1,276 research outputs found
Kinematical & Chemical Characteristics of the Thin and Thick Disks
I discuss how the chemical abundance distributions, kinematics and age
distributions of stars in the thin and thick disks of the Galaxy can be used to
decipher the merger history of the Milky Way, a typical large galaxy. The
observational evidence points to a rather quiescent past merging history,
unusual in the context of the `consensus' cold-dark-matter cosmology favoured
from observations of structure on scales larger than individual galaxies.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures; review at IAU Symposium 254, `The Galaxy Disk in
Cosmological Context', Copenhagen, June 2008, eds J. Andersen, J.
Bland-Hawthorn & B. Nordstro
The star-formation history of the Milky Way Galaxy
The star-formation histories of the main stellar components of the Milky Way
constrain critical aspects of galaxy formation and evolution. I discuss recent
determinations of such histories, together with their interpretation in terms
of theories of disk galaxy evolution.Comment: Invited review, IAU Symposium 258; 12 pages, 1 figur
Stellar Populations with ELTs
The star formation, mass assembly and chemical enrichment histories of
galaxies, and their present distributions of dark matter, remain encoded in
their stellar populations. Distinguishing the actual distribution functions of
stellar age, metallicity and kinematics at several locations in a range of
galaxies, sampling across Hubble types and representative environments, is the
information required for a robust description of galaxy histories. Achieving
this requires large aperture, to provide the sensitivity to reach a range of
environs and Hubble types beyond the Local Group, to provide high spatial
resolution, since the fields are crowded, and preferably with optical
performance since age-sensitivity is greatest near the main-sequence turn-off,
and metallicity-sensitivity for these warm stars is greatest in the optical.Comment: IAU Symposium No. 232, eds P. Whitelock, B. Leidundgeit & M.
Dennefel
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