Stellar Kinematic Constraints on Galactic Structure Models Revisited:
  Bar and Spiral Arm Resonances
  We study the phase space available to the local stellar distribution using a
Galactic potential consistent with several recent observational constraints. We
find that the induced phase space structure has several observable
consequences. The spiral arm contribution to the kinematic structure in the
solar neighborhood may be as important as the one produced by the Galactic bar.
We suggest that some of the stellar kinematic groups in the solar neighborhood,
like the Hercules structure and the kinematic branches, can be created by the
dynamical resonances of self-gravitating spiral arms and not exclusively by the
Galactic bar. A structure coincident with the Arcturus kinematic group is
developed when a hot stellar disk population is considered, which introduces a
new perspective on the interpretation of its extragalactic origin. A
bar-related resonant mechanism can modify this kinematic structure.We show that
particles in the dark matter disk-like structure predicted by recent LCDM
galaxy formation experiments, with similar kinematics to the thick disk, are
affected by the same resonances, developing phase space structures or dark
kinematic groups that are independent of the Galaxy assembly history and
substructure abundance. We discuss the possibility of using the stellar phase
space groups as constraints to non-axisymmetric models of the Milky Way
structure.
