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PHYSICS DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
The Origin Of Carbon in the Universe
Dr. Timothy C. Beers
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Michigan State University
e-mail
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Evidence is presented, based on recent large surveys for extremely
metal-deficient stars in the halo of the Galaxy, that stars in the earliest
epochs of star formation may have been prodigious producers of carbon.
Although details of the production mechanisms are not fully understood, it
has become clear that the identification of enhanced carbon in extremely
metal-poor stars is a signpost of interesting astrophysical phenomena.
Among
the most exciting cases, carbon enhancement is associated with stars showing
r-process-element enhancements, s-process-element enhancements,
neutron-capture-element deficiencies, and, for now, with the lowest [Fe/H]
star
yet discovered, at [Fe/H] = -5.3.
Thursday, October 17, 2002
4:00 P.M. in Sc 234
Refreshments at 3:30 in Sc 103
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