Stellar Archaeology: New Science with Old Stars

TL;DR

This paper discusses how studying metal-poor stars reveals crucial information about the early Universe, cosmic chemical evolution, and nucleosynthesis processes, advancing our understanding of early star and galaxy formation.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of how metal-poor stars serve as tools for astrophysical research into the early Universe and chemical evolution.

Findings

Metal-poor stars contain chemical signatures of early cosmic events.

Studying these stars helps understand nucleosynthesis and galaxy formation.

They offer insights into the conditions of the early Universe.

Abstract

The abundance patterns of metal-poor stars provide us a wealth of chemical information about various stages of cosmic chemical evolution. In particular, these stars allow us to study the formation and evolution of the elements, and the involved nucleosynthesis processes. This knowledge is invaluable for our understanding of the nature and condition of the early Universe, and the associated processes of early star- and galaxy formation. This proceeding summarizes the astrophysical topics and questions that can be addressed with metal-poor stars. For the full version of the review, the reader is referred to Frebel 2010.