Abstract:
This thesis project involves the improvement of existing computer code, which is used in modeling the galactic chemical evolution (GCE) of the Milky Way Galaxy. The ultimate goal of a GCE analysis is to reliably predict abundances for all observationally available isotopes, as well as the variation of these abundances with time and location in our Galaxy.
Modeling the GCE would also help in the future modeling of the galactic habitable zone (GHZ) (the region of a galaxy in which life, as we know it, may exist). Finding the GHZ requires knowledge of the evolution of the chemical elements, as well as supernovae rates, in the Milky Way Galaxy. These can be determined in a galactic chemical evolution model.
F.X. Timmes (1995) modeled the galactic chemical evolution for the Milky Way Galaxy over its entire history. Using this existing code, circa 1995, then state-of-the-art, it was translated into a more modern programming language; it was translated it from Fortran90 into Mathematica. The input stellar yields (the mass ejected in the form of a particular element by a given star) were updated for a more accurate output. This allowed for the replication of the original outputs, as well as creating improved outputs.
