Stellar Populations in Galaxies
Specialized course for Master students, listed on Moodle and LSF
Course content (short summary): As most of the radiation we receive from galaxies is star light, we can use it to measure and study their properties. These lectures aim at showing how much we can learn about galaxy evolution from the study of their stellar populations (young to old stellar clusters, field stars, resolved and integrated stellar populations). We will review the methods commonly used in this respect, all resting on our understanding of stellar evolution, and discuss the results obtained when we apply them to observational data, such as multi-wavelength photometry and spectroscopy.
Lecturer: Priv.-Doz. Dr. Anna Pasquali
Time and location:
- Lectures: Friday 11:15 - 13:00, seminar room, 1st floor of ARI Neubau
- Tutorials: Friday 14:15 - 16:00, seminar room, 1st floor of ARI Neubau
Prerequisites: Knowledge of the introductory astronomy lectures (MVAstro0 or WPAstro). Additional useful knowledge: Stellar Astronomy & Astrophysics, Galactic & Extragalactic Astronomy, Astronomical Techniques
Literature:
- M. Salaris, S. Cassisi, "Evolution of Stars and Stellar Populations", Wiley
- L. Greggio, A. Renzini, "Stellar Populations", Wiley-VCH
Lectures content and planned schedule:
- 01 Fri 20.10: Definition of stellar populations, basic stellar physics
- 02 Fri 27.10: Basic stellar physics continued
- 03 Fri 03.11: Pre-main sequence evolution, evolution of very low mass and low mass stars
- 04 Fri 10.11: Evolution of intermediate mass stars and massive stars
- 05 Fri 17.11: OB associations, young massive clusters, HII regions
- 06 Fri 24.11: The initial mass function
- 07 Fri 01.12: Isochrones, simple stellar populations, galactic open clusters
- 08 Fri 08.12: Galactic globular clusters, population synthesis with isochrones
- 09 Fri 15.12: Population synthesis with isochrones continued, unresolved stellar clusters
- 10 Fri 12.01: Interstellar dust & extinction
- 11 Fri 19.01: Resolved, composite & field stellar populations
- 12 Fri 26.01: Integrated stellar populations
- 13 Fri 02.02: Integrated stellar populations continued, spectral line indices
- 14 Fri 09.02: Spectral line indices continued, galaxy scaling relations & radial
gradients, early-type galaxies at different redshifts
Tutorials: they will start on Friday 27.10, and will consist of exercises on the lectures content performed in class
