# Probing the dusty stellar populations of the Local Volume Galaxies with JWST/MIRI

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how JWST/MIRI can be used to identify and classify various stellar populations in Local Volume galaxies through color-color diagrams and filter selection strategies, leveraging existing infrared data.

## Contribution

It introduces new MIRI color classification schemes and evaluates optimal filter combinations for stellar population studies in nearby galaxies.

## Key findings

- MIRI colors effectively distinguish young stellar objects and evolved stars.
- Identified optimal filter combinations for population selection.
- Provided a framework for future JWST observations of Local Volume galaxies.

## Abstract

The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) for the {\em James Webb Space Telescope} (JWST) will revolutionize our understanding of infrared stellar populations in the Local Volume. Using the rich {\em Spitzer}-IRS spectroscopic data-set and spectral classifications from the Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution (SAGE)-Spectroscopic survey of over a thousand objects in the Magellanic Clouds, the Grid of Red supergiant and Asymptotic giant branch star ModelS ({\sc grams}), and the grid of YSO models by Robitaille et al. (2006), we calculate the expected flux-densities and colors in the MIRI broadband filters for prominent infrared stellar populations. We use these fluxes to explore the {\em JWST}/MIRI colours and magnitudes for composite stellar population studies of Local Volume galaxies. MIRI colour classification schemes are presented; these diagrams provide a powerful means of identifying young stellar objects, evolved stars and extragalactic background galaxies in Local Volume galaxies with a high degree of confidence. Finally, we examine which filter combinations are best for selecting populations of sources based on their JWST colours.