
TL;DR
This paper reviews the current understanding of galactic disks, discussing their formation, structure, dynamics, and evolution based on recent observational surveys across multiple wavelengths.
Contribution
It synthesizes recent observational data and theoretical insights to highlight what is known and unknown about galactic disks' formation and evolution.
Findings
Disks are mostly flat, thin, and have a range of surface brightness.
Galactic disks are generally not maximal in mass.
Presence of warps and abundance gradients in stellar and HI layers.
Abstract
The formation and evolution of galactic disks is particularly important for understanding how galaxies form and evolve, and the cause of the variety in which they appear to us. Ongoing large surveys, made possible by new instrumentation at wavelengths from the ultraviolet (GALEX), via optical (HST and large groundbased telescopes) and infrared (Spitzer) to the radio are providing much new information about disk galaxies over a wide range of redshift. Although progress has been made, the dynamics and structure of stellar disks, including their truncations, are still not well understood. We do now have plausible estimates of disk mass-to-light ratios, and estimates of Toomre's parameter show that they are just locally stable. Disks are mostly very flat and sometimes very thin, and have a range in surface brightness from canonical disks with a central surface brightness of about 21.5…
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