Model stars for the modelling of galaxies: α-enhancement in stellar populations models

Stellar population (SP) models are an essential tool to understand the observations of galaxies and clusters. One of the main ingredients of a SP model is a library of stellar spectra, and both empirical and theoretical libraries can been used for this purpose. Here I will start by giving a short overview of the pros and cons of using theoretical libraries, i.e. model stars, to produce our galaxy models. Then I will address the question on how theoretical libraries can be used to model stellar populations, in particular to explore the effect of $\alpha$-enhancement on spectral observables.