Research project Multi-dimensional analysis of the metal-poor galaxy
The core of the old globular cluster Omega Centauri. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
With data from telescopes on the ground and in space we can determine the positions, motions, and chemical composition of millions of stars to reconstruct our Galaxy’s formation history and the origin of the elements. Stars preserve a record of the chemical history of the Universe, but extracting this information from their spectra requires accurate physical models of stellar atmospheres. Most large spectroscopic surveys have traditionally relied on simplified assumptions that limit the precision of chemical abundance measurements.
The ERC project MULTIDIMSPEC aimed to establish multidimensional stellar spectroscopy as a practical tool for modern astronomy by combining advances in stellar atmosphere modelling, atomic physics, and large-scale data analysis. The project sought to replace simplified one-dimensional approaches with physically realistic three-dimensional models and to make these methods applicable to the very large datasets produced by contemporary stellar surveys.
All publications connected to the MULTIDIMSPEC project can be found here.