Related papers: An optimized H_\beta index for disentangling stell…
We assemble the largest sample of oxygen rich Miras to date and highlight their importance for age-dating the components of the Galaxy. Using data from the Catalina Rapid Transient Survey and the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, we…
Establishing the reliability with which stellar population parameters can be measured is vital to extragalactic astronomy. Galactic GCs provide an excellent medium in which to test the consistency of Single Stellar Population (SSP) models…
Observational constraints to a large class of decaying vacuum cosmologies are derived using the angular size data of compact radio sources and the latest age estimates of globular clusters. For this class of deflationary $\Lambda(t)$…
The last decade has seen a revolution in our knowledge of the Galaxy thanks to the Gaia and asteroseismic space missions and the ground-based spectroscopic surveys. To complete this picture, it is necessary to map the ages of its stellar…
Various methods for age dating globular clusters in ellipticals are presented. We first present spectroscopy of individual globular clusters (feasible with the advent of the 10m-class telescopes), and the measurement of Balmer line indices.…
We present results of model atmosphere/line formation calculations which quantitatively test how the 21 classical and four higher-order Balmer-line Lick/IDS indices (Worthey et al. 1994; Worthey & Ottaviani 1997) depend on individual…
New uvby-\beta data are provided for 442 high-velocity and metal-poor stars; 90 of these stars have been observed previously by us, and 352 are new. When combined with our previous two photometric catalogues, the data base is now made up of…
Panoramic spectroscopic data of the sample of 80 nearby lenticular galaxies obtained with the Multi-Pupil Fiber Spectrograph of the 6-m telescope are presented. The SSP-equivalent ages, [Z/H], and [Mg/Fe] are determined through the Lick…
We present preliminary results from our on-going survey of Galactic globular clusters relative ages. The investigation is based on V,I images obtained at the ESO and La Palma telescopes, which make up the largest homogenous photometric…
We have identified the H-alpha absorption feature as a new spectroscopic diagnostic of luminosity class in K- and M-type stars. From high-resolution spectra of 19 stars with well-determined physical properties (including effective…
In this paper we address the question whether age and metallicity effects can be disentangled with the aid of the broad-band colours and spectral indices from absorption feature strengths, so that the age of elliptical galaxies can be…
(Abridged) Age derivation techniques for unresolved stellar populations at high redshifts are explored using the NUV spectrum of LBDS~53W091 and LBDS~53W069. The photometry and morphology of these galaxies suggest they are early-type…
Using evolutionary population synthesis we present integrated colours, integrated spectral energy distributions and absorption-line indices defined by the Lick Observatory image dissector scanner (referred to as Lick/IDS) system, for an…
We explore the reliability and robustness in measuring the age, metallicity and mass of a sample of old Milky Way globular clusters (GCs) from their integrated light, setting the stage for using GCs as cosmic clocks at high redshift. We…
We probe the stellar population age and metallicity distributions in nearby elliptical galaxies over the largest extension to date. Long-slit spectroscopy is made by using the spectrograph SCORPIO of the 6-m telescope of the Special…
This paper is part of a series devoted to the study of the stellar populations in brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), aimed at setting constraints on the formation and evolution of these objects. We have obtained high signal-to-noise ratio,…
We present updated stellar population models appropriate for old ages (>1 Gyr) and covering a wide range in metallicities (-1.5<[Fe/H]<0.3). These models predict the full spectral variation associated with individual element abundance…
We present line-strength gradients for 22 spectral indices measured in a sample of 82 early-type galaxies in different environments,including the high-density core of the Coma cluster, the Virgo cluster,poor groups,and field galaxies. We…
Despite the tremendous advance of observational cosmology, the value of the Hubble constant ($H_0$) is still controversial (the so called ``Hubble tension'') because of the inconsistency between local/late-time measurements and those…
High precision photometry as performed by the CoRoT and Kepler satellites on-board instruments has allowed to detect stellar oscillations over the whole HR diagram. Oscillation frequencies are closely related to stellar interior properties…