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
- Introduction to Galactic chemical evolution
- Building blocks of the Milky Way galaxy: overview
- Chemical properties and evolution of the Galactic halo
- Chemical properties and evolution of the Galactic disc
- Chemical properties and evolution of the Galactic bulge
- Chemical properties and evolution of Galactic satellites (dwarf galaxies)
- Chemical properties and evolution of star clusters (open, globular)
- Nucleosynthesis constrained with very metal-poor stars
- Nucleosynthesis constrained with solar twins
- Determination of chemical abundances in stars
- Determination of stellar ages