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In this paper, I review to what extent we can understand the photometric properties of star clusters, and of low-mass, unresolved galaxies, in terms of population synthesis models designed to describe `simple stellar populations (SSPs), i.e., groups of stars born at the same time, in the same volume of space, and from a gas cloud of homogeneous chemical composition. The photometric properties predicted by these models do not readily match the observations of most star clusters, unless we properly take into account the expected variation in the number of stars occupying sparsely populated evolutionary stages, due to stochastic fluctuations in the stellar initial mass function. In this case, population synthesis models reproduce remarkably well the full ranges of observed integrated colours and absolute magnitudes of star clusters of various ages and metallicities. The disagreement between the model predictions and observations of cluster colours and magnitudes may indicate problems with or deficiencies in the modelling, and dioes not necessarily tell us that star clusters do not behave like SSPs. Matching the photometric properties of star clusters using SSP models is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for clusters to be considered simple stellar populations. Composite models, characterized by complex star-formation histories, also match the observed cluster colours.
The evolution of AGB stars is notoriously complex. The confrontation of AGB population models with observed stellar populations is a useful alternative to the detailed study of individual stars in efforts to converge towards a reliable evolution theo
We explore how the star formation efficiency in a protocluster clump is regulated by metallicity dependent stellar winds from the newly formed massive OB stars (Mstar >5 Msol). The model describes the co-evolution of the mass function of gravitationa
In this tutorial paper we summarize how the star formation (SF) history of a galactic region can be derived from the colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) of its resolved stars. The procedures to build synthetic CMDs and to exploit them to derive the SF his
We present the third paper about our ongoing HST survey for the search for multiple stellar populations (MPs) within Magellanic Cloud clusters. We report here the analysis of NGC 419, a $sim 1.5$ Gyr old, massive ($gtrsim 2 times 10^5 , {rm M_{odot}}
Open and globular star clusters have served as benchmarks for the study of stellar evolution due to their supposed nature as simple stellar populations of the same age and metallicity. After a brief review of some of the pioneering work that establis