze a sample of galaxies with stellar masses greater than $10^{10}
M_{\odot}$ and with redshifts in the range $0.025<z<0.05$ for which HI mass
measurements are available from the GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS) or from
the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey (ALFALFA). At a given value of $M_*$, our
sample consists primarily of galaxies that are more HI-rich than average. We
constructed a series of three control samples for comparison with these HI-rich
galaxies. As expected, HI-rich galaxies differ strongly from galaxies of same
stellar mass that are selected without regard to HI content. The majority of
these differences are attributable to the fact that galaxies with more gas are
bluer and more actively star-forming. In order to identify those galaxy
properties that are causally connected with HI content, we compare results
derived for the HI sample with those derived for galaxies matched in stellar
mass, size and NUV-$r$ colour. The only photometric property that is clearly
attributable to increasing HI content, is the colour gradient of the galaxy.
Galaxies with larger HI fractions have bluer, more actively star-forming outer
disks compared to the inner part of the galaxy. HI-rich galaxies also have
larger $g$-band radii compared to $i$-band radii. Our results are consistent
with the "inside-out" picture of disk galaxy formation, which has commonly
served as a basis for semi-analytic models of the formation of disks in the
context of Cold Dark Matter cosmologies. The lack of any intrinsic connection
between HI fraction and galaxy asymmetry suggests that gas is accreted smoothly
onto the outer disk.
