Abstract

We spectroscopically characterize the Galactic Bulge to infer its star formation timescale, compared to the other Galactic components, through the chemical signature on its individual stars. O, Na, Mg, Al were obtained for 50 K giants in four fields towards the Galactic bulge from UVES spectra (R=45,000), while Fe was measured in more than 400 stars with a slightly low resolution (R=20,000) and the GIRAFFE spectrograph at VLT. Oxygen and Magnesium show a well defined trend with [Fe/H], with abundances larger than those measured in both thin and thick disk stars, supporting a scenario in which the bulge formed before and more rapidly than the disk. On the other hand the iron distribution peaks at solar metallicity and it is slightly narrower than that measured in previous works. Part of the present results have been published by Zoccali et al. (2006) and Lecureur et al. (2006), and part will be discussed in forthcoming papers. © 2007 International Astronomical Union.