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Session 3 - Clusters.
Display session, Monday, June 10
Tripp Commons,
A study of the influence of the small number of bright stars in the integrated infrared colors of young star clusters is presented. The data employed are the stellar evolution models of solar metallicity by Schaller et al. (1992), the color--spectral type calibrations by Bessell amp; Brett (1988) and Bessell (1991), and the bolometric corrections and temperatures by Schmidt--Kaler (1982) and Bessell (1991). Using this data set, isochrones built from the stellar evolution models are converted to observational color--magnitude diagrams. A Monte Carlo method is employed to perform simulations of the stochastic effects on the initial mass function of single--generation stellar populations (SSPs). For each SSP generated, the flux contribution of different spectral types to the integrated light in J, H and K is computed. The fluctuations in the integrated light produced by stochastic effects at the upper main sequence and at the giant or supergiant branch are also evaluated for infrared colors. Implications of this analysis are connected to studies of the integrated light of stellar populations in galaxies for which it is not possible a direct observation of their individual stars.
