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Session 8 - Milky Way Structure.
Display session, Monday, June 10
Great Hall,
Classical barium stars are evolved disk G and K stars that exhibit abundance peculiarities, apparently as a result of binary system mass transfer. They are difficult to isolate from field giants, and surveys of barium stars have suffered from strong observational selection biases. Although it has been difficult to identify their stellar population and luminosity function accurately from statistical samples, it appears that they span a range of luminosities and ages.
We present here new constraints on the barium star spatial distribution (stellar population) and luminosity function. These results are obtained using a Monte Carlo analysis technique that allows us to correct for known and suspected selection biases, along with a detailed model of visual interstellar extinction. The techniques are generic, and can be used in the study of any Galactic stellar distribution.
