The stellar halo of the Milky Way comprises only a small fraction of all stars in our Galaxy, but these stars are high diagnostic value for probing the Milky Way’s dark matter halo and formation history. Stars extending to ~100 kpc make for an excellent dynamical probe of the halo mass profile, and the long dynamical periods at such large radii (~1 Gyr) mean that the dynamical formation imprint is still very apparent, e.g. in so-called sub-structures. However, Our knowledge of the halo is fragmentary, at least partly because of the paucity of halo stars, with known 3D positions, radial velocities and abundances. Nowadays, with the development of large-scale sky surveys and space astrometry mission, such as 2MASS, SDSS, PanSTARRS1, LAMOST and Gaia, halo star samples are now of sufficient size and quality to boost the study of the Galactic halo.

10.2006-09.2008 Joint promoted PhD at Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy 

Subject: Dynamics and structure of the Milky Way halo 

09.2004-07.2009 PhD study at National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Science 

Subject: Dynamics and structure of the Milky Way halo 
09.2000-07.2004 Bachelor at physics department of Shanxi University 
Topic: High resolution stellar spectra analysis 

   

07.2016-present  Professor at National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Science   
11.2011-06.2016  Postdoc at Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (Humboldt fellow/Institute postdoc/visiting scholar/joint postdoc)
12.2011-03.2013  Associate Professor at National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Science
07.2009-12.2011  Assistant Professor at National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Science

Insights into the structure, dynamics, stellar population and formation history of the Galactic halo, drawing on large spectroscopic surveys.

Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy