Research Area: STELLAR POPULATIONS

Topics covered in this research area

Subject in this research area aim at understanding the stellar content of nearby star clusters and galaxies with the goal of understanding their formation and evolution history.

  • Resolved and unresolved star cluster (formation, stellar content, destruction)
  • Resolved stellar populations in the Local Group and nearby galaxies
  • Dwarf galaxies (stellar content and dynamics)
  • Nearby galaxies (integrated light, dynamics, central objects)

Thesis topics offered on Stellar Populations

Thesis topic Thesis supervisor(s)
Studying variable stars in globular and open clusters Daniel Bramich
Hydrodynamical simulations: the role of bars and the fueling of black holes Eric Emsellem
Fundamental planes of dynamically hot stellar systems in the local universe Michael Hilker
(Home page)
The high-mass end of the globular cluster mass function Michael Hilker
(Home page)
Mapping the star-formation history of early-type galaxies Harald Kuntschner (Home page) and
Tim de Zeeuw

Resolved stellar populations in near-IR

 Marina Rejkuba
Planetary Nebulae and HII regions in the Elliptical Galaxy NGC 5128 Marina Rejkuba and
Jeremy Walsh
(Home page)

Scientific Staff in Garching working on Stellar Populations

Faculty

Name Interests

Daniel Bramich		 Scientific interests:
  • Extra-solar planet detection and characterisation, principally via the transit and microlensing methods
  • Variable stars
  • High precision photometric methods, principally difference imaging
  • Algorithms in Astronomy

Eric Emsellem		 Scientific interests:
  • Galactic dynamics
  • Early-type galaxies
  • Stellar populations
  • 3D spectroscopy
  • Numerical simulations
  • Data analysis softwares

Michael Hilker		 Scientific interests:
  • Dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters
  • Extragalactic globular clusters
  • Stellar populations
  • Element abundances of galactic globular clusters
Personal home page

Liz Humphreys		 Scientific interests:
  • Central Parsecs of AGN
  • High-Mass Star Formation
  • Evolved Star Mass Loss
  • Millimetre and Submillimetre Astronomy

Markus Kissler-Patig		 Scientific interests:
  • Stellar populations
  • Star clusters
  • Intermediate-mass black holes
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
Personal home page

Harald Kuntschner		 Scientific interests:
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
  • Stellar populations of early-type galaxies
  • Extragalactic globular clusters
  • Integral-field spectroscopy
Personal home page

Marina Rejkuba		 Scientific interests:
  • Resolved stellar populations in nearby galaxies
  • Extragalactic globular clusters
  • Variable stars
  • Centaurus A = NGC 5128
Personal home page

Martino Romaniello		 Scientific interests:
  • Stellar populations in nearby Galaxies
  • Distance measurements
  • Star formation and early stellar evolution

Elena Valenti		 Scientific interests:
  • Resolved stellar populations
  • Star Clusters
  • Galactic Bulge
  • Chemical Abundances
  • Adaptive optics - NIR Imaging and Spectroscopy

Fellows

Name Interests

Giacomo Beccari		 Scientific interests:
  • Stellar population in galactic globular clusters
  • Stellar dynamics in star clusters
  • Exotic stellar populations and IMBHs in globular clusters
  • Star formation history in star-burst clusters
  • Pre Main-Sequence stars

Loredana Spezzi		 Scientific interests:
  • Formation and evolution of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs
  • Properties of protoplanetary disks
  • Optical and infrared wide-field imaging surveys

Students

Name Interests

Anja Feldmeier		 Scientific interests:
  • Globular clusters
  • Nuclear star clusters
  • Central massive black holes in star clusters
  • Galactic and cluster dynamics

Roberto Figuera		 Scientific interests:
  • Globular and open clusters
  • Variable stars
  • Gravitational lensing events
  • Lightcurves of accreting black holes

Leo Huckvale		 Scientific interests:
  • Variable stars
  • Galactic Bulge
  • Globular clusters
  • Difference imaging analysis

Carina Lagerholm		 Scientific interests:
  • Stellar populations
  • Chemical abundances
  • Galaxy evolution

Nora Lützgendorf		 Scientific interests:
  • Dynamics of globular clusters
  • Intermediate-mass black holes

Personal home page

Florian Niederhofer		 Scientific interests:
  • High-Mass Star Formation
  • Massive Stars
  • Stellar Populations
  • ISM of Galaxies