Very thin disc galaxies in the SDSS catalogue of edge-on galaxies

We study the properties of galaxies with very thin discs (VTDs) using a sample of 85 objects whose stellar disc radial-to-vertical scale ratio determined from photometric decomposition, exceeds 9. We present evidences of similarities between the VTD galaxies and low surface brightness (LSB) disc galaxies, and conclude that both small and giant LSB galaxies may reveal themselves as VTD, edge-on galaxies. Our VTD galaxies are mostly bulgeless, and those with large radial scalelength tend to have redder colours. We performed spectral observations of 22 VTD galaxies with the Dual Imaging Spectrograph on the 3.5 m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory. The spectra with good resolution (R ∼ 5000) allow us to determine the distance and the ionized gas rotation curve maximum for the galaxies. Our VTD galaxies have low dust content, in contrast to regular disc galaxies. Apparently, VTD galaxies reside in specific cosmological low-density environments and tend to have less connection with filaments. Comparing a toy model that assumes marginally low star formation in galactic discs with obtained gas kinematics data, we conclude that there is a threshold central surface density of about 88 M_⊙ pc^-2, which we observe in the case of very thin, rotationally supported galactic discs.