Probing Stellar Populations Out to the Distant Universe: Cefalu 2008, Proceedings of the International Conference Cefalu, Sicily 7-19 September 2008

The Cefalu 2008 meeting was devoted to the study of stellar populations out to cosmological distances, with different approaches. The first week of the meeting was focused on results derived by means of stellar population-synthesis techniques (colors and spectra), including SBF analyses. The aim has been to shed light upon the properties of stellar populations, such as SFH, the IMF, metallicity and the like, versus look-back time. Comparisons with local, resolved stellar populations deserved to be - at least briefly - addressed. During the second week, results were discussed as derived from Supernovae and GRBs, employed as tracers of their parent stellar populations, in both the near and far Universe. The role played by novae, especially that expected in the ELT era, was also briefly addressed. The organizers' general idea was to devote a major fraction of the time to discuss results or identify new problems. However, in the first week, they also wanted to discuss basic issues, such as theoretical modeling of specific evolutionary phases, calibration problems and definition of diagnostics. Also, they tried to link the physical results of population synthesis applied to nearby objects to the results obtained for high-redshift galaxies, thus providing the opportunity for a joint discussion between scientists interested in linking and understanding the properties of stellar populations at very different look-back times. At the same time, when dealing with 'violent probes', during the second week, they also addressed problems related to the nature and the origin of various explosive outcomes and, in general, to the sofar unsolved issues concerning these phenomena.