Related papers: The Halo Lithium Plateau: Outstanding Issues
We report new constraints on the local escape speed of our Galaxy. Our analysis is based on a sample of high velocity stars from the RAVE survey and two previously published datasets. We use cosmological simulations of disk galaxy formation…
PDS365 is a newly detected rapidly rotating (vsin i = 20 km/s) single low mass giant star which with HD233517 and HD219025 forms a remarkable ensemble of single K giants with the unique properties of rapid rotation, very strong Li lines, an…
A study is presented of HI line observations of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3521 observed with the VLA as part of The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey. Clearly evident in the HI data cube is the presence of an anomalous HI component that is both…
The cosmological {7Li problem consists in explaining why the primordial Li abundance, as predicted by the standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis theory with constraints from WMAP and Planck, is a factor of 3 larger than the Li abundance measured…
In an attempt of clarifying the connection between the photospheric abundance anomalies and the stellar rotation as well as of exploring the nature of "normal A" stars, the abundances of seven elements (C, O, Si, Ca, Ti, Fe, and Ba) and the…
By selecting in the RAVE-DR4 survey the stars located between 1 and 2 kpc above the Galactic plane, we question the consistency of the simplest three-component model (thin disc, thick disc, halo) for the Milky Way. We confirm that the…
The first generation of stars is quite unique. The absence of metals likely affects their formation, with current models suggesting a much more top-heavy initial mass fraction than what we observe today, and some of their other properties,…
We determine Li abundances and vsini values from new spectra of 53 stars with Doppler-detected planets not included in our previous papers in this series. We also examine two sets of stars without detected planets, which together serve as…
Sixteen RR Lyrae variables from the QUEST survey that lie in the leading arm of the tidal stream from the Sagittarius dSph galaxy have been observed spectroscopically to measure their radial velocities and metal abundances. The systemic…
We discuss a sample of over 3000 candidate RR Lyrae stars selected by various methods using Sloan Digital Sky Survey data for about 1000 deg^2 of sky. These stars probe the halo structure out to ~100 kpc from the Galactic center. Their…
The Milky Way halo is one of the few galactic haloes that provides a unique insight into galaxy formation by resolved stellar populations. Here, we present a catalogue of $\sim$47 million halo stars selected independent of parallax and…
We present the results of a study aimed at assessing whether low and high mass stars form similarly. Our approach is (1) to examine the observed projected rotational velocities among a large sample of newly-formed stars spanning a range in…
The chemical abundances of very metal-poor stars provide important constraints on the nucleosynthesis of the first generation of stars and early chemical evolution of the Galaxy. We have obtained high-resolution spectra with the Subaru…
Observations of galaxy-galaxy lensing from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are combined with the Tully-Fisher and fundamental plane relations to derive constraints on galactic halo profiles.We show that both for early and late type galaxies…
We present a set of highly flattened galaxy models with asymptotically constant rotation curves. The mass density in the equatorial plane falls like (distance)$^{-1}$ at large radii. Although the inner equidensity contours may be spherical,…
We discuss the current status of the sample of Lithium abundances in extremely metal poor (EMP) turn-off (TO) stars collected by our group, and compare it with the available literature results. In the last years, evidences have accumulated…
The goal of this paper is to present and analyse a new sample of cool carbon (C)stars located in the halo. Twenty three new C stars were discovered. Spectra are typical of N-type stars with C2 and CN bands and sometimes Halpha in emission.…
The lithium abundances in metal-poor halo stars are of importance for cosmology, galaxy evolution and stellar structure. In an attempt to study possible systematic errors in the derived Li abundances, the line formation of LiI lines has…
We argue that extreme metal-poor stars show a high dispersion in metallicity, because their abundances are the outcome of very few supernova events. Abundance anomalies should appear because of the discrete range of progenitor masses. There…
The high 6-Li abundances recently measured in metal-poor halo stars are far above the value predicted by Big Bang nucleosynthesis. They cannot be explained by galactic cosmic-ray interactions in the interstellar medium either. Various…