Astronomy at high angular resolution

Recent years have seen a huge development in high-resolution astronomical techniques, which are critical to progress in many different areas of astronomy. These techniques can be divided in direct methods (Adaptive optics, lucky imaging), interferometry (including speckle imaging and spectro-astrometry), and reconstruction methods (astrotomography). This workshop aims at bringing together the different communities working on these fields and increase the synergies between them. It is indeed often necessary to combine all these techniques together in order to have a coherent and comprehensive idea of all the processes at work in a given astronomical environment.

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The 10° INTEGRAL Workshop “A Synergistic View of the High Energy Sky”

The goal of this workshop is to present and discuss (via invited and contributed talks and posters) the latest results obtained in the field of high-energy astrophysics using the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory INTEGRAL, and place these results in the context of other operational space-based missions, such as Swift, Fermi, AGILE, NuSTAR, and Maxi as well as ground-based VHE observatories. Correlative studies in lower energy bands, as well as neutrino- and gravitational wave observations are included as relevant for various source classes.

AGN vs star formation: the fate of the gas in galaxies

How is AGN activity connected to star formation? This remains one of the key unsolved questions in astronomy and cosmology. Both processes are efficiently driven by a cold gas supply and we therefore may expect a loose connection. However, a slew of empirical and theoretical evidence suggest an unexpectedly tight symbiotic link between AGN activity and star formation, whereby the fuelling and regulation of one process is dictated by the other. The effectiveness of this fuelling and regulation and (most crucially) whether it is predominantly dictated by AGN activity or star formation is a matter is intense debate, and has important implications for the growth of galaxies and black holes over cosmic time. The objective of this international workshop is to bring together observers and theorists to discuss the connection between AGN activity and star formation on small (<100 pc), large (~0.1-10 kpc), and cosmological scales to address the following key questions: What evidence is there for a symbiotic connection between AGN activity and star formation? What physical processes drive gas into the centre/how does AGN and star formation compete for cold gas? How does star formation control AGN activity? What impact does AGN activity have on star formation? How different would the Universe look without AGNs? What key tests and observations do we need to make progress in the field?

Poster of the workshop

Clustering Measurements of Active Galactic Nuclei

This ESO workshop, which will be the first ever workshop dedicated to AGN clustering, aims to summarise our current understanding of AGN clustering and how the community should prepare for upcoming data sets and challenges.

Digging deep into the extragalactic infrared sky

Over the last years, IR Extragalactic Astronomy has made rapid progress thanks to major survey efforts carried out with ground-based and space observatories. These studies are preparing the ground for the science to be tackled with the next generation of IR telescopes, in particular the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). 

Powerful AGN and Their Host Galaxies Across Cosmic Time

2014 will represent 60 years since the optical identification of Cygnus A (Baade & Minkowski, 1954) as an extra-galactic source and the first powerful active galactic nucleus. Since then, powerful AGN have been identified across the electromagnetic spectrum and in galaxies from the local Universe up to z~7.

From dark matter to galaxies

Recent years have witnessed the establishment of the concordance cosmology. Under the Cold Dark Matter scenario,  cosmic structures are characteristic of dark matter haloes embedded in the cosmic web. Galaxies are thought to form at the center of dark matter haloes via gas cooling and fragmentation. Various models and numerical simulations have been developed to model the formation and evolution of galaxies. Observations of the galaxy population and local group are used to constrain the cold dark matter model on large and small scales. 

Gas and stars in galaxies: A multi-wavelength 3D perspective

In 2008 ESO hosted the first conference on extragalactic 3D multi-wavelength astronomy. This very successful workshop attracted more than 150 astronomers with expertise ranging from the radio to the optical wavelengths. In the intervening five-year period, 3D spectroscopic techniques have greatly extended our understanding of the key subjects addressed in this workshop. The kinematics, mass assembly and evolution of galaxies has been explored in large samples in the optical and near-infrared by programs such as the SAURON/ATLAS3D and CALIFA surveys of nearby galaxies and the SINS and MASSIV surveys at z~1-2. 3D spectroscopy at these wavelengths has become a standard technique to such an extent that on 8-m telescopes survey style instruments have been developed. Meanwhile, for the next generation of extremely large telescopes IFU spectrographs are selected among the first instruments to be commissioned. At the longer end of the wavelength range, the JVLA has now come online and new radio facilities are producing commissioning results. Over the last few years millimeter interferometers have produced spectacular 3D maps of carbon monoxide and various other atomic and molecular lines of galaxies out to redshifts of z=6, as well as very detailed cubes of nearby galaxies. Against this background, it is an excellent moment to hold a second workshop in this series. The 2nd generation VLT instruments KMOS and MUSE are taking up science operations in 2013/14. ALMA is conducting Cycle 1 observations and is preparing for new observing modes and increased sensitivity and angular resolution in future Cycles. The timing is perfect to evaluate the scientific progress made since 2008 and to make the community aware of the expanding science capabilities of ESO’s 3D instrumentation suite.

Scientific topics covered at the conference will include:

• Nearby Galaxy Dynamics
• Starbursts and interacting galaxies
• Supermassive black holes and AGN
• High redshift galaxies
• Cosmology and deep fields

By adapting a multi-wavelength approach to these scientific questions the stellar, hot and cold gas dynamics can be combined to provide an unprecedented opportunity to study many processes involved in galaxy formation such as infall, outflows, star-formation, mergers and AGN-related phenomena. Like in 2008, we envisage a highly interactive meeting with a focus on the presentation of scientific results based on current technology, but also an investigation into the exciting possibilities of future technologies. A secondary goal of this workshop is for the different communities to learn about the tools used to analyze and visualize 3-dimensional data, and to understand how they can be combined in optimal ways.

In support of this goal of the workshop, a concise description of the capabilities of these three new facilities is presented in this flyer.

Astronomy in the TMT Era

TMT-J invites you to join us for a two-day workshop “Astronomy in the TMT Era” in Tokyo, Japan to explore the potential of TMT in astronomy. TMT is an international project to build and operate a 30 meter telescope located on Mauna Kea. The program will consist of talks and discussions exploring TMT science with first-light and future instruments. We anticipate a broad range of topics on new results, new interpretation and theory, discussing with clear implication the best usage of TMT “in the TMT era”. The second half of Day 2 will focus on the 2nd generation instruments, which will further bring exciting TMT capabilities to meet diverse scientific needs. Each section will open with one or two invited reviews, followed by contributed talks. This workshop followed by the TMT SAC meeting on Oct. 18. is an opportunity to bring together the Japanese astronomical community to the TMT project and promote the development of international collaborations of science and instrumentation.

Topics:

• – Cosmology
• – Galaxy formation & evolution, AGN
• – Nearby galaxies
• – Stars, exoplanets & star formation
• – Time domain & polarimetry sciences
• – 2nd generation instrumentation

Multiwavelength AGN Surveys and Studies

AGN surveys are the source for the most interesting objects in the extragalactic Universe: QSOs, Seyfert galaxies, blazars, radio galaxies, LINERs, etc. They are important for understanding the variety of extragalactic sources and their interrelationship, as well as understanding the evolution of the Universe. Recent ground-based and space missions give vast amount of new multiwavelength (MW) data, which are being put together to discover many new AGN. Virtual Observatories (VOs) help in accomplishment of complex research programs using all these data. A combined study of these data also gives the overall picture of the AGN and answers some of the most important questions:

i) understanding the possible evolutionary and/or physical connection between the different classes of AGN, i.e. their consistency with the unification model,

ii) the relation of AGN to their host galaxies,

iii) understanding the true fraction of heavily obscured AGN in order to determine the true AGN luminosity function and its variation with redshift.

The Symposium will provide a good opportunity to elaborate a strategy, based on the acquired experience, to plan future surveys best fitted to fulfill the needs, and to coordinate follow-up observations with the new large ground-based and space telescopes.