Related papers: Summary Talk
The papers in this volume represent a broad spectrum of observational, theoretical, and computational astrophysics, sharing as a unifying core the Disk-Halo Interaction in the Milky Way and other spiral galaxies. This topic covers a wide…
We highlight some results from our high-resolution spectroscopic elemental abundance survey of F and G dwarf stars in the solar neighbourhood.
I discuss various proposed formation scenarios for the metal-poor components of the Milky Way Galaxy, emphasising the stellar halo and the thick disk. Interactions and accretion played a significant role in Galactic evolution, in particular…
I discuss three different topics concerning the chemical evolution of the Milky Way (MW). 1) The metallicity distribution of the MW halo; it is shown that this distribution can be analytically derived in the framework of the hierarchical…
We construct three extreme different scenarios of the star formation histories applicable to a sample of dwarf galaxies, based either on their present metallicity or their luminosity. The three possible scenarios imply different mechanical…
The study of the Milky Way stellar discs in the context of galaxy formation is discussed. In particular we explore the properties of the Milky Way disc using a new sample of about 550 dwarf stars for which we have recently obtained…
I review the current data on abundances in irregular galaxies, with special emphasis on recent results on C/O and Si/O from observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. The abundance data for He, C, N, and O in irregular galaxies is…
Stellar halos may hold some of the best preserved fossils of the formation history of galaxies. They are a natural product of the merging processes that probably take place during the assembly of a galaxy, and hence may well be the most…
In this review, we present a brief description of observational efforts to understand the Galactic thick disk and its relation to the other Galactic components. This review primarily focused on elemental abundance patterns of the thick disk…
Thick disks are common in spiral and S0 galaxies and seem to be an inherent part of galaxy formation and evolution. Our own Milky Way is host to an old thick disk. The stars associated with this disk are enhanced in the alpha-elements as…
We have investigated the abundance of several chemical elements in two large stellar samples kinematically representative of the thin and the thick disks of the Galaxy. Chemical, kinematical and age data have been collected from high…
The last decade has seen apparent dramatic progress in large spectroscopic datasets aimed at the study of the Galactic bulge. We consider remaining problems that appear to be intractable with the existing data, including important issues…
We present a comprehensive study of the evolution of the abundances of intermediate mass elements, from C to Zn, in the Milky Way halo and in the local disk. We use a consistent model to describe the evolution of those two galactic…
We study the evolution of nitrogen in the Galactic halo, thick disc, thin disc and bulge by comparing detailed chemical evolution models with recent observations. The models used in this work have already been constrained to explain the…
The stellar populations of the stellar halo and of the thick disk of the Milky Way reveal much about the merging history that our Galaxy, a typical large disk galaxy, has experienced. Our current understanding, described here, implies a…
A short overview is presented of several topics concerning the evolution of the Milky Way (MW) in a cosmological context. In particular, the metallicity distribution of the MW halo is derived analytically and the halo metallicity and…
We present a stochastic model based on the Monte Carlo technique to study the inhomogeneous chemical evolution of the Galactic halo. In particular, we consider the local enrichment and subsequent mixing of the interstellar gas resulting…
The recently emerging conviction that thick disks are prevalent in disk galaxies, and their seemingly ubiquitous old ages, means that the formation of the thick disk, perhaps more than any other component, holds the key to unravelling the…
Standard models for the chemical evolution of the Galaxy are reviewed with particular emphasis on the history of the abundance gradients in the disk. The effects on the disk structure and metallicity of gas accretion are discussed, showing…
In these lectures I present a highly opinionated review of the observed patterns of metallicity and element abundance ratios in nearby spiral, irregular, and dwarf elliptical galaxies, with connection to a number of astrophysical issues…