Open Questions in Galactic Chemical Evolution

Understanding when, where and how the chemical elements have been produced is one of the fundamental questions of physics and astronomy. The overall picture is that hydrogen, helium, and traces of lithium have formed during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, and the heavier elements either in the interiors of successive generations of stars, or during supernova explosions. However, a number of important pieces of the cosmic matter cycle are still not well understood. For example, the site of the formation of about half of the elements heavier then iron, created in one or more so-called rapid neutron-capture process(es), has still not been firmly identified, and calculations of the composition of the mixture of elements expelled by supernovae partly disagree with observations of old stars in our Galaxy.
In the current decade, astronomers and physicists have the chance to make great leaps forward in this research area, due to the advent of improved observational and experimental facilities. For example, high-resolution spectra of faint stars are now routinely being obtained with highly efficient optical and infrared spectrographs attached to 8m-class telescopes; dedicated survey telescopes can obtain up to 4000 spectra simultaneously in a large field of view; and powerful particle accelerators are being built in Darmstadt (i.e., the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research, FAIR) and in East Lansing, USA (i.e., the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, FRIB). Furthermore, the ever-increasing computational power allows to carry out more realistic simulations of supernova explosions as well as stellar atmospheres, the latter being crucial for an accurate interpretation of spectra of stars.
With this workshop, we would like to bring together observers, astrophysical modelers, nuclear theorists and experimentalists to discuss open problems and challenges in understanding the chemical enrichment history of the galaxy. We want to identify the most crucial questions in observation, theory, astrophysics, and experiments, which need to be addressed for making progress in this research field. Furthermore, we want to define the most promising areas for collaboration between the different communities, and foster novel approaches for modeling the chemical history of the Galaxy.
A major fraction of this 2-day workshop will be devoted to thoroughly structured discussions. Only a small number of invited talks by renowned experts, and no contributed talks will be scheduled. To enable an efficient communication, the number of participants will be limited to about 30.

 

Kontakt:
Prof. Dr. Norbert Christlieb
Zentrum für Astronomie
der Universität Heidelberg
Abteilung Landessternwarte
Königstuhl 12
69117 Heidelberg
Telefon: +49 (0) 6221 54-1705
E-Mail: N.Christlieb@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de

Patrick Rühle: E-Mail
Letzte Änderung: 13.12.2011
zum Seitenanfang/up