Related papers: Characterizing stellar populations in spiral disks
This review summarizes the properties of the stellar population in bulges as observed in nearby or distant spiral galaxies. It gives a particular emphasis to the comparison with elliptical galaxies, when possible. The criteria of sample…
Galactic globular clusters are not simple stellar populations. And nothing is simple in their study, basically because we try to reconstruct chains of events that occurred at redshift z > 2-3 by observing these objects at z=0, after a…
Since the early 1970s, stellar population modelling has been one of the basic tools for understanding the physics of unresolved systems from observation of their integrated light. Models allow us to relate the integrated spectra (or…
We present a spectral decomposition technique that separates the contribution of different kinematic components in galaxies from the observed spectrum. This allows to study the kinematics and properties of the stellar populations of the…
Stellar populations contain the most important information about star clus- ter formation and evolution. Until several decades ago, star clusters were believed to be ideal laboratories for studies of simple stellar populations (SSPs).…
The fundamental properties of stellar clusters, such as the age or the total initial mass in stars, are often inferred from population synthesis models. The predicted properties are then used to constrain the physical mechanisms involved in…
In this contribution I will discuss fundamental stellar parameters as determined from young star clusters; specifically those with ages less than or approximately equal to that of the Pleiades. I will focus primarily on the use of stellar…
Based on VLT/FORS spectroscopy and HST/ACS imaging, we have constructed a sample of ~200 field spiral galaxies that cover redshifts up to z~1. Such a large data set allows to study the evolution of fundamental galaxy parameters like…
The observable characteristics and subsequent evolution of young stellar populations is dominated by their massive stars. As our understanding of those massive stars and the factors affecting their evolution improves, so our interpretation…
We show autoconsistent chemical and spectro-photometric evolution models applied to spiral and irregular galaxies. Evolutionary synthesis models usually used to explain the stellar component spectro-photometric data, are combined with…
The stellar population synthesis in unresolved composite objects is a very tricky problem. Indeed, it is a degenerate problem since many parameters affect the observables. The stellar population synthesis issue thus deserves a deep and…
Stellar Populations are the fossil record of Galactic evolution. Interpretation of this record in the Local Group allows one to determine reliably the dominant physics controlling the evolution of those galaxies which are typical of the…
The physical properties of galaxies are encoded within their spectral energy distribution and require comparison with models to be extracted. These models must contain a synthetic stellar population and, where infrared data is to be used,…
Although there are many more stellar population studies of elliptical and lenticular galaxies, studies of spiral galaxies are catching up, due to higher signal to noise data on one hand, and better analysis methods on the other. Here I…
To ascertain whether photometric decompositions of galaxies into bulges and disks are astrophysically meaningful, we have developed a new technique to decompose spectral data cubes into separate bulge and disk components, subject only to…
We describe a novel method for determining the demographics of a population of star clusters, for example distributions of cluster mass and age, from unresolved photometry. This method has a number of desirable properties: it fully exploits…
Many aspects of the evolution of stars, and in particular the evolution of binary stars, remain beyond our ability to model them in detail. Instead, we rely on observations to guide our often phenomenological models and pin down uncertain…
Comparison with artificial galaxy models is essential for translating the incomplete and low signal-to-noise data we can obtain on astrophysical stellar populations to physical interpretations which describe their composition, physical…
Recent progress in our knowledge of stellar populations in local dwarf spheroidal galaxies is briefly discussed. A few results are summarized including wide field observations of stellar populations and their spatial variations, studies of…
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…