Related papers: Nuclear Chronometers
Recent dynamical analysis based on Gaia data have revealed major accretion events in Milky Way's history. Nevertheless, our understanding of the primordial Galaxy is hindered because the bona fide identification of the most metal-poor and…
We study the ages of $\alpha$-rich and $\alpha$-poor stars in the halo using a sample of F and G dwarfs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). To separate stars based on [$\alpha$/Fe], we have developed a new semi-empirical…
The prediction of isotopic abundances resulting from the rapid neutron capture process (r-process) requires high-precision mass measurements. Using TITAN's on-line time-of-flight spectrometer, first time mass measurements are performed for…
By measuring the elemental abundances of a star, we can gain insight into the composition of its initial gas cloud -- the formation site of the star and its planets. Planet formation requires metals, the availability of which is determined…
The physical processes driving chemical evolution in the Milky Way can be probed using the distribution of abundances in low-mass FGK type stars in space phase at different times. During their final stages of evolution stars experience…
The discovery of gravitational waves has confirmed old theoretical predictions that binary systems formed with compact stars play a crucial role not only for cosmology and nuclear astrophysics. As a byproduct of these and subsequent…
New elemental abundances for the neutron-capture elements Sr, Nb, Mo, Ru, La, Sm, and Eu are presented for a large sample of 180 barium (Ba) giant stars, a class of chemically peculiar objects that exhibit in their spectra enhancements of…
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…
Detailed chemical composition studies of stars with enhanced abundances of neutron-capture elements can provide observational constraints for neutron-capture nucleosynthesis studies and clues for understanding their contribution to the…
Thanks to the large amount of spectroscopic and photometric data assembled in the last couple of decades, the assumption that all globular clusters (GCs) contain a simple mono-metallic stellar population has been modified. Besides the…
The presence of dark matter has been ascertained through a wealth of astrophysical and cosmological phenomena and its nature is a central puzzle in modern science. Elementary particles stand as the most compelling explanation. They have…
The construction of all age indicators consists of certain basic steps which lead to the identification of the properties desirable for stellar age indicators. Prior age indicators for main sequence field stars possess only some of these…
We estimate the empirical R parameter in 26 Galactic Globular Clusters covering a wide metallicity range, imaged by WFPC2 on board the HST. The improved spatial resolution permits a large fraction of the evolved stars to be measured and…
We report on a detailed abundance analysis of two strongly r-process enhanced, very metal-poor stars newly discovered in the HERES project, CS 29491-069 ([Fe/H]=-2.51, [r/Fe]=+1.1) and HE 1219-0312 ([Fe/H]=-2.96, [r/Fe]=+1.5). The analysis…
About half of the heavy elements in the Solar System were created by rapid neutron capture, or r-process, nucleosynthesis. In the r-process, heavy elements are built up via a sequence of neutron captures and beta decays in which an intense…
Important insights into the formation and evolution of the Galactic disc(s) are contained in the chemical compositions of stars. We analysed high-resolution and high signal to noise HARPS spectra of 79 solar twin stars in order to obtain…
Small stellar systems like dwarf galaxies are suggested to be the main building blocks of our Galaxy by numerical simulations in Lambda CDM models. The existence of star streams like Sagittarius tidal stream indicates that dwarf galaxies…
The abundance patterns of metal-poor stars provide us a wealth of chemical information about various stages of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. In particular, these stars allow us to study the formation and evolution of the elements…
The "stellar" solution to the cosmological lithium problem proposes that surface depletion of lithium in low-mass, metal-poor stars can reconcile the lower abundances found for Galactic halo stars with the primordial prediction. Globular…
The heavy elements (Z>30) are created in neutron-capture processes which happen at very different nucleosynthetic sites. To study them in an environment different from the Milky Way, we target these elements in RGB stars in the Sculptor…