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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 May 2020
We study the vertical stellar distribution of the Milky Way thin disk treated as a gravitationally coupled system of stars, HI and H2 gas in the field of dark matter halo, from R = 4 to 22 kpc. We show that the gas and halo gravity mainly constrain this vertical distribution toward the mid-plane in the inner and the outer Galaxy, respectively. The halo gravity reduces the disk thickness by a factor of 3-4 in the outer Galaxy. Despite this constraining effect the disk thickness increases steadily with radius, flaring steeply beyond 17 kpc, making a flaring disk a generic result.