The Origin of the Elements in the Milky Way and Its Closest Neighbors

了解这些元素的来源和分布对于了解支配星系形成的过程至关重要。这项研究项目包括一个数据分析和建模程序，以解释大型光谱观测观测到的银河系恒星及其矮小卫星星系的元素丰度模式。该项目的结果将使天文学家能够建立一幅支配元素合成的恒星和银河系尺度现象的连贯图景。该项目将培训一名研究生学习高级天文分析方法，并支持一项面向本科生的研究指导计划。基于研究团队开发的模型，所进行的研究将对核心坍塌超新星、Ia型超新星和渐近巨型分支恒星对观测到的恒星元素丰度模式的贡献产生强烈的经验约束。他们将对银河系化学演化模型进行严格的测试，这些模型探索关于吸积和恒星形成历史、银河系风、喷泉、径向气流和随机浓缩事件的不同假设，以及星际介质中的不完全混合。他们还将对银河系组件(薄盘、厚盘、凸起、光晕)之间以及银河系与其矮星之间的化学丰度差异的来源提出新的见解。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Understanding the origin and distribution of the elements is essential for understanding the processes that govern galaxy formation. This research project comprises a program of data analysis and modeling to interpret the elemental abundance patterns of stars in the Milky Way and its dwarf satellite galaxies observed by large spectroscopic surveys. Results from the project will allow astronomers to build a coherent picture of stellar and galactic scale phenomena that govern the synthesis of the elements. The project will train a graduate student in methods of advanced astronomical analysis and support a program of research mentoring for undergraduate students.Building upon models developed by the research team, the studies undertaken will yield strong empirical constraints on the contributions of core collapse supernovae, Type Ia supernovae, and asymptotic giant branch stars to the observed stellar elemental abundance patterns. They will provide stringent tests of Milky Way chemical evolution models that explore different assumptions about accretion and star formation history, galactic winds, fountains, radial gas flows, and stochastic enrichment events, as well as incomplete mixing in the interstellar medium. They will also yield new insights on the origin of chemical abundance differences between the components of the Milky Way (thin disk, thick disk, bulge, halo) and between the Milky Way and its dwarf satellites.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.