We present theoretical equivalent widths for the sum of the two strongest
lines of the Calcium Triplet, CaT index, in the near-IR, using evolutionary
techniques and the most recent models and observational data for this feature
in individual stars. We compute the CaT index for Single Stellar Populations
(instantaneous burst, standard Salpeter-type IMF) at four metallicities,
Z=0.004, 0.008, 0.02 (solar) and 0.05, and ranging in age from very young
bursts of star formation (few Myr) to old stellar populations, up to 17 gyr,
representative of globular clusters, elliptical galaxies and bulges of spirals.
The interpretation of the observed equivalent widths of CaT in different
stellar systems is discussed. Composite-population models are also computed as
a tool to interpret the CaT detections in star-forming regions, in order to
disantangle between the component due to Red Supergiants stars, RSG, and the
underlying, older, population. CaT is found to be an excellent
metallicity-indicator for populations older than 1 Gyr, practically independent
of the age. We discuss its application to remove the age- metallicity
degeneracy, characteristic of all studies of galaxy evolution based on the
usual integrated indices (both broad band colors and narrow band indices). The
application of the models computed here to the analysis of a sample of
elliptical galaxies will be discussed in a forthcoming paper (Gorgas et al.
1998).Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, to be published in A&