Abstract. We present and discuss new determinations of metallicity, rotation, age, kinematics, and Galactic orbits for a complete, magnitude-limited, and kinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F and G dwarf stars. Our ∼63 000 new, accurate radial-velocity observations for nearly 13 500 stars allow identification of most of the binary stars in the sample and, together with published uvbyβ photometry, Hipparcos parallaxes, Tycho-2 proper motions, and a few earlier radial velocities, complete the kinematic information for 14 139 stars. These high-quality velocity data are supplemented by effective temperatures and metallicities newly derived from recent and/or revised calibrations. The remaining stars either lack Hipparcos data or have fast rotation. A major effort has been devoted to the determination of new isochrone ages for all stars for which this is possible. Particular attention has been given to a realistic treatment of statistical biases and error estimates, as standard techniques tend to underestimate these effects and introduce spurious features in the age distributions. Our ages agree well with those by Edvardsson et al. (1993), despite several astrophysical and computational improvements since then. We demonstrate, however, how strong observational and theoretical biases cause the distribution of the observed ages to be very different from that of the true age distribution of the sample. Among the many basic relations of the Galactic disk that can be reinvestigated from the data presented here, we revisit the metallicity distribution of the G dwarfs and the age-metallicity, age-velocity, and metallicity-velocity relations of the Solar neighbourhood. Our first results confirm the lack of metal-poor G dwarfs relative to closed-box model predictions (the "G dwarf problem"), the existence of radial metallicity gradients in the disk, the small change in mean metallicity of the thin disk since its formation and the substantial scatter in metallicity at all ages, and the continuing kinematic heating of the thin disk with an efficiency consistent with that expected for a combination of spiral arms and giant molecular clouds. Distinct features in the distribution of the V component of the space motion are extended in age and metallicity, corresponding to the effects of stochastic spiral waves rather than classical moving groups, and may complicate the identification of thick-disk stars from kinematic criteria. More advanced analyses of this rich material will require careful simulations of the selection criteria for the sample and the distribution of observational errors.Key words. Galaxy: disk -Galaxy: solar neighbourhood -Galaxy: stellar content -Galaxy: kinematics and dynamicsGalaxy: evolution -stars: fundamental parameters Send offprint requests to: B. Nordström, e-mail: birgitta@astro.ku.dkBased on observations made with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, La Silla, Chile, and with the Swiss 1-m telescope at Observatoire de Haute-Provence, France.Complete Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electro...

Abstract. We present the results of analysis of "snapshot" spectra of 253 metal-poor halo stars −3.8 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ −1.5 obtained in the HERES survey. The snapshot spectra have been obtained with VLT/UVES and have typically S /N ∼ 54 per pixel (ranging from 17 to 308), R ∼ 20 000, λ = 3760-4980 Å. This sample represents the major part of the complete HERES sample of 373 stars; however, the CH strong content of the sample is not dealt with here. The spectra are analysed using an automated line profile analysis method based on the Spectroscopy Made Easy (SME) codes of Valenti & Piskunov. Elemental abundances of moderate precision (absolute rms errors of order 0.25 dex, relative rms errors of order 0.15 dex) have been obtained for 22 elements, C, Mg, Al, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, and Eu, where detectable. Of these elements, 14 are usually detectable at the 3σ confidence level for our typical spectra. The remainder can be detected in the least metal-poor stars of the sample, spectra with higher than average S /N, or when the abundance is enhanced. Among the sample of 253 stars, disregarding four previously known comparison stars, we find 8 r-II stars and 35 r-I stars. The r-II stars, including the two previously known examples CS 22892-052 and CS 31082-001, are centred on a metallicity of [Fe/H] = −2.81, with a very small scatter, on the order of 0.16 dex. The r-I stars are found across practically the entire metallicity range of our sample. We also find three stars with strong enhancements of Eu which are s-process rich. A significant number of new very metal-poor stars are confirmed: 49 stars with [Fe/H] < −3 and 181 stars with −3 < [Fe/H] < −2. We find one star with [Fe/H] < −3.5. We find the scatter in the abundance ratios of Mg, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Fe, Co, and Ni, with respect to Fe and Mg, to be similar to the estimated relative errors and thus the cosmic scatter to be small, perhaps even non-existent. The elements C, Sr, Y, Ba and Eu, and perhaps Zr, show scatter at [Fe/H] < ∼ −2.5 significantly larger than can be explained from the errors in the analysis, implying scatter which is cosmic in origin. Significant scatter is observed in abundance ratios between light and heavy neutron-capture elements at low metallicity and low levels of r-process enrichment.

Context. Ages, chemical compositions, velocity vectors, and Galactic orbits for stars in the solar neighbourhood are fundamental test data for models of Galactic evolution. The Geneva-Copenhagen Survey of the Solar Neighbourhood (Nordström et al. 2004; GCS), a magnitude-complete, kinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F and G dwarfs, is the largest available sample with complete data for stars with ages spanning that of the disk. Aims. We aim to improve the accuracy of the GCS data by implementing the recent revision of the Hipparcos parallaxes. Methods. The new parallaxes yield improved astrometric distances for 12 506 stars in the GCS. We also use the parallaxes to verify the distance calibration for uvbyβ photometry by Holmberg et al. (2007, A&A, 475, 519; GCS II). We add new selection criteria to exclude evolved cool stars giving unreliable results and derive distances for 3580 stars with large parallax errors or not observed by Hipparcos. We also check the GCS II scales of T eff and [Fe/H] and find no need for change. Results. Introducing the new distances, we recompute M V for 16 086 stars, and U, V, W, and Galactic orbital parameters for the 13 520 stars that also have radial-velocity measurements. We also recompute stellar ages from the Padova stellar evolution models used in GCS I-II, using the new values of M V , and compare them with ages from the Yale-Yonsei and Victoria-Regina models. Finally, we compare the observed age-velocity relation in W with three simulated disk heating scenarios to show the potential of the data. Conclusions. With these revisions, the basic data for the GCS stars should now be as reliable as is possible with existing techniques. Further improvement must await consolidation of the T eff scale from angular diameters and fluxes, and the Gaia trigonometric parallaxes. We discuss the conditions for improving computed stellar ages from new input data, and for distinguishing different disk heating scenarios from data sets of the size and precision of the GCS.

Context. Ages, metallicities, space velocities, and Galactic orbits of stars in the Solar neighbourhood are fundamental observational constraints on models of galactic disk evolution. Understanding and minimising systematic errors and sample selection biases in the data is crucial for their interpretation. Aims. We aim to consolidate the calibrations of uvbyβ photometry into T eff , [Fe/H], distance, and age for F and G stars and rediscuss the results of the Geneva-Copenhagen Survey (Nordström et al. 2004;GCS) in terms of the evolution of the disk. Methods. We use recent V − K photometry, angular diameters, high-resolution spectroscopy, Hipparcos parallaxes, and extensive numerical simulations to re-examine and verify the temperature, metallicity, distance, and reddening calibrations for the uvbyβ system. We also highlight the selection effects inherent in the apparent-magnitude limited GCS sample. Results. We substantially improve the T eff and [Fe/H] calibrations for early F stars, where spectroscopic temperatures have large systematic errors. A slight offset of the GCS photometry and the non-standard helium abundance of the Hyades invalidate its use for checking metallicity or age scales; however, the distances, reddenings, metallicities, and age scale for GCS field stars require minor corrections only. Our recomputed ages are in excellent agreement with the independent determinations by Takeda et al. (2007), indicating that isochrone ages can now be reliably determined. Conclusions. The revised G-dwarf metallicity distribution remains incompatible with closed-box models, and the age-metallicity relation for the thin disk remains almost flat, with large and real scatter at all ages (σ intrinsic = 0.20 dex). Dynamical heating of the thin disk continues throughout its life; specific in-plane dynamical effects dominate the evolution of the U and V velocities, while the W velocities remain random at all ages. When assigning thick and thin-disk membership for stars from kinematic criteria, parameters for the oldest stars should be used to characterise the thin disk.

We determine the velocity distribution and space density of a volume complete sample of A and F stars, using parallaxes and proper motions from the Hipparcos satellite. We use these data to solve for the gravitational potential vertically in the local Galactic disc, by comparing the Hipparcos measured space density with predictions from various disc models. We derive an estimate of the local dynamical mass density of 0.102 +/- 0.010 solar masses per cubic parsec which may be compared to an estimate of 0.095 solar masses per cubic parsec in visible disc matter. Our estimate is found to be in reasonable agreement with other estimates by Creze et al. and Pham, also based on Hipparcos data. We conclude that there is no compelling evidence for significant amounts of dark matter in the disc.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted by MNRA

We measure the volume luminosity density and surface luminosity density generated by the Galactic disc, using accurate data on the local luminosity function and the vertical structure of the disc. From the well-measured volume mass density and surface mass density, we derive local volume and surface mass-to-light ratios (M/L) for the Galactic disc, in the bands B, V and I. We obtain M/L for the local column of stellar matter of (M/L) B = 1.4 ± 0.2, (M/L) V = 1.5 ± 0.2 and (M/L) I = 1.2 ± 0.2. The dominant contributors to the surface luminosity in these bands are main-sequence turnoff stars and giants. Our results on the colours and M/L for the 'solar cylinder' well agree with population synthesis predictions using initial mass functions typical of the solar neighbourhood. Finally, we infer the global luminosity of the Milky Way, which appears to be underluminous by about 1σ with respect to the main locus of the Tully-Fisher relation, as observed for external galaxies.

Abstract. We derive stellar ages, from evolutionary tracks, and metallicities, from Strömgren photometry, for a sample of 5828 dwarf and sub-dwarf stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue. This stellar disk sample is used to investigate the age-metallicity diagram in the solar neighbourhood. Such diagrams are often used to derive a so called age-metallicity relation. Because of the size of our sample, we are able to quantify the impact on such diagrams, and derived relations, due to different selection effects. Some of these effects are of a more subtle sort, giving rise to erroneous conclusions. In particular we show that [1] the age-metallicity diagram is well populated at all ages and especially that old, metal-rich stars do exist, [2] the scatter in metallicity at any given age is larger than the observational errors, [3] the exclusion of cooler dwarf stars from an age-metallicity sample preferentially excludes old, metal-rich stars, depleting the upper right-hand corner of the age-metallicity diagram, [4] the distance dependence found in the Edvardsson et al. sample by Garnett & Kobulnicky is an expected artifact due to the construction of the original sample. We conclude that, although some of it can be attributed to stellar migration in the galactic disk, a large part of the observed scatter is intrinsic to the formation processes of stars.

We have derived abundances of 33 elements and upper limits for 6 additional elements for the metal-poor ([Fe/H] = −2.42) turn-off star HE 0338−3945 from high-quality VLT-UVES spectra. The star is heavily enriched, by about a factor of 100 relative to iron and the Sun, in the heavy s-elements (Ba, La, ...). It is also heavily enriched in Eu, which is generally considered an r-element, and in other similar elements. It is less enriched, by about a factor of 10, in the lighter s-elements (Sr, Y and Zr). C is also strongly enhanced and, to a somewhat lesser degree, N and O. These abundance estimates are subject to severe uncertainties due to NLTE and thermal inhomogeneities which are not taken into detailed consideration. However, an interesting result, which is most probably robust in spite of these uncertainties, emerges: the abundances derived for this star are very similar to those of other stars with an overall enhancement of all elements beyond the iron peak. We have defined criteria for this class of stars, r + s stars, and discuss nine different scenarios to explain their origin. None of these explanations is found to be entirely convincing. The most plausible hypotheses involve a binary system in which the primary component goes through its giant branch and asymptotic giant branch phases and produces CNO and s-elements which are dumped onto the observed star. Whether the r-element Eu is produced by supernovae before the star was formed (perhaps triggering the formation of a low-mass binary), by a companion as it explodes as a supernova (possibly triggered by mass transfer), or whether it is possibly produced in a high-neutron-density version of the s-process is still unclear. Several suggestions are made on how to clarify this situation.Key words. stars: population ii -stars: fundamental parameters -stars: abundances -Galaxy: halo -Galaxy: abundances -Galaxy: evolution IntroductionElements with atomic numbers Z > 30 are believed to be almost exclusively synthesized in neutron-capture (n-capture) reactions. In the most metal-poor stars the overall abundance of these elements varies from star to star, by more than a factor of 100 at a given metallicity (McWilliam et al. 1995;Ryan et al. 1996). Also, the different abundance ratios vary, e.g. the Ba/Eu ratio tends to decline with decreasing [Fe/H]