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We present a new method for inferring the gravitational potential of theGalactic disk, using the time-varying structure of a phase-space spiral in the$(z,w)$-plane (where $z$ and $w$ represent vertical position and verticalvelocity). Our method of inference extracts information from the shape of thespiral and disregards the bulk density distribution that is usually used toperform dynamical mass measurements. In this manner, it is complementary totraditional methods that are based on the assumption of a steady state. Ourmethod consists of fitting an analytical model for the phase-space spiral todata, where the spiral is seen as a perturbation of the stellar number densityin the $(z,w)$-plane. We tested our method on one-dimensional simulations,which were initiated in a steady state and then perturbed by an external forcesimilar to that of a passing satellite. We were able to retrieve the truegravitational potentials of the simulations with high accuracy. Thegravitational potential at 400-500 parsec distances from the disk mid-plane wasinferred with an error of only a few percent. This is the first paper of aseries in which we plan to test and refine our method on more complexsimulations, as well as apply our method to Gaia data.

Weighing the Galactic disk using phase-space spirals I. Tests on one-dimensional simulations