Observational anomalies challenging the Lambda-CDM cosmological model

In the current paradigm of the Lambda-CDM cosmology, the fundamental properties of the Universe are believed to be well understood, with only minor adjustment of the basic model being left to be done. The global picture of an expanding Universe originating during a singularity at Big Bang is now taken for granted, and some basic properties of the Universe are considered to be known with amazing accuracy. For instance, according to Lambda-CDM concordance cosmology, the age of the Universe is 13.798±0.037 Gyr, quoted with a precision higher than the one with which we know the age of our planet.

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Galaxies and Cosmology in Light of Strong Lensing

The purpose of the workshop is to share the recent advances in strong lensing and discuss the future directions with current/upcoming facilities and wide-field surveys. Topics at the workshop include dark matter substructures, galaxy evolution, time-delay cosmology, galaxy clusters, high-z galaxies, simulations, and strong lens searches.

The Formation and Growth of Galaxies in the Young Universe

It is now ~4 years since the last galaxy-evolution ski conference at Obergurgl. In the December 2009 meeting, highlights included the first results from Herschel, and very early data from WFC3 on the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope. In the intervening years several major surveys have been completed by Hubble and Herschel, wide-field near-infrared imaging has begun to be delivered by VISTA, SCUBA2 has commenced sub-mm surveys on the JCMT, near-infrared multi-object spectrographs have commenced operation on 8-m class telescopes, and the first results have emerged from ALMA and Planck. By April 2014 ALMA Cycle 1 will be nearing completion, KMOS will have been commissioned on the VLT, Hyper Suprime-Cam will be operational on Subaru, and the next generation of radio surveys will be underway.

The aim of this meeting will to review and discuss these observational advances, alongside progress in theory/simulation, with a dual focus on galaxy/black-hole evolution at z > 2, and reionization/first-galaxies at z > 6.