Related papers: Separating Physical Components from Galaxy Spectra…
A trade-off between speed and information controls our understanding of astronomical objects. Fast-to-acquire photometric observations provide global properties, while costly and time-consuming spectroscopic measurements enable a better…
(Sub-)millimeter spectral lines can be used not only to understand the chemical complexity and enrichment history of an observed portion of our Galaxy, but with spectrally resolved lines, they reveal the physical conditions, dynamics, and…
We review the current knowledge and understanding of the interstellar medium of our galaxy. We first present each of the three basic constituents - ordinary matter, cosmic rays, and magnetic fields - of the interstellar medium, laying…
We compare the spatial distribution of stars which form in hydrodynamical simulations to the spatial distribution of the gas, using the $\mathcal{Q}$-parameter. The $\mathcal{Q}$-parameter enables a self-consistent comparison between the…
We present here a model for simulating the panchromatic spectral energy distribution of galaxies, which aims to be a complete tool to study the complex multi-wavelength picture of the universe. The model take into account all important…
We review knowledge of galaxy structures obtained by their emitted light and in the local universe where they can be studied in great detail. We discuss the shapes of, and stellar motions within, galaxies, compositional clues derived from…
The signal measured by an astronomical spectrometer may be due to radiation from a multi-component mixture of plasmas with a range of physical properties (e.g. temperature, Doppler velocity). Confusion between multiple components may be…
We present the first results of a detailed modeling of chemical and photometric evolution of galaxies including the effects of a dusty interstellar medium. A chemical evolution code follows the SF rate, the gas fraction and the metallicity,…
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.…
Improving upon the standard evolutionary population synthesis (EPS) technique, we present spectrophotometric models of galaxies whose morphology goes from spherical structures to discs, properly accounting for the effect of dust in the…
Gravitational lensing is one of a number of methods used to probe the distribution of dark mass in the Universe. On galactic scales, complementary techniques include the use of stellar kinematics, kinematics and morphology of the neutral…
We propose a new method to search for light (pseudo-)scalar particles in the spectra of compact astrophysical objects such as magnetars, pulsars, and quasars. On accounts of compact astrophysical objects having intense magnetic fields…
Orbital solutions for binary or multiple stellar systems that combine astrometry (e.g., position angles and angular separations) with spectroscopy (radial velocities) have important advantages over astrometric-only or spectroscopic-only…
A hot phase of the interstellar medium has now been detected and studied in several objects through its X-ray emission. A proper assessment of its characteristics is relevant for our understanding of several aspects of galaxy properties,…
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…
I review the basic concepts for the spectrophotometric and chemical evolution of galaxies, contrast various approaches and discuss their respective advantages and shortcomings, both for the interpretation of nearby and high redshift…
We review the present observational knowledge on the spatial distribution and the physical state of the different (molecular, atomic and ionized) components of the interstellar gas in the innermost 3 kpc of our Galaxy -- a region which we…
The only way to map the Galaxy's gravitational potential $\Phi({\bf x})$ and the distribution of matter that produces it is by modelling the dynamics of stars and gas. Observations of the kinematics of gas provide key information about…
The development of our understanding of the gaseous component of the interstellar medium is reviewed. During the 20th century our picture of diffuse material in space has grown from a simple model of isolated clouds in thermal equilibrium…
We study the sources of biases and systematics in the derivation of galaxy properties of observational studies, focusing on stellar masses, star formation rates, gas/stellar metallicities, stellar ages and magnitudes/colors. We use…