Gabriele Cescutti (University Of Trieste): Galactic Archaeology with neutron capture elements

Monday 25 Nov 2024, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Stockholm

Title: Galactic Archaeology with neutron capture elements
Speaker: Gabriele Cescutti
Affiliation: University Of Trieste
Time: Monday 25th November 2024, 14:00 to 15:00
Location:  90103 Å

Abstract:  About ten years ago, our group found that many chemical anomalies observed in extremely metal-poor halo stars indicate that First Stars were fast rotators. More recent theoretical computations have found that rotating massive stars can also  play a role in the chemical enrichment of neutron capture elements, providing an early contribution of the s-process. Using a stochastic chemical evolution model, it is possible to identify this s-process contribution as the missing component responsible for the spread in the ratio between light (Sr) to heavy (Ba) neutron capture elements. A specific distribution is also predicted for the isotopic ratio of Ba in halo stars, and this imprint can be the smoking gun of the existence of rotating massive stars in the Early Universe.