Toward constraints on galaxy formation scenarios: stellar properties from Galactic surveys

Abstract

We present some of the strategies being developed to classify and parameterize objects obtained with spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) and present some results. We estimate stellar atmospheric parameters (effective temperature, gravity, and metallicity) from spectral and photometric data and use these to analyse Galactic populations. We demonstrate this through the selection of a sample of candidate Blue Horizontal-Branch and RR Lyrae stars selected from SDSS/SEGUE.

8 pages, 3 figures; to appear in the Proceedings of the IAU Symposium 254: `The Galaxy Disk in Cosmological Context', Copenhagen, June 2008, eds J. Andersen, J. Bland-Hawthorn & B. Nordstrom; updated references