EAS Publications Series

Issue		EAS Publications Series Volume 10, 2003 JENAM 2002, Galactic & Stellar Dynamics
Page(s)		121
DOI		10.1051/eas:2003157

Galactic & Stellar Dynamics
C. Boily, P. Patsis, S. Portegies Zwart, R. Spurzem and C. Theis (eds)
EAS Publications Series, Vol. 10, 2003
DOI: 10.1051/eas:2003157

The Thickness of Stellar Disks of Edge-on Galaxies and Their Truncation Radii

A.V. Zasov¹ and D.V. Bizyaev²

¹ Sternberg Astronomical Institute, University prosp., 13, 119899 Moscow, Russia
² Sternberg Astronomical Institute, University prosp., 13, 119899 Moscow, Russia; Physics Dept., UTEP, El Paso, TX 79968, USA

Abstract
The relationship between geometrical properties of stellar disks (the flatness and the truncation radius) and disk kinematics are considered for edge-on galaxies. It is shown that the observed thickness of the disks agrees with the condition of marginal local gravitational stability. As a consequence, those galaxies whose disks are thinner should harbor more massive dark halos. A correlation between the de-projected central brightness of disks and their flatness is found (low surface brightness disks tend to be the thinnest ones). We also show that the positions of the observed photometrically determined truncation radii $R_{\rm cut}$ of stellar disks agree well with the hypothesis of marginal local gravitational stability of gaseous proto-disks at $R =R_{\rm cut}$ .

What is OpenURL?