1995A&A...298..107P

Quantitative medium resolution spectroscopic observations have been performed on a sample of stars in a field of 9.6 square degrees in the galactic direction (l≃0deg, b≃45deg), 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, with apparent V magnitudes near 14.25 and B-V in the range 0.93-1.03, to allow a safe discrimination between dwarfs and giants from the Mg I green triplet. The main finding of these observations is the very low proportion of population II giants in this direction, about 5 to 10 times less than the predictions of current galactic models. A discussion of this result in connection with similar works available in the literature is presented.