Related papers: The Milky Way disk
We present a phenomenological approach to the study of disk galaxy evolution, based on i) a detailed modelling of the Milky Way (used as a prototype disk galaxy) and ii) an extension of the model to other disks through some simple scaling…
As recent observations of the molecular discs in spiral galaxies point to the existence of a diffuse, low-density thick molecular disc along with the prominent thin one, we investigate the observational signatures of this thick disc by…
Different stellar sub-populations of the Milky Way's stellar disk are known to have different vertical scale heights, their thickness increasing with age. Using SEGUE spectroscopic survey data, we have recently shown that mono-abundance…
We report the first robust measurement of the Milky Way star formation history using the imprint left on chemical abundances of long-lived stars. The formation of the Galactic thick disc occurs during an intense star formation phase between…
I review current efforts to measure the mean density of dark matter near the Sun. This encodes valuable dynamical information about our Galaxy and is also of great importance for 'direct detection' dark matter experiments. I discuss…
Using recent observational data, we construct a set of multi-component equilibrium models of the disk of a Milky Way-like galaxy. The disk dynamics are studied using collisionless-gaseous numerical simulations, based on the joined…
Despite having entered the era of "precision cosmology," the formation of galaxies within the favored CDM cosmological paradigm remains problematic. By relating our N-body/smooth particle hydro-dynamical simulation to an extensive range of…
The existence of old dispersed stellar groups within the Milky Way disk is still controversial. Are they the debris of ancient star-forming aggregates, or short-lived artifacts of dynamical origin? With detailed elemental abundance…
The redistribution of stars in galactic disks is an important aspect of disk galaxy evolution. Stars that efficiently migrate in such a way that does not also appreciably heat their orbits can drastically affect the stellar populations…
The wealth of data in the past decades, and especially in the past 15 years has transformed our picture of the gas around the Milky Way and other spiral galaxies. There is good evidence for extraplanar gas that is a few kpc in height and is…
The formation of thick stellar disks in spiral galaxies is studied. Simulations of gas-rich young galaxies show formation of internal clumps by gravitational instabilities, clump coalescence into a bulge, and disk thickening by strong…
The large astrometric and photometric survey performed by the Gaia mission allows for a panoptic view of the Galactic disc and in its stellar cluster population. Hundreds of clusters were only discovered after the latest G data release…
The Galactic disk is one of the main components of the Milky Way, which contributes most of the luminosity. Its structure is essential for understanding the formation and evolution of the Milky Way. Using 174,443 K-type dwarf stars observed…
Observations reveal that mature spiral galaxies consist of stars, gases and plasma approximately distributed in a thin disk of circular shape, usually with a central bulge. The rotation velocities quickly increase from the galactic center…
We study the chemical and spectro-photometric evolution of galactic disks with detailed models calibrated on the Milky Way and using simple scaling relations, based on currently popular semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. We compare…
Various dynamically important extragalactic large-scale structures in the local Universe lie behind the Milky Way. Most of these structures (predicted and unexpected) have only recently been made ``visible'' through dedicated deep surveys…
To estimate the parameters of the Galactic spiral structure - namely, the pitch angle i and the number of spiral arms,- data on Galactic masers with known trigonometric parallaxes were used. We applied the well-known method based on…
The Milky Way's neutral hydrogen (HI) disk is warped and flared. However, a dearth of accurate HI-based distances has thus far prevented the development of an accurate Galactic disk model. Moreover, the extent to which our Galaxy's stellar…
The Milky Way galaxy is a typical spiral galaxy which consists of a black hole in its centre, a barred bulge and a disk which contains spiral arms. The complex structure of the Galaxy makes it extremely difficult and challenging to model…
The knowledge of the intrinsic three-dimensional (3D) structure of galaxy components provides crucial information about the physical processes driving their formation and evolution. In this paper I discuss the main developments and results…