Sarah Loebman: The Origin of Milky Way's Disk

Sarah Loebman

University of Washington

The formation and evolution of galaxies is one of central questions in current astrophysics. I will focus on our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, and compare four different scenarios proposed for the formation of its disk to recent SDSS observations. I will also discuss the N-body simulation work of Roskar et al, which supports a novel suggestion by Sellwood & Binney that radial migration of stars could be responsible for building the Milky Way's disk over time.