Massive spectroscopic surveys of stars in the thick disk and halo populations of the Galaxy hold the potential to provide strong constraints on the processes involved in (and the timing of) the assembly history of the primary structural components of the Galaxy. In this talk, we explore what has been learned from one of the first such dedicated surveys, SDSS/SEGUE. Over the course of the past three years, SEGUE has obtained spectra for over 200,000 stars, while another hundred thousand stars been added from the calibration star observations of the (primarily extragalactic) SDSS, and other directed programs. A total of well over 10,000 stars with [Fe/H] < −2.0 have been discovered, including several hundred with [Fe/H] < −3.0. Their kinematics have revealed a inner/outer halo structure of the Galaxy.

New determinations of the alpha element ratios for tens of thousands of these stars are reported. Correlations of the alpha-element ratios with kinematics and orbital parameters can be used to test models of the likely formation of the thick-disk and halo components. These new data will (eventually) be considered in connection with possible associations with the present dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.

The first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the universe may be Dark Stars, powered by dark matter heating rather than by fusion. Weakly interacting massive particles, which are their own antiparticles, can annihilate and provide an important heat source for the first stars in the the universe. This talk presents the story of these Dark Stars. We make predictions that the first stars are very massive (~800M⊙), cool (6000 K), bright (~106L⊙), long-lived (~106 years), and probable precursors to (otherwise unexplained) supermassive black holes. Later, once the initial DM fuel runs out and fusion sets in, DM annihilation can predominate again if the scattering cross section is strong enough, so that a Dark Star is born again.

The very peculiar abundance patterns observed in extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars can not be explained by conventional normal supernova nucleosynthesis but can be well-reproduced by nucleosynthesis in hyper-energetic and hyper-aspherical explosions, i.e., Hypernovae (HNe). Previously, such HNe have been observed only as Type Ic supernovae. Here, we examine the properties of recent Type Ib supernovae (SNe Ib). In particular, SN Ib 2008D associated with the luminous X-ray transient 080109 is found to be a more energetic explosion than normal core-collapse supernovae. We estimate that the progenitor's main sequence mass is MMS = 20 − 25M⊙ with an explosion of kinetic energy of EK ~ 6.0 × 1051 erg. These properties are intermediate between those of normal SNe and hypernovae associated with gamma-ray bursts. Therefore, such energetic SNe Ib could also make an important contribution to the chemical enrichment in the early Universe.

With the operation of LOFAR, a great opportunity exists to shed light on a problem of some cosmological significance. Diffuse radio synchrotron emission not associated to any obvious discrete sources as well as Faraday rotation in clusters of galaxies both indicate that the intergalactic or intracluster medium (IGM, ICM) is pervaded by a weak magnetic field, along with a population of relativistic particles. Both, particles and fields must have been injected into the IGM either by Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) or by normal star-forming galaxies. Excellent candidates for the latter are starburst dwarf galaxies, which in the framework of hierarchical structure formation must have been around in large numbers. If this is true, one should be able to detect extended synchrotron halos of formerly highly relativistic particles around local starburst or post-starburst dwarf galaxies. With LOFAR, one should easily find these out to the Coma Cluster and beyond.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are cosmologically distributed, very energetic and very transient sources detected in the γ-ray domain. The identification of their x-ray and optical afterglows allowed so far the redshift measurement of 150 events, from z = 0.01 to z = 6.29. For about half of them, we have some knowledge of the properties of the parent galaxy. At high redshift (z > 2), absorption lines in the afterglow spectra give information on the cold interstellar medium in the host. At low redshift (z < 1.0) multi-band optical-NIR photometry and integrated spectroscopy reveal the GRB host general properties. A redshift evolution of metallicity is not noticeable in the whole sample. The typical value is a few times lower than solar. The mean host stellar mass is similar to that of the Large Magellanic Cloud, but the mean star formation rate is five times higher. GRBs are discovered with γ-ray, not optical or NIR, instruments. Their hosts do not suffer from the same selection biases of typical galaxy surveys. Therefore, they might represent a fair sample of the most common galaxies that existed in the past history of the universe, and can be used to better understand galaxy formation and evolution.

We use a series of high-resolution N-body simulations of a ‘Milky-Way’ halo, coupled to semi-analytic techniques, to study the formation of our own Galaxy and of its stellar halo. Our model Milky Way galaxy is a relatively young system whose physical properties are in quite good agreement with observational determinations. In our model, the stellar halo is mainly formed from a few massive satellites accreted early on during the galaxy's lifetime. The stars in the halo do not exhibit any metallicity gradient, but higher metallicity stars are more centrally concentrated than stars with lower abundances. This is due to the fact that the most massive satellites contributing to the stellar halo are also more metal rich, and dynamical friction drags them closer to the inner regions of the host halo.

In this contribution we present our new photometric search for high-z galaxies hosting Population III (PopIII) stars based on deep intermediate-band imaging observations, by using Supreme-Cam on the Subaru Telescope. By combining our new data with the existing broad-band and narrow-band data in the target field, we searched for galaxies which emit strongly both in Lyα and in Heiiλ1640 (“dual emitters”) that are promising candidates for PopIII-hosting galaxies, at 4 ≲ z ≲ 5. Although we found 10 “dual emitters”, most of them turn out to be [Oii]-[Oiii] dual emitters or Hβ-Hα dual emitters at z < 1, as inferred from their broad-band colors and from the ratio of the equivalent widths. No convincing candidate of Lyα-Heii dual emitter with SFRPopIII ≳ 2M⊙ yr−1 was found. This result disfavors low feedback models for PopIII star clusters, and implies an upper limit of the PopIII SFR density of SFRDPopIII < 5 × 10−6M⊙ yr−1 Mpc−3. This new selection method to search for PopIII-hosting galaxies should be useful in future surveys for the first observational detection of PopIII-hosting galaxies at high redshift.

We compared deep images acquired with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board of the Hubble Space Telescope with mid-IR Spitzer Space Telescope images and University College London Echelle Spectrograph spectra of NGC 346 and NGC 602, two of the youngest star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Our multi-wavelength approach allowed us to infer very different origins for the clusters: while NGC 346 is likely the result of the hierarchical collapse of a giant molecular cloud, NGC 602 is probably the result of the collision and consequent interaction of two H I shells of gas.

Warps in the outer gaseous disks of galaxies are a ubiquitous phenomenon, but it is still unclear what generates them. One theory is that warps are generated internally through spontaneous bending instabilities. Other theories suggest that they result from the interaction of the outer disk with accreting extragalactic material. In this case, we expect to find cases where the circular velocity of the warp gas is poorly correlated with the rotational velocity of the galaxy disk at the same radius. Optical spectroscopy presents itself as an interesting alternative to 21-cm observations for testing this prediction, because (i) separating the kinematics of the warp from those of the disk requires a spatial resolution that is higher than what is achieved at 21 cm at low HI column density; (ii) optical spectroscopy also provides important information on star formation rates, gas excitation, and chemical abundances, which provide clues to the origin of the gas in warps. We present here preliminary results of a study of the kinematics of gas in the outer-disk warps of seven edge-on galaxies, using multi-hour VLT/FORS2 spectroscopy.

From NLTE computations of the magnesium abundance in a sample of extremely metal-poor giants we derive [Mg/Fe]=+0.7, leading to [Al/Mg]=−0.80 and [Na/Mg]=−0.85 in the early Galaxy. The ratio [O/Mg] should be near to the solar value. Measurements of nitrogen abundances derived from the analysis of the NH band in eight more stars confirm the large scatter of the ratios [N/Fe] and [N/O] in the early Galaxy.

We investigate the global photometric scaling relations traced by early-type galaxies in different environments, ranging from dwarf spheroidals, over dwarf elliptical galaxies, up to giant ellipticals (−8 mag ≳ MV ≳ −24 mag). These results are based in part on our new HST/ACS F555W and F814W imagery of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Perseus Cluster. We show that at MV ~ −14 mag, the slopes of the photometric scaling relations involving the Sérsic parameters change significantly. We argue that these changes in slope reflect the different physical processes that dominate the evolution of early-type galaxies in different mass regimes. We present N-body/SPH simulations of the formation and evolution of dwarf spheroidals that reproduce these slope changes and discuss the underlying physics. As such, these scaling relations contain a wealth of information that can be used to test models for the formation of early-type galaxies.

Observations of AGN show that they generally possess a high metallicity, varying from solar to supersolar metallicities. This is the case since AGN are usually found in massive, bulge-dominated galaxies that have converted most of their gas into stars by the present epoch. Since AGN metallicity is strongly correlated with stellar mass, low-metallicity AGN are expected to be in low-mass dwarf galaxies. However, until now, searches in low-mass galaxies have only turned up AGN with metallicities around half that of typical AGN, i.e. with solar or slightly subsolar values. We report the discovery of four low-metallicity dwarf galaxies in the Data Release 6 of the Sloan Digital Sky survey, with 12 + log O/H in the range 7.4–8.0, and that appear to harbor an AGN. In the course of a long-range program to search for extremely metal-deficient emission-line dwarf galaxies, we have come across four galaxies with very unusual spectra: the strong permitted emission lines, mainly the Hα line, show very prominent broad components, with full widths at zero intensity corresponding to velocities varying between 2200 and 3500 km s−1, and extraordinarily large broad Hα luminosities, varying from 3×1041 to 2×1042 erg s−1. The Balmer lines show a very steep decrement, suggesting collisional excitation and that the broad emission comes from very dense gas (Ne ≫ 104 cm−3). Only the presence of an accretion disk around an intermediate-mass black hole in the dwarf galaxies appears to account for these properties.

The molecular gas in galaxy disks shows much more galaxy to galaxy variation than does the atomic gas. Detailed studies show that this variation can be attributed to differences in hydrostatic pressure in the disks due largely to variations in the stellar surface density and the total gas surface density. One prediction of pressure modulated H2 formation is that the location where HI and H2 have equal surface densities occurs at a constant value of the stellar surface density in the disk. Observations confirm this constancy to 40%.

The GAMA survey aims to deliver 250,000 optical spectra (3–7 Å resolution) over 250 sq. degrees to spectroscopic limits of rAB < 19.8 and KAB < 17.0 mag. Complementary imaging will be provided by GALEX, VST, UKIRT, VISTA, HERSCHEL and ASKAP to comparable flux levels leading to a definitive multi-wavelength galaxy database. The data will be used to study all aspects of cosmic structures on 1kpc to 1Mpc scales spanning all environments and out to a redshift limit of z ≈ 0.4. Key science drivers include the measurement of: the halo mass function via group velocity dispersions; the stellar, HI, and baryonic mass functions; galaxy component mass-size relations; the recent merger and star-formation rates by mass, types and environment. Detailed modeling of the spectra, broad SEDs, and spatial distributions should provide individual star formation histories, ages, bulge-disc decompositions and stellar bulge, stellar disc, dust disc, neutral HI gas and total dynamical masses for a significant subset of the sample (~ 100k) spanning both the giant and dwarf galaxy populations. The survey commenced March 2008 with 50k spectra obtained in 21 clear nights using the Anglo Australian Observatory's new multi-fibre-fed bench-mounted dual-beam spectroscopic system (AAΩ).

We present here the latest results of the LCID project (Local Cosmology from Isolated Dwarfs), aimed at recovering the full star formation history (SFH) of six isolated dwarf galaxies of the Local Group (LG). Our method of analysis is based on the IAC-pop code, which derives the SFH of a resolved stellar system by comparing the observed and a model color-magnitude diagram (CMD). We summarize here basic technical issues and the main results concerning our sample of galaxies. We show that LeoA is the only object showing a clear delay in the onset of the major SF event, while all the other galaxies present a dominant component older than 10 Gyrs.

The blue compact dwarf galaxy I Zw 18 holds the record of the lowest metallicity ever observed in the local universe. As such, it represents the closest analog to primordial galaxies in the early universe. More interestingly, it has recurrently been regarded as a genuinely young galaxy caught in the process of forming in the nearby universe. However, stars of increasingly older ages are found within I Zw 18 every time deeper high-resolution photometric observations are performed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST): from the original few tens of Myrs to, possibly, several Gyrs. Here we summarize the history of I Zw 18 age and present an ongoing HST/ACS project which allowed us to precisely derive the galaxy distance by studying its Cepheid variables, and to firmly establish the age of its faintest resolved populations.

Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are the major reservoirs of molecular gas in galaxies, and the starting point for star formation. As such, their properties play a key role in setting the initial conditions for the formation of stars. We present a comprehensive combined inteferometric/single-dish study of the resolved GMC properties in a number of extragalactic systems, including both normal and dwarf galaxies. We find that the extragalactic GMC properties measured across a wide range of environments, characterized by the Larson relations, are to first order remarkably compatible with those in the Milky Way. Using these data to investigate trends due to galaxy metallicity, we find that: 1) these measurements are not in accord with simple expectations from photoionization-regulated star formation theory; 2) there is no trend in the virial CO-to-H2 conversion factor on the spatial scales studied; and 3) there are measurable departures from the Galactic Larson relations in the Small Magellanic Cloud — the object with the lowest metallicity in the sample — where GMCs have velocity dispersions that are too small for their sizes. We will discuss the stability of these clouds in the light of our recent far-infrared analysis of this galaxy, and will contrast the results of the virial and far-infrared studies on the issue of the CO-to-H2 conversion factor and what they tell us about the structure of molecular clouds in primitive galaxies.

I address the issue of dust and gas as seeds for metal-poor star formation by reviewing what we know about star formation in nearby dwarf galaxies and its relationship to the gas and dust. I (try to) speculate on the extent to which processes in nearby galaxies mimic star formation in the early universe.

We present photometric evolution of galaxies in which, in addition to the stellar component, the effects of an evolving dusty interstellar medium have been included with particular care. Starting from the work of Calura, Pipino & Matteucci (2008), in which chemical evolution models have been used to study the evolution of both the gas and dust components of the interstellar medium in spiral, elliptical and irregular galaxies, it has been possible to combine these models with a spectrophotometric stellar synthesis code that includes dust reprocessing (GRASIL) (Silva 1998) to analyse the evolution of the Spectral Energy Distributions (SED) of these galaxies. We test our models against observed SEDs both in the local universe and at high redshift. The importance of following the dust evolution is investigated by comparing our results with those obtained by adopting simple assumptions to treat this component. Possible errors from assuming a Milky Way dust composition and a dust-to-gas ratio scaling with the metallicity particularly in young galaxies, ellipticals and low metallicity galaxies are highlighted.