PSem and MVSem: Stellar populations and Galactic archeology

Joint BSc and MSc Pflichtseminar in winter term 2019/2020
University of Heidelberg
2 SWS

Fridays 11:15 AM - 1 PM
First meeting October 18, 2019
Last meeting January 31, 2020
Christmas break: 23.12.19 (Friday) - 6.1.20 (Monday)

Physikalisches Institut, Philosophenweg 12, R 056

Lecturer: Dr. Maria Bergemann
Contact: bergemann at mpia de
Co-lecturer: Ekaterina Semenova
Contact: semenova at mpia de

This is a mandatory seminar for BSc and MSc students with marks. The seminar will be held in english. Our main goal is to deepen knowledge in selected topics in modern astrophysics, with a special focus on nucleosynthesis, stellar physics, stellar populations, and evolution of the Milky Way galaxy.

All students will give a talk (30 minutes + 15 minutes QA). In addition, the students shall provide:
- MSc: 10 (soft limit) page written report
- BSc: 2 page (strict limit) page handout for the talk

A draft of the presentation and of the handout (BSc)/report (MSc) shall be provided to the lecturer a week in advance.

Only for MSc students:
Credit points (4 + 2 CP, Leistungspunkte)
4 CPs for the presentation and attending the seminar
2 CPs for a written report
both will be graded

Only for BSc students:
Credit points (3 CP, Leistungspunkte)
2 CPs for the presentation and attending the seminar
1 CPs for a written report
both will be graded


Students are free to choose the reference literature and discuss this with the lecturer. A good starting point are the following review articles:
  • Physics and phenomenology of late-type stars
    Bergemann 2019
  • High-precision stellar abundances of the elements: methods and applications
    Nissen 2018
  • Introduction to Galactic chemical evolution
    Matteucci 2016
  • Structure and evolution of the Milky Way
    Freeman 2012
  • The Ages of Stars
    Soderblom 2010
  • The Ages of the Universe
    Lineweaver 1999


    Optional
    weekly Stellar Astrophysics meetings at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and Landessternwarte
    Tuesdays, 11 AM - 12:30 AM
    please inform the lecturer if you are interested to attend the meetings

    Schedule
    October 18:
    October 25: Introductory lecture
    November 1: No meeting
    November 8: No meeting
    November 15: No meeting
    November 22: No meeting
    November 29: Gabriel, Philipp H.
    December 6: No meeting
    December 13: Mauritz, Thomas
    December 20: Philipp E., Ruben
    January 10: Daniel, Louis
    January 17: Leana, Silvia
    January 24: no meeting
    January 31: no meeting

    Potential topics