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SUMMARY:The most metal-poor stars in the Milky Way and its dwarf galaxy sa
 tellites - John Norris\, The Australian National University
DTSTART:20111006T153000Z
DTEND:20111006T163000Z
UID:TALK32451@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr. Vasily Belokurov
DESCRIPTION:The discovery and analysis of the most metal-poor stars lead t
 o\ninsight into conditions when the Universe and Galaxy were young.  We\np
 resent the rationale for studying such objects (which become\nprogressivel
 y rarer at lowest abundance)\, with a description of their\nsystematic dis
 covery.  Currently\, some 130 stars in the Galaxy's\nstellar halo are know
 n which have [Fe/H] < -3.0\, from high-resolution\,\nhigh-S/N spectroscopi
 c analyses.  Four of them have [Fe/H] < -4.5.\nThe Metallicity Distributio
 n Function and the relative abundance\npatterns ([X/Fe] vs. [Fe/H]) of the
  sample will be discussed.  As one\nproceeds to lowest abundance one finds
  astounding overabundances of\nsome or all of the CNO group and of other l
 ight elements.  While this\ndiversity among the most metal-poor stars has 
 yet to be fully\nunderstood\, there exists a number of proposed models\, w
 hich will be\nbriefly presented.\n\nExtremely metal-poor stars ([Fe/H] < -
 3.0) have recently been\ndiscovered in the Galaxy's dwarf spheroidal and u
 ltra-faint galaxy\nsatellites.  The similarity of these stars with those o
 f similar\n[Fe/H] in the Galaxy's halo suggests that objects not unlike th
 e\nultra-faint galaxies may have played a role in the formation of the\nGa
 laxy's halo.
LOCATION:Sackler Lecture Theatre\, IoA (tea at 4:00 pm)
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