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

在整个宇宙的历史中，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如何随时间变化。通过测量特定元素如何以及何时增加，研究人员将创建“化学钟”，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圆盘中几乎所有合适的星星团的化学组成。该项目将为国家利益服务，并通过提供可用于探索银河系历史的独特目录来促进天文学研究的进展。调查人员将在犹他州大学和德克萨斯基督教大学的蒙尼格陨石画廊开展指导和推广活动。他们还将在现代数据科学研究和分析技术方面培训研究生和本科生。利用斯隆数字巡天五号（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、汇编和分析一个疏散星星集群的目录。这个目录将是革命性的大小和统一性。额外的高分辨率光谱学将用中子捕获元素丰度补充SDSS-V数据，以创建一个独特的目录，包括90%的盖亚确认的疏散星星集群，具有均匀的数据，包括一致测量的年龄，距离，红化，动力学和20多种元素的详细丰度。 这一数据集将公开发布，将提供关键的限制，化学标记是否可以在银河系盘，在径向迁移的疏散星团的参与，以及超新星元素的产量。 该目录将被用来更好地了解恒星反馈随着时间的推移和测试宇宙学模型的星系，如我们的银河系。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

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.