An Introduction to Galactic Chemical Evolution
Nikos Prantzos (Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris)
TL;DR
This paper provides a tutorial overview of galactic chemical evolution, explaining its formalism, main ingredients, and how it helps interpret observational data about stellar and gas compositions in galaxies.
Contribution
It introduces the simple model of galactic chemical evolution, clarifying its framework and emphasizing its role as an interpretative tool rather than a complete theory.
Findings
Illustrates concepts with Solar neighborhood data
Analyzes Milky Way halo chemical composition
Highlights GCE as a interpretative framework
Abstract
The formalism of the simple model of galactic chemical evolution (GCE) and its main ingredients (stellar properties, initial mass function, star formation rate and gas flows) are presented in this tutorial. It is stressed that GCE is not (yet) an astrophysical theory, but it merely provides a framework in which the large body of data concerning the chemical composition of stars and gas in galaxies may be intrepreted. A few examples illustrating those concepts are provided, through studies of the Solar neighborhood and of the Milky Way's halo.
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