69073 - Spectral Evolution of Galaxies

Learning outcomes

The student is expected to gain an overall picture and master the main distinctive properties of stellar populations (i.e. age, chemical composition, initial mass function etc.) and their impact on the integrated spectral energy distribution of stellar systems in the different aggregation scales observed in the Universe. This includes stellar clusters, disks and galactic bulges, galaxy clusters etc.

Course contents

• Simple Stellar populations, scale relationships of stars as tracers to date galaxies
• The Milky Way as a spiral galaxy
• Spectral characterization of galaxies along the different morphologycal types
• Semi-analytical models of spectrophotometric evolution
• The UV-upturn phenomenon in elliptical galaxies and related cosmologica tests
• Planetary Nebulae and other stellar tracers of the diffuse intergalactic background
• Star Formation Rate and photometric evolution of disks in spiral galaxies
• Mass-to-light ratio and evolutionary implications for extragalactic systems
• The Schmidt Law and constant birthrate models. Downsizing properties and galactic genesis
• The Lick narrow-band spectrophotometric system
• Photometric entropy and the Tonry-Schneider method for galaxy surface brightness fluctuations
• Redshift effects on the Spectral Energy Distribution of galaxies
• Apparent colors of high-redshift galaxies. Dropout objects
• Meta-galaxies and Madau-Lilly plots on the cosmic star formation

Readings/Bibliography

We will especially focus on the study and critical discussion of original papers and reviews (mainly Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Fundamental Cosmic Physics) appeared in the international literature. The course will also be complemented by multimedia material on the internet and in electronic form.

Teaching methods

48 hours oral classes, including in-depth discussion on the main issues and solution of applied problems

Assessment methods

Oral examination

Teaching tools

Power-point shows.

Links to further information

http://www.bo.astro.it/~eps/lezioni/lezioni.html

Office hours

See the website of Alberto Buzzoni