Spiral-Induced Star Formation in the Outer Disks of Galaxies
  The outer regions of galactic disks have received increased attention since
ultraviolet observations with GALEX demonstrated that nearly 30% of galaxies
have UV emission beyond their optical extents, indicating star formation
activity. These galaxies have been termed extended UV (XUV) disks. Here, we
address whether these observations contradict the gas surface density threshold
for star formation inferred from Halpha radial profiles of galaxies. We run
smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of isolated disk galaxies with
fiducial star formation prescriptions and show that over-densities owing to the
presence of spiral structure can induce star formation in extended gas disks.
For direct comparison with observations, we use the 3-D radiative transfer code
Sunrise to create simulated FUV and K_s band images. We find that galaxies
classified as Type I XUV disks are a natural consequence of spiral patterns,
but we are unable to reproduce Type II XUV disks. We also compare our results
to studies of the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation in outer disks.
