Issue |
A&A
Volume 409, Number 2, October II 2003
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 511 - 522 | |
Section | Galactic structure, stellar clusters, and populations | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20031096 | |
Published online | 17 November 2003 |
Using spectroscopic data to disentangle stellar population properties*
1
Calar Alto Observatory, CAHA, Apdo. 511, 04004, Almería, Spain
2
Departamento de Astrofísica, Facultad de Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
3
Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomía (CIDA), Apartado Postal 264, Mérida 5101-A, Venezuela
4
Institut für Astronomie, ETH Zentrum, SEC E3, Scheuchzerstrasse 7, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
Corresponding author: N. Cardiel, ncl@astrax.fis.ucm.es
Received:
11
February
2003
Accepted:
18
June
2003
It is well known that, when analyzed in the light of current
synthesis model predictions, variations in the physical properties of single
stellar populations (e.g. age, metallicity, initial mass function, element
abundance ratios) may have a similar effect in their integrated spectral
energy distributions. The confusion is even worsened when more realistic
scenarios, i.e. composite star formation histories, are considered. This
is, in fact, one of the major problems when facing the study of stellar
populations in star clusters and galaxies. Typically, the observational
efforts have aimed to find the most appropriate spectroscopic
indicators in order to avoid, as far as possible, degeneracies in the
parameter space. However, from a practical point of view, the most suited
observables are not, necessarily, those that provide more orthogonality in
that parameter space, but those that give the best balance between parameter
degeneracy and sensitivity to signal-to-noise ratio per Å, . In order to achieve the minimum combined total error
in the derived physical parameters, this work discusses how the
functional dependence of typical line-strength indices and colors on
allows to define a suitability
parameter which helps to obtain more realistic combinations of
spectroscopic data. As an example, we discuss in more detail the problem of
breaking the well known age-metallicity degeneracy in relatively old stellar
populations, comparing the suitability of different spectroscopic
diagrams
for a simple stellar population of solar metallicity and of 12 Gyr in age.
Key words: methods: data analysis / techniques: spectroscopic / galaxies: stellar content
© ESO, 2003
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