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SUMMARY:Star clusters: links between stellar and galactic astrophysics - S
 øren S. Larsen\, Utrecht University
DTSTART:20111117T163000Z
DTEND:20111117T173000Z
UID:TALK32599@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr. Vasily Belokurov
DESCRIPTION:Several nearby star-forming galaxies host young star clusters 
 with masses well above 100\,000 Msun. Unlike most Milky Way open clusters\
 , these clusters are rich enough that the post-main sequence phases are we
 ll populated even at young ages. The challenge is that the degree of stell
 ar crowding is extremely high\, but it is nevertheless possible to extract
  photometry of individual stars in several such clusters and compare with 
 stellar evolutionary models. On the one hand\, this allows us to study the
  stellar content of the clusters\, and test whether the colour-magnitude d
 iagrams (CMDs) are well explained by standard stellar isochrones. On the o
 ther hand\, the availability of resolved imaging allows us to put the anal
 ysis of integrated spectroscopy of the clusters on a much firmer basis.\nI
  will first discuss our recent results on the CMDs of several massive clus
 ters\, which are found to be poorly approximated by individual isochrones.
  Possible explanations include age spreads and/or effects of binary stella
 r evolution. I will critically examine the case for age spreads in star cl
 usters and discuss some of its implications. \nI will then briefly discuss
  our ongoing efforts to model the integrated light of star clusters\, with
  the ultimate aim of carrying out detailed chemical analysis of star clust
 ers in external galaxies.
LOCATION:Sackler Lecture Theatre\, IoA (tea at 4:00 pm)
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