Giovanni Carraro
Published 1999-11-19Version 1
I review different methods devised to derive the age of the Galactic Disk, namely the Radio-active Decay (RD), the Cool White Dwarf Luminosity Function (CWDLF), old opne clusters (OOC) and the Color Magnitude Diagram (CMD) of the stars in the solar vicinity. I argue that the disk is likely to be 8-10 Gyr old. Since the bulk of globulars has an age around 13 Gyr, the possibility emerges that the Galaxy experienced a minimum of Star Formation at the end of the halo/bulge formation. This minimum might reflect the time at which the Galaxy started to acquire material to form the disk inside-out.
Comments: 10 pages, 4 figure, invited review, in "The chemical evolution of the Milky Way : Stars vs Clusters, Vulcano (Italy), 20-24 September 1999
Chemical Evolution of the Galactic Disk and Bulge
On the Abundance Gradient of the Galactic Disk
Discovery of an anomalous Sub Giant Branch in the Color Magnitude Diagram of omega Centauri
