A fundamental question for theories of massive star formation is whether OB stars can form in isolation. We assess the contribution of any in-situ OB star formation by using 210 field OB stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) from the Runaways and Isolated O-Type Star Spectroscopic Survey of the SMC (RIOTS4). We search for tiny, sparse clusters around our target OB stars using cluster-finding algorithms. Employing statistical tests, we compare these observations with random-field data sets. We find that ∼5% of our target fields do show evidence of higher central stellar densities, implying the presence of small clusters. This frequency of small clusters is low and within errors, it is also consistent with the field OB population being composed entirely of runaway and walkaway stars. Assuming this small cluster fraction is real, it implies that some OB stars may form in highly isolated conditions. The low frequency could be caused by these clusters evaporating on a short timescale. However, another interpretation is that the low fraction of small clusters is observed because these form rarely, or not at all, implying a higher cluster lower-mass limit and generally consistent with a relationship between maximum stellar mass (mmax) and the cluster mass (Mcl).

We trained a Neural Network that can obtain selected STARLIGHT parameters directly from S-PLUS photometry. The training set consisted of over 55 thousand galaxies with their stellar population parameters obtained from a STARLIGHT application by Cid Fernandes et al. (2005). These galaxies were crossmatched with the S-PLUS iDR 3 database, thus, recovering the photometry for the 12 band filters for 55803 objects. We also considered the spectroscopic redshift for each object which was obtained from the SDSS. Finally, we trained a fully connected Neural Network with the 12-band photometry + redshift as features, and targeted some of the STARLIGHT parameters, such as stellar mass and mean stellar age. The model performed very well for some parameters, for example, the stellar mass, with an error of 0.23 dex. In the future, we aim to apply the model to all S-PLUS galaxies, obtaining never-before-seen photometric synthesis for most objects in the catalogue.

Despite significant progress over the past decades, all state-of-the-art population synthesis (PS) codes suffer from deficiencies limiting their potential of gaining sharp insights into the star formation history (SFH) and Chemical Enrichment History (CEH) of star-forming galaxies, i.e. the neglect of nebular continuum and, the lack of a mechanism to ensure consistency between the best-fitting SFH and the observed nebular characteristics (ONC; Balmer-lines, Balmer/Paschen jumps). These introduce biases in their recovered physical properties (stellar mass M* and sSFR). FADO is a novel self-consistent PS code employing genetic optimization, publicly available (http://www.spectralsynthesis.org), capable of identifying the SFH & CEH that reproduce the ONC of a galaxy, alleviating degeneracies in the spectral fits. The current version of FADO (v1.b) uses standard BPT emission-line ratios for the classification of low redshift (z) galaxies. Whereas this permits a reliable distinction between star-forming, Composite, Seyfert and LINERs, it is inapplicable to many intermediate-z galaxies. We present an adaptation of FADO (version v1.c) to classify higher z galaxies employing the “Blue Diagram” (e.g., Lamareille 2010) for which the most prominent blue emission-lines (< [OIII]5007Å) are observable while the Hα and [NII] are inaccessible. FADO v1.c was applied to synthetic spectra simulating the evolution of galaxies formed at higher-z with different SFHs. FADO can recover the physical and evolutionary properties of galaxies, such as M* and mean age/metallicity, with an accuracy significantly better than purely-stellar codes. An outline of FADO v1.c and applications to local and intermediate-z galaxies will be presented.

The development of tunable dye lasers and a simple atomic and ionic beam source for all elements were critical in establishing a reliable absolute scale for atomic transition probabilities in the optical to near UV regions. The laboratory astrophysics program at the University of Wisconsin - Madison (UW) concentrates on neutral and singly-ionized species transitions that are observable in astronomical spectra of cool stars, emphasizing the rare earth n(eutron)-capture elements and the Fe-group elements that are important inputs to early Galactic nucleosynthesis studies. The UW program is one of several productive efforts on atomic transition probabilities. These programs generally use time-resolved laser-induced-fluorescence (TR-LIF) to accurately measure total decay rates and data from high resolution Fourier transform spectrometers (FTSs) to determine emission branching fractions (BFs). The UW laboratory results almost always are directly linked to astronomical chemical composition efforts. There are good opportunities to extend similar research to other wavelength regions.

In this work we derive stellar archaeology and kinematics of the central 400 pc of NGC 5643. The star formation history (SFH) reveals nuclear contribution of stellar populations older (20% older than 3.5 Gyr) and younger (60% younger than 320 Myr) as compared to the circumnuclear region. The [OIII] 5007 Å kinematics reveals the eastern ionization cone with an outflow (−60 km/s ⩽ v ⩽ 120 km/s).

As part of the Z-PAndAS Keck II DEIMOS survey of resolved stars in our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda (M31), we have built up a unique data set of measured velocities and chemistries for thousands of stars in the Andromeda stellar halo, particularly probing its rich and complex substructure. In this contribution, we will discuss the structural, dynamical and chemical properties of Andromeda's dwarf spheroidal galaxies, and how there is no observational evidence for a difference in the evolutionary histories of those found on and off M31's vast plane of satellites. We will also discuss a possible extension to the most significant merger event in M31 - the Giant Southern Stream - and how we can use this feature to refine our understanding of M31's mass profile, and its complex evolution.

We examine the role that stochastic fluctuations in the IMF and in the number of interacting binaries have on the spectro-photometric properties of sparse stellar populations as a function of age and metallicity.

The MESSIER surveyor is a small mission designed at exploring the very low surface brightness universe. The satellite will drift-scan the entire sky in 6 filters covering the 200–1000 nm range, reaching unprecedented surface brightness levels of 34 and 37 mag arcsec−2 in the optical and UV, respectively. These levels are required to achieve the two main science goals of the mission: to critically test the ΛCDM paradigm of structure formation through (1) the detection and characterisation of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, which are predicted to be extremely abundant around normal galaxies, but which remain elusive; and (2) tracing the cosmic web, which feeds dark matter and baryons into galactic haloes, and which may contain the reservoir of missing baryons at low redshifts. A large number of science cases, ranging from stellar mass loss episodes to intracluster light through fluctuations in the cosmological UV-optical background radiation are free by-products of the full-sky maps produced.

The aim of this study is to determine abundance ratios and star formation histories (SFH) of dwarf ellipticals in the nearby Virgo cluster. We perform a stellar population analysis of 39 dEs and study them using index-index and scaling relations. We find an unusual behaviour where [Na/Fe] is under-abundant w.r.t. solar while [Ca/Fe] is over-abundant.

K2 is the mission concept for a repurposed Kepler mission that uses two reaction wheels to maintain the satellite attitude and provide ~81 days of coverage for ten 105 deg2 fields along the ecliptic in the first 2.5 years of operation. We examine stellar populations based on the updated Besançon model of the Galaxy, comment on the general properties for the entire ecliptic plane, and provide stellar occurrence rates in the first six tentative K2 campaigns grouped by spectral type and luminosity class. For each campaign we distinguish between main the sequence stars and giants, and provide their density profile as a function of galactic latitude. We introduce the crowding metric that serves for optimized target selection across the campaigns. For all main sequence stars we compute the expected planetary occurrence rates for three planet sizes: 2–4, 4–8 and 8–32 R⊕ with orbital periods up to 50 days. In conjunction with Gaia and the upcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and Plato missions, K2 will become a gold mine for stellar and planetary astrophysics.

Binary stars possibly exists in most galaxies and star clusters. Their evolution can lead to significant change in stellar population studies. Binary star to fit group (BS2fit: ∞) has built up a binary star stellar population synthesis model and used it in a few works. This page is to introduce the model and its possible applications.

The Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) project is an ongoing 3D spectroscopic survey of 600 nearby galaxies of all kinds. This pioneer survey is providing valuable clues on how galaxies form and evolve. Processed through spectral synthesis techniques, CALIFA datacubes allow us to, for the first time, spatially resolve the star formation history of galaxies spread across the color-magnitude diagram. The richness of this approach is already evident from the results obtained for the first ~ 1/6 of the sample. Here we show how the different galactic spatial sub-components (“bulge” and “disk”) grow their stellar mass over time. We explore the results stacking galaxies in mass bins, finding that, except at the lowest masses, galaxies grow inside-out, and that the growth rate depends on a galaxy's mass. The growth rate of inner and outer regions differ maximally at intermediate masses. We also find a good correlation between the age radial gradient and the stellar mass density, suggesting that the local density is a main driver of galaxy evolution.

CALIFA (Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area) is a 3D spectroscopic survey of 600 nearby galaxies that we are obtaining with PPaK@3.5m at Calar Alto (Sánchez et al. 2012; Husemann et al. 2012). This pioneer survey is providing valuable clues on how the mass and metallicity grow in the different galactic spatial sub-components (“bulge” and “disk”). Processed through spectral synthesis techniques, CALIFA datacubes allow us to, for the first time, spatially resolve the star formation history of galaxies (Cid Fernandes et al. 2012). The richness of this approach is already evident from the results obtained for the first ~ 100 galaxies of the sample (Pérez et al. 2012). We have found that galaxies grow inside-out, and that the growth rate depends on a galaxy's mass. Here, we present the radial variations of physical properties sorting galaxies by their morphological type (Figure 1). We have found a good correlation between the stellar mass surface density, stellar ages and metallicities and the Hubble type, but being the the early type spirals (Sa-Sbc) the galaxies with strong negative age and metallicity gradient from the bulge to the disk.

The mid-ultraviolet is an important diagnostic region due to its sensitivity to the hottest stars of a stellar population. Sources of mid-UV flux include main sequence turn-off stars, the basic clocks of stellar evolution, and also blue horizontal branch stars and blue stragglers. We describe some observed trends in mid-UV colors and spectral indices.

The study of stellar populations in early-type galaxies give us clues on how they form and evolve. We calculate age, [Z/H], and [α/Fe] ratio for 162 early-type galaxies using the SSP models from Thomas, Maraston, & Bender (2003) applied to Lick indices measurements, such as Hβ, Mgb, Fe5270 and Fe5335. Those were obtained from longslit spectra observed in the ESO 1.52m telescope as described in Ogando et al. (2008). We study the relations between the SSP parameters and velocity dispersion, as well as the influence of environment on these relations. We find that age, [Z/H], and [α/Fe] correlate well with velocity dispersion, so that more massive galaxies, have on average, higher metallicities, ages and abundance ratios than that of the low-mass ones. Galaxies in high density regions are older and more metal-rich than those in regions with low number of neighbors. These results are not consistent with standard predictions of hierarchical clustering. In the last decade, this “anti-hierarchical” behavior has also been generally tagged as downsizing and has challenged the current theoretical framework of galaxy formation, calling for new ways of star formation regulation in early-type galaxies.

We describe and analyze the color dispersion of LRG's at redshifts, z=0.4-0.5.