Observed Abundance Features and their Implications for Chemical Evolution

Abstract

We describe the star formation histories of the Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxy and the globular cluster ω Centauri in terms of an inhomogeneous chemical evolution model developed for the Galactic halo. The observed abundance trends seen in neutron-capture elements together with α-elements constrain our models to shed light on the histories of these nearby galaxies and ω Cen. The origin of low-α stars and a new picture of the globular cluster formation scenario induced by cloud–cloud collisions are also presented.