Speaker
Description
The oldest, most metal-poor stars found in the Galactic halo and satellite dwarf
galaxies retain in their atmospheres the chemical footprints of the high redshift Uni-
verse. Employing “stellar archaeology” – the diverse use of the chemical and dynam-
ical properties of metal-poor stars – we can answer outstanding questions about the
early Universe. Using high resolution optical and UV spectroscopic observations of
the dataset of the most chemically interesting metal-poor stars, I aim to probe the
nature of the first stars and supernovae explosions (SNe), the relevant nucleosynthesis
processes responsible for the formation and evolution of the elements, early star and
galaxy formation processes, as well as the assembly process of the Galactic stellar halo from
dwarf galaxies a long time ago. In my talk, I will explore major recent advancements
in our understanding of the chemical elements formation in the metal-poor stars, es-
pecially the trans-Fe elements via the r(apid) neutron capture process, in light of the
ground breaking gravitational wave discovery.
