What is written in the stars? A chemical view on the formation of the Milky Way

• Applicant: Professorin Else Starkenburg, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2014 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 258163275

Only in our own Milky Way and some surrounding galaxies we can resolve and observe individual stars. Because stars keep a chemical fingerprint during their lives and also preserve kinematical information for long times, studying the present-day stars can teach us about the past. The main aim of this proposal is to unravel the information contained within a star's chemical fingerprint and use it to make significant progress in our understanding of the formation of galaxies like our Milky Way. In pursuing this aim I will be bringing together information from both observations and modelling techniques that I have developed. This project involves the study of large existing surveys, the design of new observational projects and fully cosmologically motivated modeling of galaxy formation and evolution processes. Key insights will be achieved by comparing the chemical fingerprints of dwarf galaxies to the Milky Way. This proposal is complementary to the science programs at the Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam and will benefit greatly from the expertise present at this host institution. The results from this project will consist of fundamental underpinnings for the interpretation of big data in the upcoming era of large Galactic Archaeology surveys and extremely large telescopes.

• DFG Programme: Independent Junior Research Groups