The MPA SAGA Group

I know many have wondered what exactly I will be working on at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. Here is a snippet on the group.

MPA Stellar Astrophysics and Galactic Archeology

The MPA Stellar Astrophysics and Galactic Archeology (SAGA) group has a two-fold aim: understand the physics of stars and use stars as probes of the cosmos, be it to study the Big Bang, the history of the Milky Way or the origin of the elements. The research encompasses both sophisticated modelling with supercomputers and large-scale observations with the most powerful telescopes.

A common thread for much of the work is the study of the origin of the elements -- when, where and how the different chemical elements were produced in the Universe. Essentially all elements have been forged by nuclear reactions in the fiery interiors of stars and MPA has for decades been a world-leader in simulating stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis. More recently this work has focussed on understanding low- and intermediate mass stars and testing the models by means of helio- and asteroseismology. Another critical ingredient for this endeavour is how to decipher the light emitted by stars in terms of stellar properties such as masses, temperatures, ages and chemical compositions. The group has pioneered developing realistic 3D hydrodynamical simulations of stellar atmospheres and convection. Among other things this modelling has completely changed our understanding of how convection operates in stars as well as caused a dramatic revision of a fundamental astronomical yardstick, namely the solar chemical composition. We are currently extending this modelling to other types of stars, including brown dwarfs and extrasolar giant planets.

The stellar modelling within the group provides the basis for the work on the formation and evolution of galaxies, which is one of the main outstanding problems in astronomy today. By studying stars born at different locations and with varying ages in a galaxy it is possible to piece together its history, an approach dubbed Galactic Archeology. In particular the group is trying to disentangle the evolution of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Currently the main emphasis is to discover the oldest stars in the Galactic halo (this will be my project), to study the old but metal-rich Galactic bulge and to investigate the origin of the thick and thin disks (funny enough, this part is basically my current PhD thesis). The group is an active partner in three massive Galactic surveys which will revolutionize the field in the coming few years: Sloan Digital Sky Survey, LAMOST and Skymapper Southern Sky Survey. In addition, we are a frequent user of the VLT, Keck, Subaru and Gemini telescopes.