Elemental Abundances of Early-Generation Stars in the Halo of the Milky Way

Details Elemental Abundances of Early-Generation Stars in the Halo of the Milky Way Elemental Abundances of Early-Generation Stars in the Halo of the Milky Way

May 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004aps..apr.b2003b&link_type=abstract

American Physical Society, April Meeting, 2004, May 1-4, 2004, Denver, Colorado April 2004, MEETING ID: APR04, abstract #B2.003

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Over the course of the past several decades, astronomers have obtained high-resolution optical spectroscopy for large numbers of stars in the Milky Way galaxy with metal abundances less than 1% of the solar level. The lowest metallicity object found to date has an iron abundance less than 1/200000th of solar. Such stars are of enormous interest because they preserve in their atmospheres the ``fossil record'' of the production and evolution of the first elements in the Universe. Of particular importance are the rare metal-poor stars with large enhancements of the neutron-capture species (e.g., Eu, Ag, Au, Pt, Pb) thought to be produced almost exclusively in the r- and s-processes. Detailed elemental abundance studies of these stars are providing the long-sought clues to the astrophysical sites responsible for the production of essentially all elements beyond the iron peak. I will review the present status of these studies, and describe ongoing efforts (making use of the world's largest ground-based telescopes, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope) to increase the numbers neutron-capture-enhanced, metal-poor stars known, and to understand the nature of the r- and s-processes. A brief discussion of the stars with measured U and Th, which can be used to obtain chronometric age estimates, will also be presented.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Elemental Abundances of Early-Generation Stars in the Halo of the Milky Way does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Elemental Abundances of Early-Generation Stars in the Halo of the Milky Way, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Elemental Abundances of Early-Generation Stars in the Halo of the Milky Way will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1180670