Evolution of galaxies from mass selected samples
9 - 13 November 2009
Venue: Lorentz Center@Oort
If you are invited or already registered for this workshop, you have received login details by email.DESCRIPTION AND AIM
The workshop will bring together several groups working on galaxy evolution and galaxy formation. This is a topic which is developing very rapidly with the new observational capabilities and new theoretical insights. From the observational side, it will be focused on surveys based on near-ir selected samples. These samples are the only samples which can lead to proper mass selected samples. New observational capabilities have changed these studies rather dramatically in the past years. Wide-field imaging surveys in the near-ir are now “common”, using either 8-m or 4-m class telescopes. Furthermore, near-ir spectroscopy is just taking off - with rapid improvements in the spectrographs available on large telescopes. Finally, satellite based capabilities have been dramatically improved by the recent launch of Herschel, the installation of WF3 in HST, and the large surveys being done with Spitzer.
All in all, the workshop will focus on the vast improvements in the general area of galaxy formation, with a focus on the study of galaxy evolution from z=4 to z=0, where restframe optical selection techniques can provide us with a proper view of the universe.
In addition to the observational studies, we will discuss theoretical work related to the galaxy evolution. The combination of theory and observations is crucial for a full understanding of the results.
The program will consist of presentations in the morning, and time for actual work, small group discussions, etc in the afternoon. We expect about 25 participants, who will all give a presentation about their work. Each presentation will be 25 minutes, with 10 minutes of discussion time. Hence we will have 5 presentations each morning. We will have a concluding session after lunch on the final day, titled “galaxy evolution: what next ?”. These sessions have turned out to be extremely productive. We start by laying out the “BIG” questions, and the state of the answers. After that, we address which future work can address these questions.
