SFB 881:  The Milky Way System

• Subject Area: Physics
• Term: from 2011 to 2022
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 138713538

The Milky Way, our home, is typical for galaxies in the present-day Universe in terms of its mass, size, star formation rate, and evolutionary history. Because of our position within the Milky Way, our Galaxy is a unique lab for the detailed study of the physical processes that govern galaxy evolution. Only in the Milky Way system can we conduct true Galactic archeology and use its stars as fossil tracers of its chemical and dynamical evolutionary history. Only in the Milky Way can we test predictions of cosmological models of galaxy formation in detail and study the small-scale distribution of dark matter. Only in the Milky Way can we explore the complex inter-play between star formation and the ambient gas as well as the cosmic matter cycle at highest resolution. Thanks to the successful Gaia satellite mission, numerous ongoing and forthcoming ground-based surveys, as well as to progress in theoretical modeling we are now in a golden decade of Milky Way research. Heidelberg astronomers are in an excellent position for its scientific exploitation: Due to strategic professorial appointments in theoretical and observational astronomy as well as prominent roles in the most pertinent projects on the Milky Way we are in the unique position to be able to continue the successes of the first two funding periods of the CRC and to substantially advance our understanding of the Milky Way.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A01 - Cosmological simulations of the Milky Way’s formation (Project Heads Just, Andreas ;  Klessen, Ph.D., Ralf ;  Macciò, Andrea Valerio ;  Pillepich, Ph.D., Annalisa ;  Rix, Hans-Walter ;  Springel, Volker )
• A02 - Milky Way Satellites as Cosmological Probes (Project Heads Christlieb, Norbert ;  Grebel, Eva K. ;  Just, Andreas ;  Macciò, Andrea Valerio ;  Rix, Hans-Walter )
• A03 - Chemo-dynamical Mapping of the Milky Way’s Outskirts (Project Heads Christlieb, Norbert ;  Duffau, Sonia ;  Grebel, Eva K. ;  Koch, Andreas ;  Rix, Hans-Walter )
• A04 - The most metal-poor stars of the Galaxy (Project Heads Christlieb, Norbert ;  Ludwig, Hans-Günter )
• A05 - Observational Galactic Chemodynamics (Project Heads Bergemann, Maria ;  Christlieb, Norbert ;  Grebel, Eva K. ;  Koch, Andreas ;  Quirrenbach, Andreas )
• A06 - A Theoretical Chemodynamical Model of the Milky Way Disk (Project Heads Just, Andreas ;  Pillepich, Ph.D., Annalisa ;  Springel, Volker )
• A07 - Unveiling Dark Matter and Fossil Records in the Solar Neighborhood (Project Heads Fuchs, Burkhard ;  Just, Andreas ;  van de Ven, Glenn )
• A08 - Uncovering the Galactic stellar halo build-up through chemo-dynamics of globular clusters (Project Heads Christlieb, Norbert ;  Grebel, Eva K. ;  van de Ven, Glenn )
• A09 - Definition and Preparation of the 4MOST Galactic Surveys (Project Heads Christlieb, Norbert ;  Grebel, Eva K. ;  Quirrenbach, Andreas )
• A10 - Stellar production sites of heavy elements and their observable imprints on the Milky Way (Project Heads Bauswein, Andreas ;  Bergemann, Maria ;  Röpke, Friedrich )
• A11 - Chemo-dynamical Mapping of the Galactic Bulge (Project Heads Grebel, Eva K. ;  Koch, Andreas )
• B01 - Star Formation and ISM Dynamics in the disk of the Milky Way (Project Heads Beuther, Henrik ;  Klessen, Ph.D., Ralf ;  Springel, Volker ;  Spurzem, Rainer )
• B02 - The Multi-Scale Physics of Star and Cluster Formation — From Molecular Clouds to Stellar Feedback (Project Heads Dullemond, Cornelis Petrus ;  Glover, Ph.D., Simon ;  Klessen, Ph.D., Ralf ;  Kruijssen, Diederik ;  Parmentier, Geneviève A. ;  Spurzem, Rainer )
• B03 - The chemical evolution from diffuse clouds to dense cores (Project Heads Banerjee, Robi Stefan ;  Beuther, Henrik ;  Dullemond, Cornelis Petrus )
• B04 - Feedback and interstellar turbulence (Project Heads Banerjee, Robi Stefan ;  Dullemond, Cornelis Petrus ;  Fendt, Christian )
• B05 - An Astrometric, Photometric, and Spectroscopic Census of Moving Groups and Open Clusters (Project Heads Bailer-Jones, Coryn A.L. ;  Grebel, Eva K. ;  Henning, Thomas ;  Klessen, Ph.D., Ralf ;  Pasquali, Anna ;  Permentier, Geneviève ;  Reffert, Sabine )
• B06 - The Mass Function of Low-Mass Stars and Substellar Objects (Project Heads Bailer-Jones, Coryn A.L. ;  Henning, Thomas ;  Reffert, Sabine )
• B07 - Stellar Census and Kinematic Structures in the Solar Neighbourhood (Project Heads Henning, Thomas ;  Reffert, Sabine )
• B08 - Building up the Center of the Milky Way (Project Heads Glover, Ph.D., Simon ;  Neumayer née Häring, Nadine )
• B09 - Three-dimensional dust mapping of the Milky Way using Gaia (Project Head Bailer-Jones, Coryn A.L. )
• INF - Information Infrastructure (Project Heads Klessen, Ph.D., Ralf ;  Spurzem, Rainer ;  Wambsganss, Joachim )
• Z02 - Parallel and Many-Core Supercomputing Infrastructure (Project Heads Klessen, Ph.D., Ralf ;  Springel, Volker ;  Spurzem, Rainer )
• Z03 - SFB Administration (Project Heads Grebel, Eva K. ;  Klessen, Ph.D., Ralf ;  Thimm, Guido )
• Ö - Public Outreach (Project Heads Jordan, Stefan ;  Pössel, Markus ;  Thimm, Guido )

• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Participating Institution: Haus der Astronomie; Heidelberger Institut für Theoretische Studien (HITS); Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA)
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Eva K. Grebel