Informace o projektu
REALM: RR Lyrae stars and the Early Assembly of the Milky Way (dr. Zdeněk Prudil)

This project aims to uncover how the Milky Way’s disk and bulge formed by using RR Lyrae stars as direct tracers of the Galaxy’s earliest stellar populations. By combining high-resolution spectroscopy, large 4MOST datasets, and precise photometric and astrometric distances, my group will build the most extensive homogeneous catalogue of RR Lyrae metallicities and α-abundances to date. With a new automated spectral analysis pipeline, we will investigate the presence of unexpectedly old stars in the thin disk and clarify their role in the broader sequence of disk formation, distinguish accreted from in-situ bulge populations, and place the first data-driven constraints on the formation epoch of the Galactic bar. These results will provide a renewed view of the Galaxy's early evolution and establish Masaryk University as a centre for RR Lyrae-based Galactic archaeology.