Collaborative Research: Chemical History of the Milky Way as Seen Through Open Clusters using SDSS and Gaia

纵观宇宙的历史，星系不断变化和成长。天文学家正在努力了解星系中恒星的化学组成是如何随着时间而变化的。通过测量特定元素增加的方式和时间，研究人员将创建“化学时钟”，追踪银河系生命期间的化学变化。这个研究小组将测量银河系中几乎所有合适的星团的化学组成。该项目将提供一个独特的目录，可以用来探索银河系的历史，从而为国家利益服务，并促进天文学研究的进步。调查人员将在犹他大学和德克萨斯基督教大学的星期一陨石画廊进行指导和外展活动。他们还将在现代数据科学研究和分析技术方面培养研究生和本科生。利用斯隆数字巡天V （SDSS-V）的高分辨率光谱学和盖亚卫星的天体测量学，这个研究小组将观察、编制和分析一个疏散星团的目录。这个目录在大小和统一方面都将是革命性的。额外的高分辨率光学光谱将用中子捕获元素丰度来补充SDSS-V数据，以创建一个独特的目录，其中包含高达90%的盖亚确认的开放星团，具有均匀的数据，包括一致测量的年龄，距离，变红，动态和20多种元素的详细丰度。这个数据集将被公开发布，它将提供关键的约束条件，以确定化学标记是否可以在银河系盘中起作用，是否参与疏散星团的径向迁移，以及超新星元素的产量。该目录将用于更好地了解恒星随时间的反馈，并测试银河系等星系的宇宙学模型。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Throughout the history of the Universe galaxies change and grow. Astronomers are working to understand how the chemical make-up of the stars within galaxies change with time. By measuring how, and when, specific elements increase, the investigators will create 'chemical clocks' that trace the chemical changes during the life of the Milky Way Galaxy. This research team will measure the chemical makeup of nearly all the suitable star clusters in the Milky Way disk. This project will serve the national interest and promote the progress of research in astronomy by providing a unique catalog that can be used to probe the history of the Milky Way. The investigators will carry out mentoring and outreach activities at the University of Utah and at Texas Christian University's Monnig Meteorite Gallery. They will also train graduate and undergraduate students in modern data science research and analysis techniques. Using high-resolution spectroscopy from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) and astrometry from the Gaia satellite, this research team will observe, compile, and analyze a catalog of open star clusters. This catalog will be revolutionary in its size and uniformity. Additional high-resolution optical spectroscopy will supplement the SDSS-V data with neutron-capture elemental abundances to create a unique catalog comprising up to 90% of the Gaia-confirmed open star clusters with homogeneous data, including consistently measured ages, distances, reddening, dynamics, and detailed abundances for more than 20 elements. This data set, which will be publicly released, will provide key constraints on whether chemical tagging can work in the Milky Way disk, on the participation of open clusters in radial migration, and on supernovae element yields. The catalog will be used to better understand stellar feedback over time and test cosmological models of galaxies like our Milky Way.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.