Relative merits of different types of multi-wavelength observations to constrain galaxy physical parameter

I will present a new approach to constrain galaxy physical parameters from the combined interpretation of stellar and nebular emission in wide ranges of observations. This approach relies on a comprehensive library of synthetic spectra, assembled using state-of-the-art models of star formation and chemical enrichment histories, stellar population synthesis, nebular emission and attenuation by dust. We focus on the constraints set by 5-band photometry and low- and medium-resolution spectroscopy at optical rest wavelengths on a few physical parameters characterizing the stars and interstellar medium. Since these parameters cannot be known a priori for any galaxy sample, we assess the accuracy to which they can be retrieved by simulating 'pseudo-observations' using models with known parameters. We find that the combined analysis of stellar and nebular emission in low-resolution (50A FWHM) galaxy spectra provides valuable constraints on all physical parameters. The approach can be extended to the analysis of any type of observation and during this talk i will present some applications to observed galaxies up to redshift 1.5.