The cosmic evolution of the chemical elements from the Big Bang to the present time is driven by nuclear fusion reactions inside stars and stellar explosions. A cycle of matter recurrently re-processes metal-enriched stellar ejecta into the next generation of stars. The study of cosmic nucleosynthesis and this matter cycle requires the understanding of the physics of nuclear reactions, of the conditions at which the nuclear reactions are activated inside the stars and stellar explosions, of the stellar ejection mechanisms through winds and explosions, and of the transport of the ejecta towards the next cycle, from hot plasma to cold, star-forming gas. Due to the long timescales of stellar evolution, and because of the infrequent occurrence of stellar explosions, observational studies are challenging, as they have biases in time and space as well as different sensitivities related to the various astronomical methods. Here, we describe in detail the astrophysical and nuclear-physical processes involved in creating two radioactive isotopes useful in such studies, $^{26}\mathrm{Al}$ and $^{60}\mathrm{Fe}$ . Due to their radioactive lifetime of the order of a million years, these isotopes are suitable to characterise simultaneously the processes of nuclear fusion reactions and of interstellar transport. We describe and discuss the nuclear reactions involved in the production and destruction of $^{26}\mathrm{Al}$ and $^{60}\mathrm{Fe}$ , the key characteristics of the stellar sites of their nucleosynthesis and their interstellar journey after ejection from the nucleosynthesis sites. This allows us to connect the theoretical astrophysical aspects to the variety of astronomical messengers presented here, from stardust and cosmic-ray composition measurements, through observation of $\gamma$ rays produced by radioactivity, to material deposited in deep-sea ocean crusts and to the inferred composition of the first solids that have formed in the Solar System. We show that considering measurements of the isotopic ratio of $^{26}\mathrm{Al}$ to $^{60}\mathrm{Fe}$ eliminate some of the unknowns when interpreting astronomical results, and discuss the lessons learned from these two isotopes on cosmic chemical evolution. This review paper has emerged from an ISSI-BJ Team project in 2017–2019, bringing together nuclear physicists, astronomers, and astrophysicists in this inter-disciplinary discussion.

We study the role of radial migration of stars on the chemical evolution of the Milky Way disk with a 1D semi-analytical disk model. We describe radial migration with parametrised time- and radius-dependent diffusion coefficients, based on the analysis of a N-body+SPH simulation of a disk galaxy (analyzed by Kubryk et al. 2013). Our model reproduces well the present day values of most of the main global observables of the MW. Assuming that the thick disk is the oldest (>9 Gyr) part of the disk, we find that the adopted radial migration scheme can reproduce quantitatively the main local properties of the thin and thick disk: metallicity-distributions, dispersion in age-metallicity relation, “two-branch” behaviour in the O/Fe vs. Fe/H relation, local surface densities of stars, etc..

We summarize the results presented in Krause et al. (2012a, K12) on the impact of supernova-driven shells and dark-remnant accretion on gas expulsion in globular cluster infancy.

The formalism of the simple model of galactic chemical evolution (GCE) and its main ingredients (stellar properties, initial mass function, star formation rate and gas flows) are presented in this tutorial. It is stressed that GCE is not (yet) an astrophysical theory, but it merely provides a framework in which the large body of data concerning the chemical composition of stars and gas in galaxies may be intrepreted. A few examples illustrating those concepts are provided, through studies of the Solar neighborhood and of the Milky Way's halo.

A short overview is presented of several topics concerning the evolution of the Milky Way (MW) in a cosmological context. In particular, the metallicity distribution of the MW halo is derived analytically and the halo metallicity and abundance patterns are compared to those of Local Group galaxies. The inside-out formation of the MW disk is supported by the observed evolution of the abundance gradients, while their magnitude suggests that the role of the Galactic bar has been negligible. Finally, the empirical foundations (age-metallicity relation and metallicity distribution) of the evolution of the solar neighbourhood, which is the best studied galactic sub-system, have been seriously questioned recently.

Andromeda galaxy (M31,NGC224) is the biggest spiral in the Local Group. By studying the star formation history(SFH) and chemical evolution of M31, and comparing with the Milky Way Galaxy, we are able to understand more about the formation and evolution of spiral galaxies.


Some important features of current stellar yieldsof CNO elements are discussed, with particular emphasison recent results concerning rotating and mass losing stars.These yields may help to interpret relevantobservations in the local Galaxy, the Milky Way disk and extragalactic systems,like extragalactic HII regions and Damped Lyman Alpha systems (DLAs).


A brief account is given of the advanced evolutionary stagesof massive stars, from central C-burning up to the final supernova explosion.We describe the role of neutrino losses, the phases of C, Ne, O and Si burning,the Fe core collapse, current ideas on the supernova explosion, as well as theexplosive nucleosynthesis resulting from the passage of the shock wave.

Progress in the theory of galactic chemical evolution has been very slow and it is only in the solar neighborhood that observations constrain seriously the parameters of the various models. The history revealed on the basis of these data allows only for a small depletion of deuterium (D), less than a factor of 3 from its pregalactic value (Sec. 2.1). The observational data for the rest of the Milky Way disk are much less constraining for the models. They suggest, however, that a much larger astration (and, hence, D depletion) has taken place in the inner Galaxy; the resulting D gradient, measurable by the future FUSE-LYMAN mission, should provide invaluable information as to the past history of the disk (Sec. 2.2). Also, assuming that our Galaxy is a typical spiral, one can calculate the properties of disk galaxies as a function of redshift (in the framework of a given cosmological model) and compare to the observed properties of the extragalactic universe: global star formation rate, gas content and metal abundances in gas clouds. It turns out that D can be considerably depleted in galaxy disks, but only at low redshifts (Sec. 2.3).

The detection of the relatively short-lived (~106 yr) radioactive 26Al in our Galaxy, more than 12 years ago, convincingly showed that nucleosynthesis is still active today on a large scale. Still, despite considerable efforts in the past decade, the site of this nucleosynthetic activity cannot be identified from theory alone; several potential sites are still on the list, been able to provide the 2-3 M⊙ of 26Al per Myr, implied by the detected 1.8 MeV flux of ~4 10−4 cm−2 s−1 from the galactic plane (see for a review).

The implications of the nucleosynthetic activity of WR stars are reassessed, in view of recent experimental and observational data. It is confirmed that WR stars may 1) contribute significantly (up to ~20%) to the ~3 M⊙ of 26Al detected in the galactic plane through its 1.8 MeV line, 2) be responsible for the isotopic anomalies of 22Ne and 25,26Mg, detected in galactic cosmic rays (GCR), and 3) be responsible for the inferred presence of 26Al and 107Pd in the early solar system (and, perhaps, some other nuclei as well).