Models for the 3-D axisymmetric gravitational potential of the Milky Way Galaxy - A detailed modelling of the Galactic disk

Abstract: Aims. Galaxy mass models based on simple and analytical functions for the density and potential pairs have been widely proposed in the literature. Disk models constrained by kinematic data alone give information on the global disk structure only very near the Galactic plane. We attempt to circumvent this issue by constructing disk mass models whose three-dimensional structures are constrained by a recent Galactic star counts model in the near-infrared and also by observations of the hydrogen distribution in the disk. Our main aim is to provide models for the gravitational potential of the Galaxy that are fully analytical but also with a more realistic description of the density distribution in the disk component. Methods. From the disk model directly based on the observations (here divided into the thin and thick stellar disks and the HI and H$_2$ disks subcomponents), we produce fitted mass models by combining three Miyamoto-Nagai disk profiles of any "model order" (1, 2, or 3) for each disk subcomponent. The Miyamoto-Nagai disks are combined with models for the bulge and "dark halo" components and the total set of parameters is adjusted by observational kinematic constraints. A model which includes a ring density structure in the disk, beyond the solar Galactic radius, is also investigated. Results. The Galactic mass models return very good matches to the imposed observational constraints. In particular, the model with the ring density structure provides a greater contribution of the disk to the rotational support inside the solar circle. The gravitational potential models and their associated force-fields are described in analytically closed forms, and in addition, they are also compatible with our best knowledge of the stellar and gas distributions in the disk component. The gravitational potential models are suited for investigations of orbits in the Galactic disk.