Truncations in stellar disks

Abstract

The presence of radial truncations in stellar disks is reviewed. There is ample evidence that many disk galaxies have relatively shaprt truncations in their disks. These often are symmetric and independent of the wavelength band of the observations. The ratio of the truncation radius R_{max} to the disk scalelength h appears often less then 4.5, as expected on a simple model for the disk collapse. Current samples of galaxies observed may however not be representative and heavily biased towards disks with the largest scalelengths. Many spiral galaxies also have HI warps and these generally start at the truncation radius of the stellar disk. The HI surface density suddenly becomes much flatter with radius. In some galaxies the start of the warp and the position of the disk truncation radius is accompanied by a drop in the rotation velocity. In the regiosn beyond the dis truncation in the HI layer some star formation does occur, but the heavy element abundance and the dust content are very low. All evidence is consistent with the notion that the outer gas parts of the disks constitute recently accreted material, at least accreted after formation of what is now the stellar thin disk. Although various models exist for the origin of the truncations in the stellar disks, this at present remains unclear.