Stellar yields and Galactic chemical evolution

Abstract

The chemical composition of stars belonging to the halo and the disk of our Galaxy as well as a few nearby galaxies are the primary sources of our understanding of the Galactic Chemical Evolution (GCE). The abundance trends implied by the abundance ratios of the chemical elements as a function of time and metallicity trace the chemical history of our Galaxy which could be understood in the framework of a Galactic Chemical Evolution Model (GCEM). Among the basic ingredients of a GCEM `stellar yields' play an important role as they implicitly contain a physical scenario of stellar nucleosynthesis and evolution. Improved input along with a realistic model of chemical evolution are expected to result better simulation of the observed abundances.