Description:

Title: Unraveling Galaxy Formation Histories with Semi-Resolved Stellar Populations

Speaker: Charlie Conroy, Harvard University

Host: Cliff Johnson

Abstract: The analysis of stellar populations has traditionally been pursued in two limiting cases: spatially-resolved stellar populations in the color-magnitude diagram, and integrated light observations of distant systems. In between these two extremes lies a rich and relatively unexplored realm of observational phenomena. In this talk I will describe our efforts to develop techniques and analyze datasets exploiting the “semi-resolved” stellar population regime, both spatially and temporally. We have used these techniques to unravel the stellar populations of nearby galaxies, which has offered new insights into their formation histories. These new tools will play an important role in maximizing the science returns from next generation ground and space-based facilities.

Keywords: Physics, Astronomy, Astrophysics