Issue |
EAS Publications Series
Volume 24, 2007
CRAL-2006. Chemodynamics: From First Stars to Local Galaxies
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Page(s) | 3 - 14 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas:2007050 | |
Published online | 21 April 2007 |
E. Emsellem, H. Wozniak, G. Massacrier, J.-F. Gonzalez, J. Devriendt and N. Champavert (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 24 (2007) 3-14
The Chemical Evolution of the Milky Way in a cosmological context
Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095 CNRS, Université Pierre & Marie Curie, France
A short overview is presented of several topics concerning the evolution of the Milky Way (MW) in a cosmological context. In particular, the metallicity distribution of the MW halo is derived analytically and the halo metallicity and abundance patterns are compared to those of Local Group galaxies. The inside-out formation of the MW disk is supported by the observed evolution of the abundance gradients, while their magnitude suggests that the role of the Galactic bar has been negligible. Finally, the empirical foundations (age-metallicity relation and metallicity distribution) of the evolution of the solar neighbourhood, which is the best studied galactic sub-system, have been seriously questioned recently.
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2007