Related papers: Large-scale time-series spectroscopy for stellar a…
Spectral evolution models are a widely used tool for determining the stellar content of galaxies. I provide a review of the latest developments in stellar atmosphere and evolution models, with an emphasis on massive stars. In contrast to…
The age of an individual star cannot be measured, only estimated through mostly model-dependent or empirical methods, and no single method works well for a broad range of stellar types or for a full range in age. This review presents a…
A deep understanding of the Milky Way galaxy, its formation and evolution requires observations of huge numbers of stars. Stellar photometry, therefore, provides an economical method to obtain intrinsic stellar parameters. With the addition…
The overarching goal of planetary astronomy is to deduce how the present collection of objects found in our Solar System were formed from the original material present in the proto-solar nebula. As over two hundred exo-planetary systems are…
Astronomy is in an era where all-sky surveys are mapping the Galaxy. The plethora of photometric, spectroscopic, asteroseismic and astrometric data allows us to characterise the comprising stars in detail. Here we quantify to what extent…
Galaxy spectra are a rich source of kinematical information since the shapes of the absorption lines reflect the movement of stars along the line-of-sight. We present a technique to directly build a dynamical model for a galaxy by fitting…
I present an overview of the science goals and achievements of ongoing spectroscopic surveys of individual stars in the nearby Universe. I include a brief discussion of the development of the field of Galactic Archaeology - using the fossil…
Much progress has been achieved in the age-dating of old stellar systems, and even of individual stars in the field, in the more than sixty years since the evolution of low-mass stars was first correctly described. In this paper, I provide…
Setting the timeline of the events which shaped the Milky Way disc through its 13 billion year old history is one of the major challenges in the theory of galaxy formation. Achieving this goal is possible using late-type stars, which in…
In the era of large-scale surveys of stars in the Milky Way, stellar ages are crucial for studying the evolution of the Galaxy. But determining ages of field stars is notoriously difficult; therefore, we attempt to determine benchmark ages…
One of the most relevant problems in the extraction of scientifically useful information from wide field astronomical images (both photographic plates and CCD frames) is the recognition of the objects against a noisy background and their…
The determination of photospheric abundances in late-type stars from spectroscopic observations is a well-established field, built on solid theoretical foundations. Improving those foundations to refine the accuracy of the inferred…
Asteroseismology has the capability of delivering stellar properties which would otherwise be inaccessible, such as radii, masses and thus ages of stars. When coupling this information with classical determinations of stellar parameters,…
This review covers age-dating methods applied to young stellar populations in starburst galaxies with ages of 10^8 yr and less. First, recent advances in stellar modeling, both for the interior and the atmospheres, are discussed and…
The availability of high-quality spectra for a large number of galaxies in the SDSS survey allows for a more sophisticated extraction of information about their stellar populations than, e.g., the luminosity weighted age. Indeed,…
The determination of chemical abundances from stellar spectra is considered a mature field of astrophysics. Digital spectra of stars are recorded and processed with standard techniques, much like samples in the biological sciences.…
Age is an important characteristic of a planetary system, but also one that is difficult to determine. Assuming that the host star and the planets are formed at the same time, the challenge is to determine the stellar age. Asteroseismology…
We built modelled spectra of stellar population at high resolution and with variable alpha-elements enhancements. Analysing spectra of Galactic globular clusters we show that it is possible to derive reliably and efficiently [Mg/Fe] using…
Stellar ages are extremely difficult to determine and often subject to large uncertainties, especially for field low-mass stars. We plan to carry out a calibration of the decrease in high-energy emissions of low-mass GKM stars with time,…
The measurement of stellar properties such as chemical compositions, masses and ages, through stellar spectra, is a fundamental problem in astrophysics. Progress in the understanding, calculation and measurement of atomic properties and…