According to the star formation rate and metal enrichment rate given by the disk-halo model of Lee and Ann (1981), the two different forms of time-dependent initial mass function (IMF) and the present day mass function (PDMF) of nearby stars have been examined. It was shown that the constraint for the initial rapid metal enrichment requires the time-dependence of IMF at the very early phase ( t ≲ 5 × 10 8 yrs) of the solar neighborhood. The computed PDMF's show that the PDMF is nearly independent of any specific functional form of IMF as long as the latter includes a Gaussian distribution of log m. This result is due to the very small fractional mass ( × 5 of stars formed at the very early period during which the IMF is time-dependent. The computed PDMF suggests the presence of more numerous low mass stars than shown in Miller and Scalo's (1979) PDMF, supporting the possibility of the existence of low-velocity M dwarfs. According to the number distribution of stars with respect to [Fe/H], the mean age of these low mass star must be very old so as to yield the mean metal abundance ¯ [ F e / H ] ≈ − 0.15 for the stars in the solar neighborhood.

Various assumptions used in interpreting the observations of hydrogen recombination lines are critically assessed to confirm the gradient of electron temperature with distance from the galactic center. The total temperature increase from 5 to 13 kpc is about 2,500 K. Among many suggestions, we have singled out the decrease of trace dement abundances with the galactoccntric distance as the most viable cause for the temperature gradient. This will impose an important constraint on evolutionary models of the Galaxy.

Temperature history of very small interstellar dust particles is followed under diffuse interstellar radiation. Because of extremely small thermal capacities of these grains with sizes ranging from a few tens to hundred Angstroms in radii, they are to experience strong fluctuations in temperature whenever they are hit by interstellar ultraviolet photons. Fluctuating temperature can inhibit these smaller component of interstellar dust from growing into core-mantle particles of submicron sizes by continuously evaporating atoms and molecules adsorbed on their surface. This is interpreted as a possible physical reason for the bimodal nature in grain size distribution. A brief discussion is also given to the far infrared emission properties of such small grains in diffuse interstellar dust clouds.