26) The assembly history of local disk galaxies

Abstract: Observations of the Milky-Way have historically been rich with information in comparison to the extragalactic regime. Conversely, the robust statistics accessible to large extragalactic surveys have provided extraordinary insight into galaxy formation and evolution. Direct comparison, however, is complicated by the fundamentally-different frames of reference between these two regimes. Often, resolved (Milky-Way) data are 'degraded' in order to compare to some observational diagnostic of unresolved external galaxies. This is in part due to the importance of placing the Milky-Way in context within the galaxy population (which remains crucial). But it is also due to the difficulty of the inverse problem; that is, extracting resolved-like results from extragalactic observations in order to conduct a consistent comparison. I will argue that this is now possible using the combination of all available data from high-fidelity optical integral-field observations (stellar kinematics, chemistry, ages, photometry), and detailed self-consistent chemo-dynamical models that are fit to all of these data. I will present intrinsic (deprojected) properties of a small sample of external disk galaxies that serve as a direct link to the wealth of data coming from remarkable resolved surveys of the Milky-Way, such as age-metallicity and chemo-dynamical correlations, as well as structure variations along the disk. I will conclude with what these results can tell us about the formation history of the galaxies as inferred by these data, and how this analysis paves the way for truly placing the Milky-Way in context.

Bio: I am a soon-to-finish PhD student at Macquarie University, and expecting to start at Durham University early next year. I am interested in all facets of the stellar content of nearby galaxies, and the application of sophisticated models to observations thereof. Specifically, I am interested in uncovering the intrinsic connections between the stellar populations and kinematics