Galactic archeology and the origin of the elements

Chiaki Kobayashi

University of Hertfordshire

Abstract: Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) can provide stringent constraints not only on nuclear astrophysics but also on the formation and evolutionary history of the Milky Way itself, through an approach called Galactic archeology. We construct GCE models for all stable elements from C (A = 12) to U (A = 238) from first principles, i.e., using theoretical nucleosynthesis yields and event rates of all chemical enrichment sources. This enables us to predict the origin of the elements in the periodic table as a function of time, which, for example, has revealed the "missing gold" problem. I also apply these yields to more realistic hydrodynamical simulations of a Milky Way type galaxy, and will discuss the evolution of the Galactic sub-structures and their elemental abundances.