Stellar Abundances: Recent and Foreseeable Trends

Allende Prieto, C.
Bibliographical reference

New Horizons in Astronomy: Frank N. Bash Symposium ASP Conference Series, Vol. 352, Proceedings of the Conference Held 16-18 October, 2005 at The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA, p.105

Advertised on:
9
2006
Number of authors
1
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
3
Refereed citations
1
Description
The determination of chemical abundances from stellar spectra is considered a mature field of astrophysics. Digital spectra of stars are recorded and processed with standard techniques, much like samples in the biological sciences. Nevertheless, uncertainties typically exceed 20% and are dominated by systematic errors. The first part of this paper addresses what is being done to reduce measurement errors, and what is not being done, but should be. The second part focuses on some of the most exciting applications of stellar spectroscopy in the arenas of galactic structure and evolution, the origin of the chemical elements, and cosmology.