Related papers: Physical Classification of Galaxies with MOPED/VES…
Using MOPED we determine non-parametrically the star-formation and metallicity history of over 37,000 high-quality galaxy spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) early data release. We use the entire spectral range, rather than…
We investigate the environmental dependence of stellar population properties of galaxies in the local universe. Physical quantities related to the stellar content of galaxies are derived from a spectral synthesis method applied to a…
We introduce VErsatile SPectral Analysis (VESPA): a new method which aims to recover robust star formation and metallicity histories from galactic spectra. VESPA uses the full spectral range to construct a galaxy history from synthetic…
We present the results of a MOPED analysis of ~3 x 10^5 galaxy spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Three (SDSS DR3), with a number of improvements in data, modelling and analysis compared with our previous analysis of…
The age and chemical composition of the stars in present-day galaxies carry important clues about their star formation processes. The latest generation of population synthesis models have allowed to derive age and stellar metallicity…
The determination of stellar populations of galaxies are important for studying the formation and evolution of galaxies, because all galaxies contain many stars and they evolve with galaxies. Spectra data are usually used to determine the…
Each galaxy is observed only once along its life, making galaxy evolution fundamentally an inverse statistical problem: time-dependent physics must be inferred from ensembles of single-epoch snapshots. To move beyond descriptive scaling…
If we are to develop a comprehensive and predictive theory of galaxy formation and evolution, it is essential that we obtain an accurate assessment of how and when galaxies assemble their stellar populations, and how this assembly varies…
We develop a straightforward and quantitative two-step method for spectroscopically classifying galaxies from the low signal-to-noise (S/N) optical spectra typical of galaxy redshift surveys. First, using \chi^2-fitting of characteristic…
If we are to develop a comprehensive and predictive theory of galaxy formation and evolution, it is essential that we obtain an accurate assessment of how and when galaxies assemble their stellar populations, and how this assembly varies…
Masking the horizontal branch and giant stars allows unambiguous measurements of mean age and metallicity in simple old stellar populations from metal and hydrogen line strengths. Billion year resolution is possible in the luminous halos of…
We have constructed a family of simple models for spiral galaxy evolution to allow us to investigate observational trends in star formation history with galaxy parameters. The models are used to generate broad band colours from which ages…
We use the spectra of ~ 22,000 early-type galaxies, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, to infer the ages, metallicities and star formation histories of these galaxies. We find clear evidence of "downsizing", i.e. galaxies with…
To further our knowledge of the complex physical process of galaxy formation, it is essential that we characterize the formation and evolution of large databases of galaxies. The spectral synthesis STARLIGHT code of Cid Fernandes et al.…
Wide-angle, moderately deep redshift surveys such as that conducted as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) allow study of the relationship between the structural elements of the large-scale distribution of galaxies -- including…
Over the last decades, evolutionary population synthesis models have powered an unmatched leap forward in our understanding of galaxies. From dating the age of the first galaxies in the Universe to detailed measurements of the chemical…
The combination of huge databases of galaxy spectra and advances in evolutionary synthesis models in the past few years has renewed interest in an old question: How to estimate the star formation history of a galaxy out of its integrated…
The universe is composed of galaxies that have diverse shapes. Once the structure of a galaxy is determined, it is possible to obtain important information about its formation and evolution. Morphologically classifying galaxies means…
We investigate the power of spectral synthesis as a mean to estimate physical properties of galaxies. Spectral synthesis is nothing more than the decomposition of an observed spectrum in terms of a superposition of a base of simple stellar…
The dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) in the Local Group are excellent systems on which we can test theories of galaxy formation and evolution. Color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) containing many thousands of stars from the asymptotic giant…