Starbursts in the IR

Infrared observations of starburst galaxies provide fundamental information on their stellar content and interstellar medium also in the innermost cen tral regions. Many interesting absorption features due to the red stellar p opulations and nebular emission lines are present in their spectra. By comp aring observations and theoretical predictions based on evolutionary synthe sis models, a few crucial features as potential tracers of the galaxy evolu tion will be analyzed, highlighting the major results and caveats. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.