Stellar populations and AGN in the bulges of SDSS galaxies

We present a new method for measuring the recent star formation history (SFH) of galaxies from their 4000 break and Balmer absorption line strength. By making use of the whole 3750-4150 spectral region, the method achieves a higher signal-to-noise ratio than traditional indices. The new technique is ideally suited to finding evidence for weak or old starbursts in good quality spectra, or studying post-starburst galaxies at high redshift. On application to massive, bulge dominated galaxies in the SDSS, we find clear correlations between the recent star formation history of bulges and the properties of the AGN.