The contributions of Bengt Strömgren to the exploration and understanding of the Galactic Disk are sketched. The question what we can learn from his systematic approach is discussed.

Together with the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the present Universe and measurements of large-scale structure at low redshift, observations of the cosmic microwave background have established a standard paradigm in which all cosmic structure grew from small fluctuations generated at very early times in a flat universe which today consists of 72% dark energy, 23.5% dark matter and 4.5% ordinary baryons. The CMB sky provides us with a direct image of this universe when it was 400,000 years old and very nearly uniform. The galaxy formation problem is then to understand how observed galaxies with all their regularity and diversity arose from these very simple initial conditions. Although gravity is the prime driver, many physical processes appear to play an important role in this transformation, and direct numerical simulation has become the principal tool for detailed investigation of the complex and strongly nonlinear interactions between them.

The evolution of structure in the gravitationally dominant Cold Dark Matter distribution can now be simulated in great detail, provided the effects of the baryons are ignored, and there is general consensus for the results on scales relevant to the formation of galaxies like our own. The basic nonlinear units are so-called “dark matter halos”, slowly rotating, triaxial, quasi-equilibrium systems with a universal cusped density profile and substantial substructure in the form of a host of much less massive subhalos which are concentrated primarily in their outer regions.

Attempts to include the baryons, and so to model the formation of the visible parts of galaxies, have given much more diverse results. It has been known for 30 years that substantial feedback, presumably from stellar winds and supernovae, is required to prevent overcooling of gas and excessive star formation in the early stages of galaxy assembly. When realistic galaxy formation simulations first became possible in the early 1990's, this problem was immediately confirmed. Without effective feedback, typical halos produced galaxies which were too massive, too concentrated and had too little disk to be consistent with observation.

Simple models for disk formation from the mid 1990's show that the angular momentum predicted for collapsing dark halos is sufficient for them to build a disk population similar to that observed. Direct simulations have repeatedly failed to confirm this picture, however, because nonlinear effects lead to substantial transfer of angular momentum between the various components. In most cases the condensing baryonic material loses angular momentum to the dark matter, and the final galaxy ends up with a disk that is too compact or contains too small a fraction of the stars.

These problems have been reduced as successive generations of simulations have dramatically improved the numerical resolution and have introduced “better” implementations of feedback (i.e. more successful at building disks). Despite this, no high-resolution simulation has so far been able to produce a present-day disk galaxy with a bulge-to-disk mass ratio much less than one in a proper ΛCDM context. Such galaxies are common in the real Universe; our own Milky Way is a good example. The variety of results obtained by different groups show that this issue is very sensitive to how star formation and feedback are treated, and all implementations of these processes to date have been much too schematic to be confident of their predictions.

The major outstanding issues I see related to disk galaxies and their formation are the following: Do real disk galaxies have the NFW halos predicted by the ΛCDM cosmology? If not, could the deviations have been produced by the formation of the observed baryonic components, or must the basic structure formation picture be changed? How are Sc and later type galaxies made? Why don't our simulations produce them? What determines which galaxies become barred and which not? Can we demonstrate that secular evolution produces the observed population of (pseudo)bulges from pre-existing disks? How does the observed population of thin disks survive bombardment by substructure and the other transient potential fluctuations expected in ΛCDM halos? Is a better treatment of feedback really the answer? If so, can we demonstrate it using chemical abundances as fossil tracers? And how can we best use observations at high redshift to clarify these formation issues?

The successful implementation of integral field near-infrared spectrographs fed by adaptive optics is providing unprecedented views of gas motions within galaxies at redshifts z = 2 − 3, when the universe was forming stars at its peak rate. A complex picture of galaxy kinematics is emerging, with inflows, rotation within sometimes extended and nearly always thick disks, mergers, and galaxy-wide outflows all contributing to the variety of patterns seen. On the computational side, simulations of galaxy formation have reached a level of sophistication which can not only reproduce many of the properties of today's galaxies, but also throws new light on high redshift galaxies which are too faint to be detected directly, such as those giving rise to quasar absorption lines. In this brief review, I summarise recent progress in these areas.

I report on two major programs to study the kinematic properties of galaxies at z ~ 1.5 − 3 with spatially resolved spectroscopy for the first time. Using the adaptive optics assisted, integral field spectrometer SINFONI on the ESO VLT, we have observed more than 70 galaxies and find compelling evidence for large, geometrically thick (turbulent), rotating disk galaxies in a majority of the objects that we can spatially resolve. It appears that these star forming disks are driven by continuous, rapid accretion of gas from their dark matter halos, and that their evolution is strongly influenced by internal, secular evolution. In contrast to the 20 submillimeter galaxies that we have investigated with the IRAM Plateau de Bure millimetre interferometer we find strong evidence for compact, major mergers. I discuss the impact of these new observations on our understanding of galaxy evolution in the early Universe.

For the SINS survey we have carried out Hα integral field spectroscopy of well-resolved, UV/optically selected star-forming galaxies at z ~ 2 with SINFONI on the ESO VLT. The SINS sample is representative of the majority of massive (M* > a few 1010M⊙) star-forming galaxies at that redshift. Our data obtained with laser guide star assisted adaptive optics in good seeing show the presence of turbulent, rotating star-forming rings/disks in at least a third of the sample, plus central bulge/inner disk components in some of the best cases, whose mass fractions relative to total dynamical mass appears to scale with [NII]/Hα flux ratio and ‘star formation’ age. Another third of the SINS galaxies show clear signs of kinematic perturbations by a merger, while the last third appear to be compact, ‘dispersion’ limited systems.

Our interpretation of these data is that the buildup of the central disks and bulges of massive galaxies at z ~ 2 can be driven by the early secular evolution of gas-rich ‘proto’-disks. High-redshift disks exhibit large random motions. This turbulence may in part be stirred up by the release of gravitational energy in the rapid ‘cold’ accretion flows along the filaments of the cosmic web. As a result, dynamical friction and viscous processes proceed on a time scale of < 1 Gyr, at least an order of magnitude faster than in disk galaxies at z ~ 0. Early secular evolution thus drives gas and stars into the central regions and can build up exponential disks and massive bulges, even without major mergers. Secular evolution along with increased efficiency of star formation at high surface densities may also help to account for the short time scales of the stellar buildup observed in massive galaxies at z ~ 2.

The efficiency of star formation governs many observable properties of the cosmological galaxy population, yet many current models of galaxy formation largely ignore the important physics of star formation and the interstellar medium (ISM). Using hydrodynamical simulations of disk galaxies that include a treatment of the molecular ISM and star formation in molecular clouds (Robertson & Kravtsov 2008), we study the influence of star formation efficiency and molecular hydrogen abundance on the properties of high-redshift galaxy populations. In this work, we focus on a model of low-mass, star forming galaxies at 1 ≲ z ≲ 2 that may host long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Observations of GRB hosts have revealed a population of faint systems with star formation properties that often differ from Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and more luminous high-redshift field galaxies. Observed GRB sightlines are deficient in molecular hydrogen, but it is unclear to what degree this deficiency owes to intrinsic properties of the galaxy or the impact the GRB has on its environment. We find that hydrodynamical simulations of low-stellar mass systems at high-redshifts can reproduce the observed star formation rates and efficiencies of GRB host galaxies at redshifts 1 ≲ z ≲ 2. We show that the compact structure of low-mass high-redshift GRB hosts may lead to a molecular ISM fraction of a few tenths, well above that observed in individual GRB sightlines. However, the star formation rates of observed GRB host galaxies imply molecular gas masses of 108 – 109M⊙ similar to those produced in the simulations, and may therefore imply fairly large average H2 fractions in their ISM.

We test the hypothesis that the host galaxies of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) as well as quasar-selected damped Lyman-α (DLA) systems are drawn from the population of UV-selected star-forming, high z galaxies (generally referred to as Lyman-break galaxies). Specifically, we compare the metallicity distributions of the GRB and DLA populations against simple disk models where these galaxies are drawn randomly from the distribution of star-forming galaxies according to their star-formation rate and HI cross-section respectively. We find that it is possible to match both observational distributions assuming very simple and constrained relations between luminosity, metallicity, metallicity gradients and HI sizes. The simple model can be tested by observing the luminosity distribution of GRB host galaxies and by measuring the luminosity and impact parameters of DLA selected galaxies as a function of metallicity. Our results support the expectation that GRB and DLA samples, in contrast with magnitude limited surveys, provide an almost complete census of star-forming galaxies at z ≈ 3.

Our knowledge on the age structure, the chemical evolution, and the kinematics of the Galactic disk has grown substantially during the last years. Recent results on the properties of the stellar populations in the Galactic disk are summarized, and ongoing and future surveys and facilities are discussed. A short overview of recent mass estimates for the Milky Way is presented, and a brief summary of some of the key properties of the Galactic companions is given. The coming decade promises major breakthroughs in understanding our Milky Way, its disk, and the role of its satellites.

We present a new determination of the mass content of the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy, based on a novel approach which takes into account the two distinct stellar populations present in this galaxy. This method helps to partially break the well-known mass-anisotropy degeneracy present in the modelling of pressure-supported stellar systems.

Hierarchical ΛCDM models provide a successful paradigm for the growth of dark matter on large scales, but they face important challenges in predicting how the baryonic components of galaxies evolve. I present constraints on two aspects of this evolution: (1) The interaction history of galaxies over the last 7 Gyr and the impact of interactions on their star formation properties, based on Jogee et al. (2008a, b); (2) Constraints on the origin of bulges in hierarchical models and the challenge posed in accounting for galaxies with low bulge-to-total ratios, based on Weinzirl, Jogee, Khochar, Burkert, & Kormendy (2008, hereafter WJKBK08).

I show that the predicted densities of the inner dark matter halos in ΛCDM models of structure formation appear to be higher than estimates from real galaxies and constraints from dynamical friction on bars. This inconsistency would not be a problem for the ΛCDM model if physical processes that are omitted in the collisionless collapse simulations were able to reduce the dark matter density in the inner halos. I review the mechanisms proposed to achieve the needed density reduction.

Disk galaxies are common in our universe and this is a source of concern for hierarchical formation models like ΛCDM. Here we investigate this issue as motivated by raw merger statistics derived for galaxy-size dark matter halos from ΛCDM simulations. Our analysis shows that a majority (~ 70%) of galaxy halos with M0 = 1012M⊙ at z = 0 should have accreted at least one object with mass m > 1011M⊙ ≃ 3 Mdisk over the last 10 Gyr. Mergers involving larger objects m ≳ 3 × 1011M⊙ should have been very rare for Milky-Way size halos today, and this pinpoints m/M ~ 0.1 mass-ratio mergers as the most worrying ones for the survival of thin galactic disks. Motivated by these results, we use use high-resolution, dissipationless N-body simulations to study the response of stellar Milky-Way type disks to these common mergers and show that thin disks do not survive the bombardment. The remnant galaxies are roughly three times as thick and twice as kinematically hot as the observed thin disk of the Milky Way. Finally, we evaluate the suggestion that disks may be preserved if the mergers involve gas-rich progenitors. Using empirical measures to assign stellar masses and gas masses to dark matter halos as a function of redshift, we show that the vast majority of large mergers experienced by 1012M⊙ halos should be gas-rich (fgas > 0.5), suggesting that this is a potentially viable solution to the disk formation conundrum. Moreover, gas-rich mergers should become increasingly rare in more massive halos > 1012.5M⊙, and this suggest that merger gas fractions may play an important role in establishing morphological trends with galaxy luminosity.

The magnetic field pervading our Galaxy is a crucial constituent of the interstellar medium: it mediates the dynamics of interstellar clouds, the energy density of cosmic rays, and the formation of stars (Beck 2005). The field associated with ionized interstellar gas has been determined through observations of pulsars in our Galaxy. Radio-frequency measurements of pulse dispersion and the rotation of the plane of linear polarization, i.e., Faraday rotation, yield an average value B ≈ 3 μG (Han et al. 2006). The possible detection of Faraday rotation of linearly polarized photons emitted by high-redshift quasars (Kronberg et al. 2008) suggests similar magnetic fields are present in foreground galaxies with redshifts z > 1. As Faraday rotation alone, however, determines neither the magnitude nor the redshift of the magnetic field, the strength of galactic magnetic fields at redshifts z > 0 remains uncertain.

Here we report a measurement of a magnetic field of B ≈ 84 μG in a galaxy at z =0.692, using the same Zeeman-splitting technique that revealed an average value of B = 6 μG in the neutral interstellar gas of our Galaxy (Heiles et al. 2004). This is unexpected, as the leading theory of magnetic field generation, the mean-field dynamo model, predicts large-scale magnetic fields to be weaker in the past, rather than stronger (Parker 1970).

The full text of this paper was published in Nature (Wolfe et al. 2008).

The structure of the outer parts of galactic disks and the nature of their stellar populations are fundamental to our understanding of the formation and evolution of spiral galaxies. Ages and metallicity distributions of stars in the outermost regions of spiral disks provide important clues on how and when the disks are assembled. In our earlier work we trace the extended stellar disk of NGC 300 out to a radius of at least 10 disk scale lengths, with no sign of truncation. We now revisit the outer disk of NGC 300 in order to derive the metallicity distribution of the faint stellar population in its outskirts. We find that predominantly old stellar population in the outer disk exhibits a negative abundance gradient – as predicted by the chemical evolution models – out to about 10 kpc, followed by the metallicity plateau in the outermost disk.

New information on the relations between the Galactic disks, the halo, and satellite galaxies is being obtained from elemental abundances of stars having metallicities in the range −1.5 < [Fe/H] < −0.5. The first results for a sample of 26 halo stars and 13 thick-disk stars observed with the ESO VLT/UVES spectrograph are presented. The halo stars fall in two distinct groups: one group (9 stars) has [α/Fe] = 0.30 ± 0.03 like the thick-disk stars. The other group (17 stars) shows a clearly deviating trend ranging from [α/Fe] = 0.20 at [Fe/H] = −1.3 to [α/Fe] = 0.08 at [Fe/H] = −0.8. The kinematics of the stars are discussed and the abundance ratios Na/Fe, Ni/Fe, Cu/Fe and Ba/Y are applied to see if the “low-alpha” stars are connected to the thin disk or to Milky Way satellite galaxies. Furthermore, we compare our data with simulations of chemical abundance distributions in hierarchically formed stellar halos in a ΛCDM Universe.

I will first discuss abundance gradients in the Milky Way and nearby disk galaxies, then the problem of substructures in the Galactic Disk, and finally some new opportunities for investigating substructure in disks.

Encircling the Milky Way at low latitudes, the Low Latitude Stream is a large stellar structure, the origin of which is as yet unknown. As part of the SEGUE survey, several photometric scans have been obtained that cross the Galactic plane, spread over a longitude range of 50° to 203°. These data allow a systematic study of the structure of the Galaxy at low latitudes, where the Low Latitude Stream resides. We apply colour-magnitude diagram fitting techniques to map the stellar (sub)structure in these regions, enabling the detection of overdensities with respect to smooth models. These detections can be used to distinguish between different models of the Low Latitude Stream, and help to shed light on the nature of the system.

We present our recent results on the cosmic evolution of the outskirts of disk galaxies. In particular we focus on disk–like galaxies with stellar disk truncations. Using UDF, GOODS and SDSS data we show how the position of the break (i.e. a direct estimator of the size of the stellar disk) evolves with time since z~1. Our findings agree with an evolution on the radial position of the break by a factor of 1.3 ± 0.1 in the last 8 Gyr for galaxies with similar stellar masses. We also present radial color gradients and how they evolve with time. At all redshifts we find a radial inside-out bluing reaching a minimum at the position of the break radius, this minimum is followed by a reddening outwards. Our results constraint several galaxy disk formation models and favour a scenario where stars are formed inside the break radius and are relocated in the outskirts of galaxies through secular processes.

The long term goal of large-scale chemical tagging is to use stellar elemental abundances as a tracer of dispersed substructures of the Galactic disk. The identification of such lost stellar aggregates and exploring their chemical properties will be key in understanding the formation and evolution of the disk. Present day stellar structures such as open clusters and moving groups are the ideal testing grounds for the viability of chemical tagging, as they are believed to be the remnants of the original larger star-forming aggregates. We examine recent high resolution abundance studies of open clusters to explore the various abundance trends and reassess the prospects of large-scale chemical tagging.

The Arcturus moving group is a well-populated example of phase space substructure within the disk of our Galaxy. With its large rotational lag (V = −100 kms−1), metal poor nature ([Fe/H] ~ −0.6) and significant age (10 Gyr) it belongs to the Galaxy's thick disk. Traditionally regarded as the remains of a dissolved open cluster, it has recently been suggested to be a remnant of a satellite accreted by our Galaxy.

We confirm via further kinematic studies using the Nordstöm et al. (2004), Schuster et al. (2004) and RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) surveys (Steinmetz et al. 2004) the existence of the group, finding it to possibly favour negative U velocities and also possibly a solar-circle phenomenon. We undertook a high-resolution spectroscopic abundance study of Arcturus group members and candidates to investigate the origin of the group. Examining abundance of Fe, Mg, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni, Zn, Ce, Nd, Sm and Gd for 134 stars we found that the group is chemically similar to disk stars and does not exhibit a clear chemical homogeneity.

The origin of the group still remains unresolved: the chemical results are consistent with a dynamical origin but do not entirely rule out a merger one. Certainly, the Arcturus group provides a challenge to our understanding of the nature and origin of the Galaxy's thick disk.

Bulges come in two flavours – classical and pseudo. The principal characteristics of each flavour are summarised and their impact on discs is considered. Classical bulges probably inhibit the formation of stellar discs. Pseudobulges exchange angular momentum with stars and gas in their companion discs, and also with its embedding dark halo. Since the structure of a pseudobulge depends critically on its angular momentum, these exchanges are expected to modify the bulge. The consequences of this modification are not yet satisfactorily understood. The Galaxy has a pseudobulge. I review the manifestations of its interaction with the disc. More work is needed on the dynamics of gas near the bulge's corotation radius, and on tracing the stellar population in the inner few hundred parsecs of the Galaxy.