The first discussion session held at the IAU Symposium 268 focussed on the deuterium content in the local interstellar medium (LISM) and in high-redshift systems. There were two key questions proposed to the audience: 1) what should be taken as representative abundance of D in the LISM, and 2) how can we explain the dispersion of the D abundance measured in high-redshift, very low metallicity environments? While on the latter point people seem to agree that observational and data analyses uncertainties are the most likely explanation, on the former question no consensus was reached. The historical and observational background at the basis of these questions and the discussion are schematically reported here.

For our understanding of the origin and evolution of baryonic matter in the Universe, the Protosolar Cloud (PSC) is of unique importance in two ways: 1) Up to now, many of the naturally occurring nuclides have only been detected in the solar system. 2) Since the time of solar system formation, the Sun and planets have been virtually isolated from the galactic nuclear evolution, and thus the PSC is a galactic sample with a degree of evolution intermediate between the Big Bang and the present.

The abundances of the isotopes of hydrogen and helium in the Protosolar Cloud are primarily derived from composition measurements in the solar wind, the Jovian atmosphere and “planetary noble gases” in meteorites, and also from observations of density profiles inside the Sun. After applying the changes in isotopic and elemental composition resulting from processes in the solar wind, the Sun and Jupiter, PSC abundances of the four lightest stable nuclides are given.

Evolved low mass stars (LMS) contribute not only to the synthesis of s-process nuclei, but also to modifications in the isotopic mix of light elements (Li and CNO especially), induced by proton captures. In particular, RGB and AGB stars show a wide range of Li abundances. This spread is currently attributed to deep phenomena of non-convective mixing. These processes can, in principle, either produce or destroy Li, depending on their velocity. This is due to the fact that Li production requires preserving the unstable 7Be, which has a half-life of only 53 days. Physical mechanisms devised so far to explain the existence of deep mixing in low mass stars generally fail in accounting for fast transport and in avoiding 7Be destruction; on the contrary, this is easily obtained in Intermediate Mass Stars, where Hot Bottom Burning can occur. However, as Li-rich low-mass red giants do exist, we propose here a scenario where both production and destruction of Li are possible in LMS, thanks to the buoyancy of magnetized parcels of processed matter, traveling from the H shell to the envelope at different speeds (depending on their size). Consequences of this transport for CNO nuclei are also discussed.

In our detailed study of chemical abundances in the Galactic bulge (see Zoccali et al. 2008 for a description of the entire project) we have measured Li abundances by fitting synthetic spectra to the 7Li (6707.18Å) line for ~400 giants in Baade's Window and a field at b=−6 (Gonzalez et al. 2009). We have found 13 stars showing strong 7Li lines in complete contrast to the rest of the sample for which only upper limits could be obtained. Our sample is at least 1.2 mag brighter than the expected RGB bump, therefore we interpreted our results as evidence for stars that might have avoided the observed extra-mixing process or undergoing a Li enrichment process not necessarily linked to the RGB bump.

Water is an abundant molecule in the Cosmos. It has exploitable and unique spectroscopic and physical properties and has been found to be ubiquitous in places that we would expect in the standard model of solar system formation and nebular condensation: beyond the snow line in outer solar system planets, moons, asteroids, and comets. However, water is also an important constituent of planetary bodies (dominating at least one of their surfaces) in the inner solar system, likely indicating significant mixing between inner and outer solar system reservoirs of water during planetary accretion and the early history of the solar system. Water has played a critical role in the differential evolution of the terrestrial planets Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the concept of the “habitable zone” where liquid water could be stable on an Earth-like planet provides a starting point for assessing the habitability of worlds in our solar system and beyond. Examples of potentially habitable environments outside this zone in our own solar system warn us that this concept should only be a guide, however-important exceptions will no doubt occur. Recent discoveries of past liquid water and abundant present subsurface ice on Mars, of water reservoirs in unexpected places like the poles of Mercury and the Moon and the subsurface of Enceladus, of water in circumstellar disks and in the atmospheres of extrasolar planets, and the expectation of the discovery of water on Earth-like worlds in the habitable zones around other stars make this an exciting time in the study of water on planets both in our own solar system, and beyond.

This work presents some observations during the period of the Whole Heliosphere Interval (WHI) of the effects of interplanetary (IP) structures on the near-Earth space using three sets of observations: magnetic field and plasma from the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite, ground-based cosmic ray data from the Global Muon Detection Network (GMDN) and geomagnetic indices (Disturbance storm-time, Dst, and auroral electrojet index, AE). Since WHI was near minimum solar activity, high speed streams and corotating interaction regions (CIRs) were the dominant structures observed in the interplanetary space surrounding Earth. Very pronounced geomagnetic effects are shown to be correlated to CIRs, especially because they can cause the so-called High-Intensity Long-Duration Continuous AE Activity (HILDCAAs) - Tsurutani and Gonzalez (1987). At least a few high speed streams can be identified during the period of WHI. The focus here is to characterize these IP structures and their geospace consequences.

The effects of dry and wet merging on the Scaling Laws (SLs) of elliptical galaxies (Es) are discussed. It is found that the SLs, possibly established at high redshift by the fast collapse of gas-rich and clumpy stellar distributions in preexisting dark matter halos following the cosmological SLs, are compatible with a (small) number of galaxy mergers at lower redshift.

While most warm halo dwarfs show lithium abundances at the level of the Spite Plateau, a small number (~5%) have undetectable lithium lines. The existence of these stars has long raised questions when interpreting the plateau abundances: are they an extreme example of a depletion mechanism that has affected the plateau stars, or do they have an entirely different history? We provide an overview of what is currently known about the lithium-poor halo stars and discuss a possible origin for the lithium deficiency in this unique group of stars.

Within the context of ALMA (and future missions such as SPICA) we present some recent observational and theoretical work on molecular line emissions from extragalactic environments.

In many theories of unified interactions, there are additional degrees of freedom which may allow for the variation of the fundamental constants of nature. I will review the motivation for such variations, and describe the theoretical relations between variations of gauge and Yukawa couplings.

The physical properties of the hot interstellar matter in elliptical galaxies are directly related with the formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies via star formation episodes, environmental effects such as stripping, infall, and mergers, and growth of super-massive black holes. The recent successful Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray space missions have provided a large amount of high spatial/spectral resolution observational data on the hot ISM in elliptical galaxies. At the same time, theoretical studies with numerical simulations and analytical modeling of the dynamical and chemical evolution of elliptical galaxies have made a significant progress and start to predict various observable quantities.

We highlight the IPHAS Data Releases and how access to the primary data products has been implemented through use of standard virtual observatory (VO) publishing interfaces as provided by the Astro- Grid system. The IPHAS Early Data release (EDR), is a photometric catalogue of more than 200 million unique objects, coupled with associated image data covering more than 1000 square degrees in three colours. These data represent the largest data sets to date published solely through Virtual Observatory interfaces.

One of the currently most disputed issues in Star Formation is the timeline of the whole process. Is it a “slow” process of cloud assembly which, mediated by magnetic fields, evolve toward turbulence-supported clumps which are eventually super-critical to collapse, e.g. McKee & Tan (2003)? Or do clumps originate in already super-critical state in the post-shock regions of large-scale Galactic converging flows, e.g. Hartmann et al. (2001) with a rapid collapse in a crossing time or so (Elmegreen 2000)?

A pan-chromatic 1μm-1mm continuum view of cluster forming regions in their early stages offers access to the most massive members longward of 5-10μm, as well as the low-mass members which instead dominate the emission in the near-IR, offering an interesting potential in stimulating advances in theoretical modelling of clustered star formation, its history and rate.

Jets are ubiquitous in young accreting stars at all evolutionary stages, from deeply embedded protostars aged less than 0.1Myr to optically revealed 10Myr old T Tauri stars. The similar jet collimation at all ages is shown to require an effective magnetic collimation within the inner disk regions (inside 20 AU). This fact, and the high ejection to accretion ratio ≃10%, appear to favor the presence of MHD disk winds. Ejection out to > 0.1 AU could explain the velocity drop and rotation signatures across the jets, and their dust and molecular content.

There is compelling observational evidence that globular clusters (GCs) are quite complex objects. A growing body of photometric results indicate that the evolutionary sequences are not simply isochrones in the observational plane -as believed until a few years ago- from the main sequence, to the subgiant, giant, and horizontal branches. The strongest indication of complexity comes however from the chemistry, from internal dispersion in iron abundance in a few cases, and in light elements (C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, etc.) in all GCs. This universality means that the complexity is intrinsic to the GCs and is most probably related to their formation mechanisms. The extent of the variations in light elements abundances is dependent on the GC mass, but mass is not the only modulating factor; metallicity, age, and possibly orbit can play a role. Finally, one of the many consequences of this new way of looking at GCs is that their stars may show different He contents.

Massive stars are known to be multiple systems, often in tight, short-period OB stars binaries (SB1 and SB2, found by spectroscopic monitoring). However, little is known about low-mass companions to massive stars, such as A, F, and G stars with masses in the range of 1 to 3 solar masses. Yet systems of massive stars with wide low-mass companions (of the order of a few AU) must exist, for these are the progenitors of LMXB and HMXB (low-mass and high-mass X-ray binaries).

The effect of variations of the fundamental constants on the thermonuclear rate of the triple alpha reaction, 4He(αα,γ)12C, that bridges the gap between 4He and 12C is investigated. We follow the evolution of 15 and 60 M⊙ zero metallicity star models, up to the end of core helium burning. They are assumed to be representative of the first, Population III stars undergoing a very peculiar evolution due to the absence of initial CNO elements (zero metallicity). The calculated oxygen and carbon abundances resulting from helium burning can then be used to constrain the variations of the fundamental constants.

In Antarctica the cold and dry air is expected to provide the best observing conditions on the Earth for astronomical observations from the infra-red to the sub-millimetre. To utilise these advantages of Antarctica, we have devised a plan to construct an astronomical observatory at Dome Fuji, which is located in inland Antarctica. For pilot research and site testing at Dome Fuji, we have developed 40 cm infrared and 30 cm THz telescopes, which are durable for the harsh environment of inland Antarctica. As our project for astronomical research at Dome Fuji is approved for the 3-year program of NIPR, we will start the site testing and pilot research for astronomy at Dome Fuji from 2010.

The advantages of a high altitude, dry site for ground-based astronomy at infrared (IR) wavelengths are well-known: the lower temperature and pressure associated with increased altitude reduce the emissivities of both atmosphere and telescope, and a lower atmospheric absorption improves the transmission of IR radiation. The next generation of IR instruments under development (for ELTs) will open up a new discovery space, particularly in high-resolution (HR) spectroscopy, which will not have a space-based counterpart and has proven to be a powerful tool for studying all stages of stellar evolution (e.g. (e.g. Jaffle et al., 2003). I present here a summary of quantitative work into transmission-dependent aspects of HR IR spectroscopy at high and low altitudes.

Knowledge of lithium, beryllium, and boron abundances in stars of the Galactic halo and disk plays a major role in our understanding of Big Bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic-ray physics, and stellar interiors. 9Be and 10B are believed to originate entirely from spallation reactions in the interstellar medium (ISM) between α-particles and protons and heavy nuclei like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen (CNO), whereas 11B may have an extra production channel via neutrino-spallation. Beryllium and boron are both observationally challenging, with their main resonant doublets falling respectively at 313 nm and at 250 nm. The advent of 8-10m class telescopes equipped with highly sensitive (in the near-UV/blue) spectrographs has opened up a new era of Be abundance studies. Here, I will review and discuss the most interesting results of recent observational campaigns in terms of formation and evolution of these two light elements.