Implications of Radial Migration for Stellar Population Studies

Recent theoretical work suggests that it may be common for stars in the disks of spiral galaxies to migrate radially across significant distances in the disk. Such migrations are a result of resonant scattering with spiral arms and move the guiding centers of the stars while preserving the circularities of their orbits. Migration can therefore efficiently mix stars in all parts of the Galactic disk. We are rapidly approaching an important confluence of theory and observation, where we may soon be able to uncover signatures of such processes in our own Milky Way. The resolution and robustness of the physical modeling in simulations has improved drastically, while observational datasets are increasing in depth and astrometric accuracy. Here, we discuss the results from our idealized N-body/SPH simulations of disk formation and evolution, emphasizing specifically the observational consequences of stellar migration on the solar neighborhood and the vertical structure of the disk. We demonstrate that radial mixing of stars is a crucial dynamical process that we must try to understand if we are to draw significant conclusions about our Galactic history from the properties of stars in our vicinity.