Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2001-09-12
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
19 pages, 5 figures; To appear in Physica Scripta
Scientific paper
10.1238/Physica.Topical.100a0001
In a short review of neutron-capture elemental abundances in Galactic halo stars, emphasis is placed on the use of these elements to estimate the age of the Galactic halo. Two prominent characteristics of neutron-capture elements in halo stars are their large star-to-star scatter in the overall abundance level with respect to lighter elements, and the dominance of r-process abundance patterns at lowest stellar metallicities. The r-process abundance signature potentially allows the direct determination of the age of the earliest Galactic halo nucleosynthesis events, but further developments in r-process theory, high resolution spectroscopy of very metal-poor stars, and in basic atomic data are needed to narrow the uncertainties in age estimates. Attention is brought to the importance of accurate transition probabilities in neutron-capture element cosmochronometry. Recent progress in the transition probabilities of rare earth elements is discussed, along with suggestions for future work on other species.
Cowan John J.
Lawler James E.
Sneden Chistopher
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