Galactoseismology in the GAIA Era

Abstract

The GAIA satellite will provide unprecedented phase-space information for our Galaxy and enable a new era of Galactic dynamics. We may soon see successful realizations of Galactoseismology, i.e., inferring the characteristics of the Galactic potential and sub-structure from a dynamical analysis of observed perturbations in the gas or stellar disk of the Milky Way. Here, we argue that to maximally take advantage of the GAIA data and other complementary surveys, it is necessary to build comprehensive models for both the stars and the gas. We outline several key morphological puzzles of the Galactic disk and proposed solutions that may soon be tested.