Poster Title: Using integrated light in deriving a galaxy's SFH: Broad-band colours vs. spectra
Abstract: We present results of a detailed study aiming to understand to what precision star formation histories (SFHs) can in principle be determined for distant galaxies observable in integrated light only. Using our evolutionary synthesis code, we have performed a set of simulations of galaxies with a wide range of different SFHs. By analysing the resulting colours and spectra, we investigate to which extent different SF scenarios can be discriminated on the basis of their photometric and spectral properties, respectively. We show that it is not possible to distinguish different scenarios of star formation which have evolved for more than 1, at the utmost 3-4 Gyrs since the last star forming event. For how long different SF scenarios can be disentangled highly depends on the range of colours available and absorption lines considered as well as on the details of the SFHs to be compared. Here, we observe a complementary behaviour between the spectral and the photometric evolution of a galaxy's integrated light. We will present details on this study.
Link to poster: N/A