The effects of radial migration on the vertical structure of galactic discs

Abstract

We present evidence that isolated growing discs, subject to internal spiral perturbations, thicken due to both heating and radial migration. We show this by demonstrating that the thickness and vertical velocity dispersions of coeval stars depend on their age as well as the change in their radii. While the disc thickens due to internal processes, we find that this induces only a minor amount of flaring. We further demonstrate the consequences of such thickening on the structural properties of stellar populations and find that they qualitatively agree with recent studies of the Milky Way disc. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.