Old Stellar Populations: How to Study the Fossil Record of Galaxy Formation - Tapa blanda

The book discusses the theoretical path to decoding the information gathered from observations of old stellar systems. It focuses on old stellar systems because these are the fossil record of galaxy formation and provide invaluable information ont he evolution of cosmic structures and the universe as a whole. The aim is to present results obtained in the past few years for theoretical developments in low mass star research and in advances in our knowledge of the evolution of old stellar systems. A particularly representative case is the recent discovery of multiple stellar populations in galactic globular clusters that represents one of the hottest topics in stellar and galactic astrophysics and is discussed in detail. Santi Cassisi has authored about 270 scientific papers, 150 of them in peer-reviewed journals, and the title Evolution of Stars and Stellar Populations.

The book presents and discusses in depth a wide range of theoretical tools to decode the information gathered from photometric and spectroscopic observations of old stellar populations. These systems are the fossil record of galaxy formation and early evolution, and provide invaluable insights into the development of cosmic structures and the universe as a whole. The book starts with a detailed and up-to-date treatment of the evolution of low-mass stars, followed by a comprehensive discussion of a broad range of techniques to determine ages and initial chemical compositions - and more in general star formation histories - of resolved and unresolved old stellar systems. An extensive list of references is provided, together with examples of recent advances in our knowledge of the evolution of old stellar populations. A particularly representative case is the recent discovery of multiple stellar populations in Galactic globular clusters - one of the hottest topics in stellar and Galactic astrophysics - that is discussed in detail.