Institut de recherche sur les lois fondamentales de l'Univers

Understanding the formation and evolution of the Milky Way is a major
astrophysical challenge of our time. Large-scale surveys now provide us
with positions, dynamics, and chemical information for millions of
stars. But we typically miss age information. With asteroseismology we
are starting to overcome these limitations. Adding ages to
chemodynamical data allows to not only see where stars are and where
they are going, but learn where they have come from and for how long
they have been travelling. In this talk I will provide the background
to understanding why asteroseismology helps with respect to stellar
ages. I'll discuss why you should trust stellar ages, and why you
shouldn't. I will show results of the age distribution of stars known
to belong to the Galactic thick disk and I'll demonstrate that the
formation of the Galactic thick disk occurred over a timescale of a few
hundred million years - substantially faster than previously believed.
Bio:
Guy R. Davies is a Lecturer in Astrophysics at University of Birmingham.
He uses the sounds of the Sun and stars in an attempt to understand the
world around us, with a particular focus on the development and
application of novel, advanced data-analysis techniques (including
applications of machine learning and Bayesian inference). He is an
enthusiastic teacher and communicator on all aspects of astrophysics and
is regularly involved in organized public outreach events.

 

Local contact: K. Augustson, organization: K. Augustson