STELLAR POPULATION STUDY IN THE GALACTIC DIRECTION UAL-TO-0-DEGREES,B-SIMILAR-OR-EQUAL-TO-45-DEGREES)

Quantitative medium resolution spectroscopic observations have been pe rformed on a sample of stars in a field of 9.6 square degrees in the g alactic direction (l similar or equal to 0 degrees, b similar or equal to 45 degrees), for which proper motions and photographic photometry have been recently obtained. Radial velocities, effective temperatures , surface gravities and metallicities have been derived, leading to a complete set of kinematic and astrophysical parameters for 28 stars, w ith apparent V magnitudes near 14.25 and B - V in the range 0.93 - 1.0 3, to allow a safe discrimination between dwarfs and giants from the M g I green triplet. The main finding of these observations is the very low proportion of population II giants in this direction, about 5 to 1 0 times less than the predictions of current galactic models. A discus sion of this result in connection with similar works available in the literature is presented.