Related papers: Uncertainties in stellar abundance analyses
Massive stars are key ingredients in the evolution of the Universe. Yet, important uncertainties and limits persist in our understanding of these objects, even in their early phases, limiting their application as tools to interpret the…
We review theoretical developments in studies of dense matter and its phase structure of relevance to compact stars. Observational data on compact stars, which can constrain the properties of dense matter, are presented critically and…
Observational astronomy has shown significant growth over the last decade and has made important contributions to cosmology. A major paradigm shift in cosmology was brought about by observations of Type Ia supernovae. The notion that the…
The compositions of stars are a critical diagnostic tool for many topics in astronomy such as the evolution of our Galaxy, the formation of planets, and the uniqueness of the Sun. Previous spectroscopic measurements indicate a large…
Observations of star-forming galaxies in the distant Universe have confirmed the importance of massive stars in shaping galaxy emission and evolution. Distant stellar populations are unresolved, and the limited data available must be…
An important goal of helio- and asteroseismology is to improve the modelling of stellar evolution. Here I provide a brief discussion of some of the uncertain issues in stellar modelling, of possible relevance to asteroseismic inferences.
We implemented non-solar-scaled opacities in a simultaneous derivation of fundamental parameters and abundances. We carried out a high-precision stellar parameters and abundance determination by applying non-solar-scaled opacities and model…
Mass determinations are difficult to obtain and still frequently characterised by deceptively large uncertainties. We review below the various mass estimators used for star clusters of all ages and luminosities. We highlight a few recent…
We have obtained [Mg/Fe] measurements for 76.3% of the stars in the MILES spectral library used for understanding stellar atmospheres and stellar populations in galaxies and star clusters. These abundance ratios were obtained through (1) a…
The Milky Way harbours two disks that appear distinct concerning scale-heights, kinematics, and elemental abundance patterns. Recent years have seen a surge of studies of the elemental abundance trends in the disks using high resolution…
The cloud-scale physics of star formation and feedback represent the main uncertainty in galaxy formation studies. Progress is hampered by the limited empirical constraints outside the restricted environment of the Local Group. In…
The complexity of composite spectra of close binary star system makes study of the spectra of their component stars extremely difficult. For this reason there exists very little information on the photospheric chemical composition of stars…
The modeling of stellar spectra is pervasive in astronomy. Conventionally, the shapes of absorption lines are modeled by convolving thermal profiles (computed given some model stellar atmosphere and line list) with broadening kernels…
We explore the motivation behind large stellar surveys in Galactic astronomy, in particular, surveys that measure the photometric, phase space and abundance properties of thousands or millions of stars. These observations are essential to…
Over the last years a new generation of model atmosphere codes, which include the effects of metal line-blanketing of millions of spectral lines in NLTE, has been used to re-determine the properties of massive stars through quantitative…
I briefly review what has been recently learned from determinations of mean stellar ages and abundances from integrated light studies of early-type galaxies, and discuss some new questions posed by recent data. A short discussion of…
Accurately measuring the masses of white dwarf stars is crucial in many astrophysical contexts (e.g., asteroseismology and cosmochronology). These masses are most commonly determined by fitting a model atmosphere to an observed spectrum;…
This review highlights current (and future) hot topics in astrophysics where atomic or molecular input data are (or will be) essential, with special emphasis on topics relating to nucleosynthesis and cosmochemistry. We first discuss issues…
Abundance observations indicate the presence of often surprisingly large amounts of neutron capture (i.e., s- and r-process) elements in old Galactic halo and globular cluster stars. These observations provide insight into the nature of the…
Stellar population synthesis can be approached as an inverse problem. The physical information is extracted from the observations through an inverse model. The process requires the transformation of the observational errors into model…