Characterisation of the Galactic thick disk

Abstract

Thick disks appear to be common in external large spiral galaxies and our own Milky Way also hosts one. The existence of a thick disk is possibly directly linked to the formation history of the host galaxy and if its properties is known it can constrain models of galaxy formation and help us to better understand galaxy formation and evolution. This brief review attempts to highlight some of the characteristics of the Galactic thick disk and how it relates to other stellar populations such as the thin disk and the Galactic bulge. Focus has been put on results from high-resolution spectroscopic data obtained during the last 10 to 15 years.Comment: Invited review at IAUS 298, Setting the scene for Gaia and LAMOST - the current and next generations of surveys and models, held in Lijiang, China, May 17-21, 2013. Will appear in IAU Symposium, vol 298, S. Feltzing, G. Zhao, N. Walton and P. Whitelock, ed