The nuclei of the lithium isotopes are fragile, easily destroyed, so that, at variance with most of the other elements, they cannot be formed in stars through steady hydrostatic nucleosynthesis.

The 7Li isotope is synthesized during primordial nucleosynthesis in the first minutes after the Big Bang and later by cosmic rays, by novae and in pulsations of AGB stars (possibly also by the ν process). 6Li is mainly formed by cosmic rays. The oldest (most metal-deficient) warm galactic stars should retain the signature of these processes if, (as it had been often expected) lithium is not depleted in these stars. The existence of a “plateau” of the abundance of 7Li (and of its slope) in the warm metal-poor stars is discussed. At very low metallicity ([Fe/H] < −2.7dex) the star to star scatter increases significantly towards low Li abundances. The highest value of the lithium abundance in the early stellar matter of the Galaxy (logϵ(Li) = A(7Li) = 2.2 dex) is much lower than the the value (logϵ(Li) = 2.72) predicted by the standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis, according to the specifications found by the satellite WMAP. After gathering a homogeneous stellar sample, and analysing its behaviour, possible explanations of the disagreement between Big Bang and stellar abundances are discussed (including early astration and diffusion). On the other hand, possibilities of lower productions of 7Li in the standard and/or non-standard Big Bang nucleosyntheses are briefly evoked.

A surprisingly high value (A(6Li)=0.8 dex) of the abundance of the 6Li isotope has been found in a few warm metal-poor stars. Such a high abundance of 6Li independent of the mean metallicity in the early Galaxy cannot be easily explained. But are we really observing 6Li?

Type Ic supernova (SN Ic) is the gravitational collapse of a massive star without H and He layers. It propels several solar masses of material to the typical velocity of 10,000 km/s, a very small fraction of the ejecta nearly to the speed of light. We investigate SNe Ic as production sites for the light elements Li, Be, and B, via the neutrino-process and spallations. As massive stars collapse, neutrinos are emitted in large numbers from the central remnants. Some of the neutrinos interact with nuclei in the exploding materials and mainly 7Li and 11B are produced. Subsequently, the ejected materials with very high energy impinge on the interstellar/circumstellar matter and spall into light elements. We find that the ν-process in the current SN Ic model produces a significant amount of 11B, consistent with observations if combined with B isotopes from the following spallation production.

During the past decade, there has been a revolution in the availability of multi-wavelength astronomical surveys. From the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), astronomical research based on publicly accessible datasets is becoming standard practice in the community. Beginning with the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) mission, infrared surveys have played a critical role in stellar astronomy by identifying cool and dusty stars worthy of spectroscopic characterization. IRAS' four photometric bands at 12, 25, 60, and 100 μm were ideal for detecting dusty circumstellar material. All-sky surveys like IRAS reveal the brightest members of each class of rare objects, optimizing their follow-up strategy. The case of debris disks around main sequence stars demonstrates this utility. IRAS detected dust disks around four nearby stars, Beta Pictoris, Fomalhaut, Epsilon Eridani, and Vega. The “Fabulous Four” remain the best studied debris disks, despite hundreds of additional examples discovered by the Spitzer Space Telescope. In the nearly 30 years since IRAS was launched, its highly reliable catalog of just 250000 sources, modest by modern standards, with arcminute scale resolution and 0.3 - 1 Jy sensitivity, has generated over 10,000 references in ADS. This is a success story by any measure.

After a brief review of past N-body models of the Milky Way, I consider some of the difficulties that are inherent in the N-body approach to modelling any disk galaxy.

In this paper we discuss the fact that the observed “accelerations” (i. e., higher velocities at larger distances from the source) observed along some Herbig-Haro (HH) jets directly imply that the ejection velocity has to be time-dependent. Even though discussed in the early literature of the subject, this is an often forgotten fact.

It is well known that star formation takes place within molecular clouds. However, current observational surveys and investigations usually start by selecting a sample of sites where star formation is ongoing, thus biasing against those clouds and regions with little or no current formation activity. In an attempt to identify samples of clouds both with and without star formation, and to investigate their properties, we present an automated method for associating clouds identified in new 3D CO data with far-IR/sub-mm sources. Given the large number of surveys of the galactic plane currently planned, ongoing or being released, the methods used here may prove instructive in understanding how, where and under what conditions star formation takes place throughout our Galaxy. In addition, this will allow exploration of the properties of star forming regions on a range of spatial scales.

Although the transition from an initially decelerated to a late-time accelerating cosmic expansion is becoming observationally established, the duration of the accelerating phase depends on the cosmological scenario and, several models, which includes our standard one, imply an eternal acceleration or even an accelerating expansion until the onset of a future cosmic singularity. In this regard, an interesting theoretical question arises if one tries to reconcile the standard description of the current cosmic acceleration with the only candidate for a consistent quantum theory of gravity we have today, i.e., Superstring theory.

I report results of kinematic studies of the Narrow-Line Region (NLR) of nearby Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) from integral field spectroscopy (IFS) obtained with the Gemini Telescopes, including mass outflow rates and corresponding kinetic power. The IFS has allowed the construction of velocity channel maps which provide a better coverage of the gas kinematics and do not support the presence of acceleration up to hundred parsec scales in the NLR as found in previous studies based solely on centroid velocity maps.

Gas in galaxy clusters requires re-heating. We study the re-heating of the cool gas phases. Ionized and molecular gas is traced out to 20 kpc and found to be strongly coupled. The observed line emission may in part be explained by excitation due to hot, young stars.

We study effects of relic long-lived strongly interacting massive particles (X particles) on big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). The X particle is assumed to have existed during the BBN epoch, but decayed long before detected. The interaction strength between an X and a nucleon is assumed to be similar to that between nucleons. Rates of nuclear reactions and beta decay of X-nuclei are calculated, and the BBN in the presence of neutral charged X0 particles is calculated taking account of captures of X0 by nuclei. As a result, the X0 particles form bound states with normal nuclei during a relatively early epoch of BBN leading to the production of heavy elements. Constraints on the abundance of X0 are derived from observations of primordial light element abundances. Particle models which predict long-lived colored particles with lifetimes longer than ~200 s are rejected. This scenario prefers the production of 9Be and 10B. There might, therefore, remain a signature of the X particle on primordial abundances of those elements. Possible signatures left on light element abundances expected in four different models are summarized.

High-resolution non-ideal magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the turbulent magnetized ISM, powered by supernovae types Ia and II at Galactic rate, including self-gravity and non-equilibriuim ionization (NEI), taking into account the time evolution of the ionization structure of H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S and Fe, were carried out. These runs cover a wide range (from kpc to sub-parsec) of scales, providing resolution independent information on the injection scale, extended self-similarity and the fractal dmension of the most dissipative structures.

We derive abundances of Fe, Na, O, α and s-elements from GIRAFFE@VLT spectra for more than 200 red giant stars in the Milky Way satellite ω Centauri. Our preliminary results are that: (i) we confirm that ω Centauri exhibits large star-to-star metallicity variation (~1.4 dex); (ii) the metallicity distribution reveals the presence of at least five stellar populations with different [Fe/H]; (iii) a distinct Na-O anticorrelation is clearly observed for the metal-poor and metal-intermediate stellar populations while apparently the anticorrelation disappears for the most metal rich populations. Interestingly the Na level grows with iron.

A short overview is presented of current issues concerning the production and evolution of Li, Be and B in the Milky Way. In particular, the observed “primary-like” evolution of Be is re-assessed in the light of a novel idea: it is argued that Galactic Cosmic Rays are accelerated from the wind material of rotating massive stars, hit by the forward shock of the subsequent supernova explosions. The pre-galactic levels of both Li isotopes remain controversial at present, making it difficult to predict their Galactic evolution. A quantitative estimate is provided of the contributions of various candidate sources to the solar abundance of Li.

We highlight the role of the light elements (Li, Be, B) in the evolution of massive single and binary stars, which is largely restricted to a diagnostic value, and foremost so for the element boron. However, we show that the boron surface abundance in massive early type stars contains key information about their foregoing evolution which is not obtainable otherwise. In particular, it allows to constrain internal mixing processes and potential previous mass transfer event for binary stars (even if the companion has disappeared). It may also help solving the mystery of the slowly rotating nitrogen-rich massive main sequence stars.

Working in collaboration with industry, the University of Sydney, the Anglo-Australian Observatory and Macquarie University are developing new ‘astrophotonic’ solutions to problems in astronomical instrumentation. A key first step involves overcoming the limitations imposed by multimode (MM) optical fibres that have been used by astronomers for many years to transport or reformat light from the telescope focus to an optical spectrograph. These large-core MM fibres maximise light into an astronomical instrument but at the expense of propagating many unpolarized modes. Until recently, this has deterred the use of more complex in-fibre processing of the light since this is typically limited to single-mode (SM) propagation. A MM to SM converter, known as a ‘photonic lantern’, was first demonstrated by Leon-Saval et al. (2005). If the number of transverse modes equals the number of SM fibres, and if a gradual and adiabatic transition between the MM fiber and the ensemble of SM fibres can be achieved, lossless coupling can take place in either propagation direction. Noordegraaf et al. (2009) demonstrated an efficient 1 x 7 photonic lantern (1 MM input and 7 SM outputs) for the first time.

We compare the submillimetre (submm) emission with the Hi and CO distribution towards Kepler's supernova remnant (SNR), and conclude that 0.1 to 1.2 M⊙ of dust originates from Kepler. Such rates are sufficient to explain the origin of dust in high redshift galaxies.

Unbiased, flux-limited surveys of protoplanetary disks and their parent stars currently exist for only a few clouds, primarily Taurus and IC 348, selected primarily by optical and near-IR data. Such surveys are essential to address questions of disk evolution as a function of stellar parameters such as spectral type, age, accretion activity and environment. Using the ‘Cores to Disks’ (c2d) Spitzer Legacy Program, we discovered a new population of young stellar objects (YSOs) in a region of only 0.8 deg2 in the Serpens Molecular Cloud. This sample contains 150 mid-IR bright (≥ 3 mJy at 8 μm) YSOs with infrared excess, having a broad range of SED types and luminosities. Serpens is therefore a unique target region for obtaining a complete, well-defined sample of multi-wavelength observations of young stars in a possible evolutionary sequence. Compared with other clouds such as Taurus and Chamaeleon, Serpens has an exceptionally high star-formation rate (5.7 × 10−5 M⊙ yr−1). Follow-up complimentary observations in the optical, near- and mid-infrared (Spitzer/IRS GO3) have allowed us to characterize both the central stars and the surrounding disks. The shape and slope of the mid-infrared excess provide information on the flaring geometry of the disks. The spectral features give constraints on grain growth and mineralogy, which in turn probes heating and radial mixing. The presence of PAH features traces UV radiation, whereas Hα and Brγ are used as diagnostics of accretion. Assuming that all stars within a sufficiently small region are nearly coeval, this provides direct constraints on the importance of environment and initial conditions on disk evolution. In this meeting, we have presented our latest results on this rich populations of YSOs, as detailed in Oliveira et al. (2009, 2010). We have discussed connections between the evolution of the disks and that of their harboring stars, and the processes that determine the evolutionary sequence of protoplanetary disks.

In this paper we briefly discuss the present status of the cosmic ray astrophysics under the light of the new data from the Pierre Auger Observatory. The measured energy spectrum is used to test the scenario of production in nearby radio galaxies. Within this framework the AGN correlation would require that most of the cosmic rays are heavy nuclei and are widely scattered by intergalactic magnetic fields.

Dynamical models have often necessarily assumed that the Galaxy is nearly steady state or dynamically relaxed. However observed structure in the stellar metallicity, spatial and velocity distributions imply that heating, mixing and radial migration has taken place. Better comprehension of non-equilibrium processes will allow us to not only better understand the current structure of the galaxy but its past evolution.

Population III stars initiated the chemical enrichment of the Universe. Chemical evolution models seem to favour fast rotators among the very low-metallicity population. When a star rotates fast, it ejects significant quantities of He and its nucleosynthesic products are modified compared to the case without rotation. The value of ΔY/ΔO is explored from a theoretical point of view through stellar models of zero- or very low-metallicity.