Hybrid Enrichment of Theory and Observation in Next-Generation Stellar Population Synthesis

Abstract

AbstractNext-generation observational surveys in astronomy provide empirical data with increasingly high resolution and precision. After presenting the basic methods of population synthesis (via Conroy C, Ann Rev Astronom Astrophys 51:393–455, 2013; Maraston C, Mon Not Royal Astronom Soc 362:799–825, 2005), this paper argues for several related conclusions. The increased precision of the new methods requires the development of improved theoretical resources and models to provide the richest interpretation of the new data (as argued by Maraston C, Strömbäck G, Monthly Not Royal Astronom Soc 418:2785–2811, 2011). The measurement of physical variables and parameters in population synthesis is best understood using a model-based account along the lines of (Tal E, The epistemology of measurement: a model-based approach. Dissertation, The University of Toronto, 2012) and (Parker WS, Br J Philos Sci 68:273–304, 2017). Finally, in the case of population synthesis, improved empirical data does not dispense with the need for theoretical reasoning in post-data analysis. In fact, the high-resolution data used in next-generation population synthesis demands ever richer theories and models, a process that results in hybrid enrichment of theoretical and observational methods and results.