Milky Way Disk

TL;DR

Recent high-quality observational data, especially from Gaia, have transformed our understanding of the Milky Way disk into a complex, non-equilibrium system with detailed structures, informing theories of its formation and evolution.

Contribution

This paper synthesizes recent observational and simulation data to provide an updated, comprehensive view of the Milky Way disk's structure, dynamics, and formation history.

Findings

Gaia data reveals complex stellar kinematic structures.

Radial migration significantly influences disk evolution.

Recent models support a non-equilibrium formation scenario.

Abstract

Our understanding of the Milky Way disk is rapidly improving with the recent advent of the high quality and vast amount of observational data. We summarize our current view of the structure of the Milky Way disk, such as the masses and sizes of the gas and stellar disks, and the position and motion of the Sun in the disk. We also discuss the different definitions of the thick and thin disks of the Milky Way, the non-axisymmetric structures of the stellar disk, such as the bar and spiral arms, and the radial migration which can be triggered by these non-axisymmetric stellar structures. After the revolutionary data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, our view of the Milky Way disk has been transformed to a non-equilibrium system with many complicated structures in stellar kinematic distribution. We also summarize the recent findings of Galactoseismology research. These detailed observational data provide the archaeological information for us to unveil the formation and evolution history of the Milky Way disk, with the aid of the high-resolution numerical simulations of the Milky Way-like galaxy formation. We also discuss the current view of the formation history of the Milky Way disk.