| Issue |
EAS Publications Series
Volume 10, 2003
JENAM 2002, Galactic & Stellar Dynamics
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 121 - 121 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas:2003157 | |
| Published online | 22 December 2003 | |
C. Boily, P. Patsis, S. Portegies Zwart, R. Spurzem and C. Theis (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 10 (2003) 121
The Thickness of Stellar Disks of Edge-on Galaxies and Their Truncation Radii
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
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 Rcut of stellar disks agree well with the hypothesis of marginal local gravitational stability of gaseous proto-disks at R = Rcut.
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2003