Chemical evolution models

People involved at OAB: Romano, Tosi

Models of Galactic chemical evolution can nowadays reproduce the vast majority of the observed characteristics of our Galaxy. Yet, there are a number of open questions which require further studies. In 2009, to better understand the evolution of the Galaxy, we have worked on the combination of our detailed chemical evolution code with a more appropriate treatment of star and gas dynamics. We have also proceeded towards a complete and accurate comparison of the various stellar nucleosynthesis yields available in literature and their capability (or lack thereof) of reproducing all the major observed chemical properties of Galactic objects. Finally, we have studied the chemical evolution of $\omega$ Cen, assuming it to be both a real globular cluster and the fossil nucleus of an accreted galaxy.

These studies are in collaboration with F. Matteucci (Trieste Univ.), L. Ciotti (Bologna Univ.), V. Hill (Nice Obs., France), C. Charbonnel (Geneva Univ., CH).