The dual-hemisphere AS5 Atomic Genesis Explorer (AGE) will provide a benchmark sample for tracing the origin of the elements over time. AGE will be the first high-resolution (R ≥ 70,000) program in the SDSS ecosystem and aims to provide the precision in stellar atmospheric parameters and detailed chemical abundances to understand how elements form & evolve across the Milky Way disk.
The Motivation and Driving Science Questions:
We have learned from SDSS-V, and other large scale spectroscopic surveys, that stars across the disk have chemical abundances that can be generated by different combinations of shared patterns. These patterns are intimately connected to the nucleosynthetic pathways that create the elements and their isotopes and the star formation history of the Galaxy. The specific observed chemical abundance patterns in stars enable us to answer key astrophysical questions which include:
-What built the elements in our Galaxy?
-How does Galactic chemistry connect to its structure and evolution over time?
-How do we unlock the information in large stellar survey maps?
To answer these questions, a high quality, high resolution set of SNR > 100 spectra, that enables the measurement of a large number of elements at high precision (< 0.05 dex) is required. This set of elements, including light, odd-z, alpha, Fe=peak, and r- and s-process, across the periodic table, will complete the genetic map of the Milky Way disk and provide key missing information about its enrichment pathways.
Using facilities in both hemispheres, AGE will obtain high-quality, high resolution (R > 70,000) , SNR > 100 spectra of ~2000 stars in a restricted evolutionary state, uniformly sampling disk metallicity. A targeted set of Kepler asteroseismic benchmarks as well as TESS continuous viewing zone stars delivers exceptional spectral quality tied to precise ages and stellar structure. The high quality of the collected spectra will enable measurements of ~30 element abundances (across nearly all element families) at ~0.01-0.02 dex precision (using differential analysis approaches) and will provide the first systematic isotopic-ratio survey for a large sample of stars that will be a key tracer of s
Contact information
For more information on the Atomic Genesis Explorer, contact the AS5/AGE Program Head: Melissa Ness (Australia National University)
To sign up for the AGE mailing list please do so here.