Old Stellar Populations in Galaxies

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This investigation will study the formation and early evolution of galaxies with particular attention paid to how these processes are affected by the environment. This will be done by observing old stellar populations in early type galaxies and in our own galaxy. Recent work by this investigator has suggested that star formation is truncated in early type galaxies in dense cluster cores. This work will be greatly extended to confirm or modify this result. In addition, his recent discovery that nearly half of the early type galaxies in the nearby, dynamically young Pega- sus I cluster show clear signs of recent star formation will be followed up to determine if this result can be related to other workers observations of a similar effect much more distant galaxy clusters. Finally, the results of these observations will be applied to the case of our own galaxy, in trying to understand its collapse and early chemical evolution.