Thick disks appear to be common in external large spiral galaxies and our own Milky Way also hosts one. The existence of a thick disk is possibly directly linked to the formation history of the host galaxy and if its properties is known it can constr
ain models of galaxy formation and help us to better understand galaxy formation and evolution. This brief review attempts to highlight some of the characteristics of the Galactic thick disk and how it relates to other stellar populations such as the thin disk and the Galactic bulge. Focus has been put on results from high-resolution spectroscopic data obtained during the last 10 to 15 years.
[ABRIDGED] We have determined carbon abundances for 51 dwarf stars and manganese abundances for 95 dwarf stars in two distinct and well defined stellar populations - the Galactic thin and thick disks. As these two populations have different chemical
histories we have been able to, through a differential abundance analysis using high-resolution spectra, constrain the formation sites for carbon and manganese in the Galactic disk(s). The analysis of carbon is based on the forbidden [C I] line at 872.7 nm which is an abundance indicator that is insensitive to errors in the stellar atmosphere parameters. Combining these data with our previously published oxygen abundances, based on the forbidden [O I] line at 630.0 nm, we can form very robust [C/O] ratios that we then used to investigate the origin of carbon and the chemical evolution of the Galactic thin and thick disks..... Our interpretation of our abundance trends is that the sources that are responsible for the carbon enrichment in the Galactic thin and thick disks have operated on a time-scale very similar to those that are responsible for the Fe and Y enrichment (i.e., SNIa and AGB stars, respectively). For manganese, when comparing our Mn abundances with O abundances for the same stars we find that the abundance trends in the stars with kinematics typical of the thick disk can be explained by metallicity dependent yields from SN II. Furthermore, the [Mn/O] versus [O/H] trend in the halo is flat. We conclude that the simplest interpretation of our data is that manganese most likely is produced in SN II and that the Mn yields for such SNae must be metallicity dependent.
