To appear in Astrophysics & Space Science, UV Universe special volume Stellar Populations in the UV.
astro-ph/1102.0297

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Abstract: In this paper we briefly review three topics that have motivated our (and others') investigations in recent years within the context of evolutionary population synthesis techniques. These are: The origin of the FUV up-turn in elliptical galaxies, the age-metallicity degeneracy, and the study of the mid-UV rest-frame spectra of distant red galaxies. We summarize some of our results and present a very preliminary application of a UV grid of theoretical spectra in the analysis of integrated properties of aged stellar populations. At the end, we concisely suggest how these topics can be tackled once the World Space Observatory enters into operation in the midst of this decade.

Keywords: ultraviolet: stars; ultraviolet: galaxies; galaxies: stellar content; galaxies: elliptical; galaxies: high redshift

Table of Contents

• INTRODUCTION
• THE FAR-UV RISING BRANCH OF ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES
• THE AGE-METALLICITY DEGENERACY
• DISTANT RED GALAXIES
• EVOLVED STELLAR POPULATIONS IN THE UV
• UV Spectroscopic Indices in Globular Clusters
• The Sun, M32, and Distant Red Galaxies from a Purely UV Perspective
• A WISH LIST FOR THE WORLD SPACE OBSERVATORY-UV
• REFERENCES