Related papers: Stable but Wrong: An Inference Limit in Galactic A…
(ABRIDGED) We assess the systematic uncertainties in (young) cluster age, mass, and - to a lesser extent - extinction and metallicity determinations, based on broad-band imaging observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. Our aim here is…
We analyze the star formation history (SFH) of the Galactic disk by using an infall model. Based on the observed SFH of the Galactic disk, we first determine the timescales of the gas infall into the Galactic disk ($t_{\rm in}$) and that of…
A major goal in paleoclimate science is to reconstruct historical climates using proxies for climate variables such as those observed in sediment cores, and in the process learn about climate dynamics. This is hampered by uncertainties in…
Determining the sequence of events in the formation of stars and planetary systems and their time-scales is essential for understanding those processes, yet establishing ages is fundamentally difficult because we lack direct indicators. In…
Observational astronomy is plagued with selection effects that must be taken into account when interpreting data from astronomical surveys. Because of the physical limitations of observing time and instrument sensitivity, datasets are…
Abridged: The golden age of astrophysics is upon us with both grand discoveries (extra-solar planets, dark matter, dark energy) and precision cosmology. Fundamental understanding of the working of stars and galaxies is within reach, thanks…
We study the impact on stellar age determination by means of grid-based techniques adopting asteroseismic constraints of the uncertainty in the radiative opacity, in the initial helium abundance, in the mixing-length value, in the…
The distributions of a galaxy's gas and stars in chemical space encodes a tremendous amount of information about that galaxy's physical properties and assembly history. However, present methods for extracting information from chemical…
We address the question how accurately stellar ages can be determined by stellar evolution theory. We select the star with the best observational material available - our Sun. We determine the solar age by fitting solar evolution models to…
The next decade affords tremendous opportunity to achieve the goals of Galactic archaeology. That is, to reconstruct the evolutionary narrative of the Milky Way, based on the empirical data that describes its current morphological,…
We study how macroscopic observational constraints restrict admissible microscopic explanatory structures when no intrinsic order or dynamics is assumed a priori. Starting from an unordered collection of measurement outcomes, we formulate…
I review the uncertainties in two observational constraints of the Galactic disc chemical evolution: the metallicity distribution (MD) of long-lived dwarfs and the age-metallicity relation (AMR). It is shown first that the observed MD,…
We present recent progress on quantitative estimation of stellar ages using ind icators such as theoretical evolutionary tracks, rotation, rotation-driven chrom ospheric and coronal activity, and lithium depletion. Our focus is on roughly…
A sample of 229 nearby thick disk stars has been used to investigate the existence of an age-metallicity relation (AMR) in the Galactic thick disk. The results indicate that that there is indeed an age-metallicity relation present in the…
Deriving precise stellar ages is a challenging task. Consequently, age-dependent relations - such as the age-metallicity and age-velocity dispersion relations of the Milky Way, or the age-rotation-activity relation of low-mass stars - are…
The star formation rate history of the Milky Way is derived using the chromospheric age distribution for 552 stars in the solar neighborhood. The stars sample birthsites distributed over a very large range of distances because of orbital…
Asteroseismology is a promising tool to study Galactic structure and evolution because it can probe the ages of stars. Earlier attempts comparing seismic data from the {\it Kepler} satellite with predictions from Galaxy models found that…
The variation of metal production over time and its dilution in the interstellar medium depend on the star formation and gas accretion rates. Measuring age-chemistry relations across the Milky Way disk provides key constraints on the gas…
A flood of reliable seismic data will soon arrive. The migration to larger telescopes on the ground may free up 4-m class instruments for multi-site campaigns, and several forthcoming satellite missions promise to yield nearly uninterrupted…
Recently, there has been great progress toward observationally determining the mean star formation history of the universe. When accurately known, the cosmic star formation rate could provide much information about Galactic evolution, if…