The Age, Formation and Evolution of the Elements in the Oldest Galactic Stars

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ABSTRACTCowan, John"The Age, Formation, & Evolution of the Elements in the Oldest Stars"AST-9986974This project investigates the age, formation and evolution of radioactive elements as a means of estimating the ages of the oldest stars known. The PI will use recent improvements in nuclear reaction and decay rates to derive expected abundances for radioactive elements in low-metallicity stars, particularly thorium, uranium and the s- and r-process elements. The abundance patterns determined for real stars will be compared with these new nucleosynthesis calculations for late stages of stellar evolution. The results are likely to provide hard limits on the ages for our Galaxy and the Universe.Funding for this project was provided by the NSF program for Stellar Astronomy & Astrophysics (AST/SAA).