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

了解这些元素的起源和分布对于理解控制星系形成的过程至关重要。本研究项目包括一个数据分析和建模程序，以解释银河系及其矮卫星星系中通过大型光谱调查观察到的恒星元素丰度模式。该项目的结果将使天文学家能够建立一幅恒星和星系尺度现象的连贯图像，这些现象支配着元素的合成。该项目将培养一名研究生掌握先进的天文分析方法，并支持一项本科生研究指导计划。以研究小组开发的模型为基础，所进行的研究将对核心坍缩超新星、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有力的经验约束。他们将为银河系化学演化模型提供严格的测试，探索关于吸积和恒星形成历史、星系风、喷泉、径向气体流动、随机富集事件以及星际介质中不完全混合的不同假设。它们还将对银河系组成部分（薄盘、厚盘、凸起、光晕）以及银河系与其矮卫星之间化学丰度差异的起源产生新的见解。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。

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.