Uncovering early galaxy evolution in the ALMA and JWST era
NEWS (May 16th, 2019): Instructions for both oral and poster presentations are available here.
NEWS (May 2nd, 2019): Latest version of the program here.
NEWS (Mar 18th, 2019): Regular registration is now closed! We will be accepting late registrations (415 Euro fee) until April 15.
NEWS (Mar 13th, 2019): only two more days left to register! Please register and finalize you payment by Friday 15th, otherwise your registration will be counted as a late registration.
Note: if you are requesting childcare arrangements please make sure you register on time or we might not be able to accomodate your request!
NEWS (Mar 5th, 2019): A preliminary program is now available.
NEWS (Feb 5th, 2019): Registration is now open! Register here.
Important notes on Registration:
- If you already pre-registered, your pre-registration information will be retrieved using your email address, but you can still edit your details. If you submitted an abstract for an oral contribution when you pre-registered but were not notified that this has been accepted, then it means it has been accepted as a poster; if you submitted a poster abstract, it has been accepted.
- If you haven’t pre-registered, you can register now but you can only submit a poster abstract (or you can register with no abstract).
- Your registration will only be complete once you finalized the payment (link at the bottom of the registration page).
- Registration closes on March 15. After that, you will still be able to register, but you will have to pay the late registration fee.
- The registration is 340 Euros and covers catered lunches and coffee breaks from Monday to Friday, the conference dinner and winery estate tour on Wednesday for conference participants, and the conference proceedings (there will also be a free airport transfer service and welcome reception courtesy of Viana do Castelo City). Late registration fee will be 415 Euros.
- You are welcome to bring additional guests to the conference dinner, but please make sure you pay the additional cost as instructed in the payment form: 40 Euros for adults, 28 Euros for children over 10 years old, 14 Euros for children between 5 and 9 years old; children up to 4 years old are welcome at no additional cost.
- Please provide your dietary requirements to make it easier for us to organize the meals.
- If you are interested in using our childcare service, please indicate so in the registration form. We are still working out the arrangements and will contact you directly about it.
Dates: June 3 – 7, 2019
Venue: Castelo do Santiago da Barra, Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Key Topics:
1) First light: galaxies at the epoch of reionization
2) Galaxy surveys in the young Universe
3) Advanced methods for spectral energy distribution modelling at high redshift
4) Theoretical models of early galaxy formation and evolution
5) Properties of the interstellar medium at high-redshift
6) Observing the rise of AGN activity and the galaxy-AGN connection
7) Fuelling and quenching of star formation at high redshift
8) Spatially-resolved analyses of z>2 galaxies
9) Lessons from local analogs
10) Synergies with other future facilities
Scientific Rationale:
Thanks to deep observations in the last few decades with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and ground-based 8–10-metre class telescopes, we know more about the young Universe than ever before, having reached tantalisingly close to the dark ages and the formation of the first stars and galaxies. It is now well established that the rate of cosmic star formation rose rapidly from the epoch of reionization to a maximum at z~2. The first three billion years of cosmic time were therefore the prime epoch of galaxy formation. Characterising galaxies at this epoch, both observationally and theoretically, is thus crucial to achieve a major goal of modern astrophysics: to understand how galaxies such as our Milky Way emerged from the primordial density fluctuations in the early Universe and evolved through cosmic time.
Many questions remain to be addressed with the next generation of observing facilities and theoretical models. For example, what physical processes drove the rise in star formation rate in the first three billion years? How is the formation and evolution of galaxies determined by their dark matter haloes and large-scale environment? How did black hole growth follow this rise, and how important is the galaxy-AGN connection at early cosmic times? Which star-forming galaxies are responsible for re-ionising the Universe, and how important is the contribution by early quasars? How do the gas, metals and dust in the interstellar medium of early galaxies evolve? What regulates star formation in galaxies, and what are the physical drivers behind the close correlation between stellar mass and star formation rate (the so-called ‘star-forming main sequence’)? Are there different star formation modes associated with secular and interaction-driven starbursts, and how important were those processes in shaping the general galaxy population? What dynamical processes established the morphologies of galaxies we observe today?
Recent major international investments in facilities such as the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) promise to shed light on these questions. ALMA has been operating since 2011 and has already started changing our view of the distant Universe by detecting dust heated by young star formation and cold molecular gas i.e. the fuel for new star formation, with unprecedented sensitivity and spatial resolution, reaching all the way to the epoch of reionization (z>6). ALMA gives us an exquisite view into the physical state of the dense interstellar medium in the young Universe, which is determinant in understanding star formation and feedback processes. JWST, to be launched in 2020, will bring a necessary and complementary view of the stellar populations and ionised interstellar medium in galaxies at those epochs. It will directly observe young stars radiating in the rest-frame ultraviolet as well as more evolved stars emitting mostly in the optical and near-infrared (which comprise most of the total stellar mass), and it will access the nebular emission from gas ionised by the young stars, AGN, and shocks. Combining ALMA and JWST will be crucial to go beyond simply detecting large samples of galaxies in the young Universe, but also characterising in detail the physical processes governing their evolution. It is crucial for the extragalactic community to be prepared to maximise what we can learn from having those facilities simultaneously available during the lifetime of JWST.
This symposium will bring together the community of theoretical and observational experts to discuss and strategise on how we can make the most of ALMA and JWST synergies in advancing our understanding of galaxy evolution in the young Universe during the next decade. The goal is to formulate the key questions that will be answered with ALMA+JWST, and discuss what observations, diagnostics, and theoretical models/simulations will need to be developed to address them. To achieve this goal, the symposium will include an overview of the state-of-the-art in observations and theoretical models of high-redshift galaxies, define strategic areas where the overlap between ALMA and JWST will be crucial, and foster exchanges and international collaboration between theorists and observers, as well as astronomers traditionally observing in different spectral regions. Organising this symposium shortly before the launch of JWST ensures that these discussions will happen at the most relevant time.
The field is ripe for a meeting that will bring together both users of ALMA and JWST and theorists to strategise for the next decade when both these facilities will be available.