The impact of radial migration on the vertical profiles of disk galaxies

Abstract

Recent work (Sellwood & Binney 2002; Roskar et al. 2008) has shown that disk stars can undergo large migrations across the disks within which they reside, even though they maintain nearly circular orbits. Roskar et al. (2008) showed that this migration leads to positive age gradients outside the break radius of the disk; this picture is starting to obtain some observational support. However, the full consequences of such migration have yet to be worked out. In this dissertation we examine the effect migration has on the vertical profiles of disks. Is the height of the disk driven primarily by heating mechanisms, or does migration play a more primary role in setting the thickness of the disk?