AAS 201st Meeting, January, 2003
Session 137. DEEP2 Survey
Oral, Thursday, January 9, 2003, 2:00-3:30pm, 602-604

## [137.06] Ages and Metal Abundances of Early-Type Field Galaxies at Redshifts z ~0.8

R.P. Schiavon (UCO/Lick Observatory), DEEP Team

As part of the DEEP program, we study the ages and metallicities of early-type field galaxies at redshifts z ~0.8 by analysing relatively high quality integrated spectra taken with the Keck Telescope. We adopt our state-of-the-art stellar population models to interpret the spectral features in the restframe blue region (\lambda \leq 4500Å) that is still observable at these relatively high redshifts. The models are well calibrated against a sample of high-quality data of well-known clusters and nearby galaxies. For some galaxies in our sample, we have photometry and structural measurements from HST V and I images. The main by-products of our analysis are estimates of luminosity-weighted ages, metallicities and abundance ratios of early-type field galaxies at z ~0.8. The results are discussed in the context of the formation and evolution of early-type field galaxies and in comparison to similar measurements made by others for cluster galaxies at the same epoch. Results from both the Keck LRIS and DEIMOS spectrographs will be presented.