Lucey, MadelineHawkins, KeithNess, MelissaAsplund, MartinBensby, TCasagrande, LucaFeltzing, SofiaFreeman, KennethKobayashi, ChiakiMarino, A F2023-04-032023-04-030035-8711http://hdl.handle.net/1885/287974Chemistry and kinematic studies can determine the origins of stellar population across the Milky Way. The metallicity distribution function of the bulge indicates that it comprises multiple populations, the more metal-poor end of which is particularly poorly understood. It is currently unknown if metal-poor bulge stars ([Fe/H] <−1 dex) are part of the stellar halo in the inner most region, or a distinct bulge population or a combination of these. Cosmological simulations also indicate that the metal-poor bulge stars may be the oldest stars in the Galaxy. In this study, we successfully target metal-poor bulge stars selected using SkyMapper photometry. We determine the stellar parameters of 26 stars and their elemental abundances for 22 elements using R∼ 47 000 VLT/UVES spectra and contrast their elemental properties with that of other Galactic stellar populations. We find that the elemental abundances we derive for our metalpoor bulge stars have lower overall scatter than typically found in the halo. This indicates that these stars may be a distinct population confined to the bulge. If these stars are, alternatively, part of the innermost distribution of the halo, this indicates that the halo is more chemically homogeneous at small Galactic radii than at large radii. We also find two stars whose chemistry is consistent with second-generation globular cluster stars. This paper is the first part of the Chemical Origins of Metal-poor Bulge Stars (COMBS) survey that will chemodynamically characterize the metal-poor bulge population.Keith Hawkins is partly supported by a Research Corporation Time Domain in Astronomy Grant. Madeline Lucey is partially supported by University of Texas Austin College of Natural Science Fellowship. Thomas Bensby and Sofia Feltzing were funded by the project grant ‘The New Milky Way’ from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. Luca Casagrande is the recipient of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship FT160100402. Kenneth Freeman is partly supported by ARC grant DP120104562. Anna F. Marino has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska- Curie Grant Agreement No. 797100. Chiaki Kobayashi acknowledges support from the United Kingdom’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (grant ST/R000905/1). This research was partly supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013.application/pdfen-AU© 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Societystars: abundancesstars: Population IIGalaxy: bulgeGalaxy: evolution201910.1093/mnras/stz18472022-01-16