Main Colloquium
Prof. Remo Ruffini	ORATED

University of Rome "Sapienza"

Three fundamental paradigms for establishing the relation of GRBs and Supernovae to Neutron Stars and Black holes are outlined.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. James Lovell	CANCELED

University of Tasmania, Australia

The VLBI Global Observing System (VGOS) is an ambitious initiative that aims to improve geodetic VLBI measurement precision by an order of magnitude to 1 mm in position and 0.1 mm/y in velocity. Observations with global arrays will be continuous and data recording rates will be 16 Gbps. This presents some significant challenges for scheduling, observatories, correlators and data analysis. The AuScope VLBI array, consisting of three 12m diameter radio telescopes on the Australian continent, has been operating since 2010 and is currently undergoing an upgrade to VGOS compatibility. The array provides the opportunity to trial some of the techniques that will be required for VGOS, such as continuous centralised remote operations and adaptive scheduling. I will describe the work already underway to develop these techniques and present some recent results from our observing program.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Weiwei Zhu	ORATED

MPIfR

I would like to talk about the two topics of my researches: 1. The 21-year timing of one of the most precise pulsars: PSR J1713+0747, and its applications in testing the Strong Equivalence Principle, the Lorentz invariance, and the constancy of gravitation. 2. The PICS AI, an image-pattern-based deep-neural-network artificial intelligence that helps distinguishing pulsar signals from RFIs and improves efficiency of pulsar searches by a factor of 100. This program has helped discovering 13 pulsars in the Pulsar Arecibo L-band Feed Array survey.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Tim Pearson	ORATED

TBA

	SFB Colloquium
Dr. Peter Capak	ORATED

Caltech, Pasadena, USA

TBA

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Andrea Giannetti	ORATED

Bologna

The C-Band All Sky Survey (C-BASS) is a project to image the whole sky at a frequency of 5 GHz, measuring both brightness and linear polarization. The survey will result in a sensitive polarization map largely uncorrupted by Faraday rotation, suitable for studies of the Galactic magnetic field, the ISM, and CMB polarization foregrounds. The northern part of the survey, at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory in California, is almost complete; and the southern part is underway at a site in the Karoo, South Africa. I will describe the instrumentation and analysis methods, and present some preliminary results and show how they complement the new Planck polarization maps.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. A. Shulevski	ORATED

University of Groningen

TBA

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Ryuichi Kurosawa	ORATED

MPIfR

Modern spectropolarimetric observations have shown that young low-mass stars such as classical T Tauri stars possess relatively strong ( kG) magnetic field. This supports the idea that the final accretion onto the stellar surface is magnetically controlled, and their winds are formed in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) processes. I will discuss the formation of outflows from the disk-magnetosphere interaction regions of rotating magnetized stars in the context of numerical simulations and radiative transfer (RT) models. I will also discuss numerical simulations of magnetospheric accretions through an inclined dipole and a complex magnetic fields. I will describe how MHD simulation results can be used in separate RT models to predict observable quantiles such as line profiles and light curves. The plausibility of the accretion flows and outflows predicted by MHD simulations can be tested against observations via RT models. Finally, a similar model applied to young intermediate-mass Herbig Ae/Be stars will be briefly discussed.

	SFB Colloquium
Dr. Jerome Pety	ORATED

IRAM & Obs. de Paris

TBA

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Miguel Perez-Torres	ORATED

IAA, Spain

TBA

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Dirk Muders	ORATED

MPIfR

The first public release of the ALMA Pipeline was made available in October this year. New ALMA data is being calibrated with this pipeline and delivered to the PIs. The VLA is currently commissioning a pipeline based on the same design. In this talk I will review the pipeline implementation, the current status, the data products including a demo of the Pipeline Weblog, and highlight the upcoming development goals.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Sambaran Banerjee	ORATED

AIfA

Understanding how distinct, near-spherical gas-free clusters of very young, massive stars shape out of vast, complex clouds of molecular hydrogen is one of the biggest challenges in astrophysics. A popular notion dictates that a single gas cloud fragments into many new-born stars which, in turn, energize and rapidly expel the residual gas to form a gas-free cluster. In this study, we demonstrate that this monolithic scenario remarkably reproduces the well-observed central, young cluster (HD 97950) of the Galactic NGC 3603 star-forming region. In particular, its detailed shape and the internal stellar motion are found to follow naturally and consistently from a single model calculation undergoing approx. 70possibility of formation of HD 97950 cluster via hierarchical merging of sub-clusters. These sub-clusters are spatially distributed over a wide range of radii and have various modes of sub-clustering in both absence and presence of a background gas potential. Unlike the above monolithic model that reproduces HD 97950 very well, the same is found to be practically impossible with hierarchical assembly alone. Only those systems which assemble promptly into a single cluster from a close separation (all within approx. 2 pc) could reproduce the observed mass density profile of HD 97950 after a similar gas dispersal. These results therefore suggest that the NGC 3603 young cluster has formed essentially monolithically followed by a substantial residual gas expulsion. Recent observations of the structure of several young star clusters support the same.

	Special Colloquium
Prof. Jacques Roland	ORATED

Institut d'Astrophysique, Paris, France

TBA

	SFB Colloquium
Dr. Mark Sargent	ORATED

University of Sussex

TBA

	Special Colloquium
Andrea Bracco	ORATED

IAS Orsay, France

The role of the magnetic field in the formation of the filamentary structures seen in the interstellar medium (ISM) is a debated topic due to the paucity of relevant observations to test existing models. Planck has recently completed the first all-sky map of polarized thermal dust emission, revealing a new view of the sky that we have started to explore. I will present a statistical study on the relative orientation between the matter structures traced by dust and the magnetic field in the ISM. We measure the magnetic field orientation projected on the plane of the sky from the polarization data, and compute the orientation of filamentary structures in the dust intensity map with a dedicated algorithm. We find that the field geometry projected on the plane of the sky is well correlated with the distribution of matter. While in the diffuse ISM, the structures of matter tend to be aligned with the projected magnetic field, in molecular clouds the data reveal coherent structures perpendicular to the field orientation. I will discuss our results in light of theoretical and numerical scenarios on the formation of structures under the mutual action of turbulence, self-gravity and magnetic fields in the ISM.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Reinhold Schaaf	ORATED

AIfA

The Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) standard has been a great success for astronomy, allowing easy exchange of astronomical data. However, more than 30 years after its invention in the late 1970s, it is showing its age, and a growing number of data specialists ask the question whether FITS is ready for both the amount and the complexity of the data expected from the next generation of telescopes. I will report on the ongoing debate about this question held at the ADASS conferences of the last years.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Antoine Lassus	ORATED

MPIfR

The existence of gravitational waves (GW) has been predicted but their detection remains elusive. Multiple techniques exist for searching for them, including ground-based kilometer long interferometers. An alternative approach exists, based on the monitoring and precise timing of radio pulses from an array of millisecond pulsars. A GW will perturb the propagation of those radio pulses, causing them to reach the Earth with a certain delay. By searching for correlations in the arrival times of the pulsations from different pulsars, we can in principle infer the presence of GWs from observations in the GW nano-Hertz regime. Those low frequency GWs should be produced by Super Massive Black Hole Binaries (SMBHBs) and two types of signal are expected. One is a GW background from multiple unresolvable SMBHBs and the other is a possible signal coming from a single close heavy binary emitting above the background. In this colloquium I will present the techniques used for observing those GWs focusing one the single source case. I will discuss the expected form and the model used for such a signal, I will describe the statistical method, my detection algorithm and the tests made through the search of injected signals at different signal-to-noise ratio.

	Main Colloquium
Enno Middelberg	ORATED

MPIfR

TBA

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Timea Csengeri	ORATED

MPIfR

The ATLASGAL survey is a sub-millimeter continuum survey of the Galactic Plane with the LABOCA camera at APEX. It offers one of the most sensitive and extensive view of the inner Galaxy at sub-millimeter wavelengths among ground-based surveys. With over 10 000 compact sources identified, it provides an unprecedented view of all stages of massive star formation. I will present recent results from the ATLASGAL survey and its follow-up projects, discuss statistically significant samples of massive star-forming clumps, with a particular focus on the youngest and coldest clumps. These are potential sites of high mass star formation in the earliest stages and many clumps of this particular sample have not been previously known. Extensive high angular-resolution follow-up observations of this sample are currently in preparation with ALMA. Such a Galactic scale sample complemented with spectroscopic follow-up observations is the first step to constrain the initial conditions and the evolutionary sequence of high mass star formation.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Monika Moscibrodzka	ORATED

Netherlands

The Galactic center is an ideal laboratory for testing various theoretical models of the magnetized plasma flows onto compact objects. With radio telescopes, such as the Event Horizon Telescope, we are about to make the first ever images of the event horizon and the plasma flow in the immediate vicinity of the central supermassive black hole. Hence, a theoretical understanding of black hole astrophysics is now crucial and timely. In particular, numerical simulations give us insight into how these black hole inflows and outflows work and look like. In my talk, I will present highlights of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of gas falling onto a black hole. Our models predict dynamical and radiative properties of hot accretion flows and jets near a Kerr black hole. I will show how the observations of the supermassive object in the center of our Milky Way already constrain many of these model parameters. Finally, I will discuss the prospects for detecting the silhouette of the black hole horizon in the center of our Galaxy.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Jonathan Mackey	ORATED

AIfA

Cool evolved stars emit few ionizing photons, but many of them, particularly red supergiants, live in photoionized regions of space and so their winds are ionized from the outside in. Betelgeuse is a runaway star and its wind produces a bow shock at a radius of about 0.35pc, but unexpectedly it also has a static shell at a radius of 0.12pc. We show that a model in which Betelgeuse’s wind is externally photoionized can explain the static shell without requiring a new understanding of the bow shock. An ionization front in the wind generates the static shell, and the wind-ISM interaction generates the bow shock. Up to 35shells can also form around red giants and AGB stars, and one-sided shells in binary systems. In many cases the shells could dramatically affect supernova lightcurves.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Steve Longmore	ORATED

Liverpool John Moores University

10temperature and pressure of this gas are extreme compared to that in the solar neighbourhood and disks of nearby galaxies, but similar to gas in high-z clouds and galaxies. Our Galactic centre can be studied at a level of detail unimaginable for such extragalactic systems, and is a natural bridge between Galactic and extragalactic star formation studies. I will summarise our recent work using the Galactic Centre as a laboratory for understanding both star formation and super star cluster formation in such extreme environments. I will focus on a gas stream orbiting 200pc from the Galactic centre which contains the four most massive and dense clouds in the Galaxy. The star formation in these super star cluster progenitor clouds appears to have been triggered by tidal compression during pericentre passage near the central supermassive black hole. This offers a unique opportunity to study the physics of stellar mass assembly as a function of absolute time. I will present our initial results exploiting this system of clouds where we are trying to follow the evolution of the core mass function with time since star formation was instigated and trying to provide the first direct and time resolved tests of turbulent star formation theories in such an extreme environment: is the “critical density” for star formation  4 orders of magnitude larger than the “universal” threshold reported in solar neighbourhood clouds? is the instantaneous star formation efficiency determined simply by the mass of gas above the critical density and the length of time that has passed since SF began? does this explain why the galactic centre violates density-dependent star formation relations by an order of magnitude? These results represent our first steps in attempting to develop a new benchmark for star formation in environments closer to the conditions in which most stars in the Universe are thought to have formed, i.e. high-pressure environments in high-z galaxies.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Christopher S. Jacobs	ORATED

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech/NASA

The International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) defines angular coordinates on the sky. The IAU is currently working on the 3rd generation ICRF (ICRF-3). ICRF-3 goals are to improve spatial and frequency coverage, and precision relative to the ICRF-2. By 2018 we need to create radio reference frames to allow for a robust frame tie between VLBI and Gaia optical frame. We have many collaborations to increase the precision of the VLBA Calibrator Survey at S/X band, and to extend it to the Southern Emisphere; and to improve the radio frequency coverage at X/Ka and K-band. We need to identify and correct systematic errors by comparing celestial frame solutions and keep consistency between the CRF and the TRF and EOP.

	Informal Colloquium
Dr. Yoshiaki Hagiwara	ORATED

ASTRON

Astronomical VLBI in Japan has been performed mainly with the VLBI Exploration for Radio Astrometry (VERA) and the Japanese University VLBI Network (JVN). KaVa, a network consisting in the combination of VERA and the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) started shared-risk, open-use observations. New observations are being set up for 2015. VLBI experiments have been conducted by telescopes in East Asia VLBI Network (EAVN) in which more than 10 telescopes in China, Japan, and Korea participate. Currently, a big effort is being made in detecting fringes of the EAVN at X- and K-band with 1-Gbps recording mode. I will describe the recent status of VLBI activities and future prospects in Japan and east Asia.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Betsey Adams	ORATED

ASTRON

A long standing problem in cosmology is the mismatch between the number of low mass dark matter halos predicted by simulations and the number of low mass galaxies observed in the Local Group. We recently presented a set of isolated ultra-compact high velocity clouds (UCHVCs) identified within the dataset of the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) HI line survey that are consistent with representing low mass gas-bearing dark matter halos within the Local Group (Adams+ 2013). At distances of  1 Mpc, the UCHVCs have HI masses of  105 Msun and indicative dynamical masses of  107 Msun. The HI diameters of the UCHVCs range from 4’ to 20’, or 1 to 6 kpc at a distance of 1 Mpc. We have selected the most compact and isolated UCHVCs with the highest average column densities as representing the best galaxy candidates. These systems have been observed with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) to enable higher spatial resolution ( 60") studies of the HI distribution. The HI morphology revealed by the WSRT data offers clues to the environment of the UCHVCs, and velocity fields allow the underlying mass distribution to be constrained. One UCHVC, AGC198606, is of particular interest as it is located 16 km/s and 1.2 degrees from Leo T and has similar HI properties within the ALFALFA dataset. The WSRT HI observations reveal an HI morphology and kinematics that are consistent with they hypothesis that this object represents gas in a low mass dark matter halo.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Benjamin Schmitt	ORATED

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Univ. Pennsylvania

We highlight considerations for the design and operation of ACTPol, a new receiver for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), capable of making polarization-sensitive, millimeter-wavelength observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at arcminute angular scales. ACT is a six-meter telescope located in northern Chile, dedicated to enhancing our understanding of the structure and evolution of the early Universe by direct measurement of the CMB. We describe the design of the ACTPol focal plane at full-deployment, consisting of dual 150 GHz array package modules and a multichroic array package with simultaneous 90 GHz and 150 GHz sensitivity. Each of these detector array packages reside behind a set of custom-designed, high-purity silicon reimaging optics with a novel anti-reflective coating geometry, the characteristics of which will be detailed. Each array package module consists of  1000 transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers used to measure the response of  500 feedhorn-coupled polarimeters, enabling characterization of the linear orthogonal polarization of incident CMB radiation. The polarimeters are arranged in three hexagonal and three semi-hexagonal silicon wafer stacks, mechanically coupled to an octakaidecagonal, monolithic corrugated silicon feedhorn array ( 140 mm diameter). Readout of the TES polarimeters is achieved using time-division SQUID multiplexing. Each array package is cooled using a custom-designed dilution refrigerator providing a sub-100 mK bath temperature to the detectors, which have a target Tc of 150 mK. Given the unique cryomechanical constraints associated with this large-scale monolithic superconducting focal plane, we address the design considerations necessary for integration with the optical and cryogenic elements of the ACTPol receiver. With first light achieved in July 2013 with the first of three polarimeter arrays, and second season operations underway (operating with two 150GHz polarimeter arrays), details of the ACTPol receiver deployment and early results will be highlighted, as well as the outlook for full-deployment operations, projected to begin in early 2015.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Holger Baumgardt	ORATED

AIfA

Ultracompact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) are among the densest stellar systems in the Universe. Their masses of 2*106 solar masses up to about 108 solar masses and half-mass radii of 5 to 50 pc put them right between classical globular clusters and compact elliptical galaxies. Apart from their unusual position in a radius vs. mass diagram, many UCDs also seem to have larger than expected M/L ratios, which could be due to the presence of massive black holes in UCDs or an unusual stellar IMF. While the first UCD was discovered just over a decade ago, hundreds of UCDs have meanwhile been found in nearby galaxy clusters, making it all the more important to understand where UCDs come from. In my talk I will discuss our current knowledge about UCDs and the various formation channels that have been suggested for UCDs, and explain what we can learn from UCDs about the early evolution of galaxies.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Bindu Rani	ORATED

MPIfR

TBA

	Special Colloquium
Prof. Anthony Readhead	ORATED

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.

The physicists who founded radio astronomy carried out fundamental experiments with modest instruments that led to the discoveries of the cosmological evolution of radio sources, quasars, the microwave background, and pulsars. This tradition has continued, especially in the microwave background, where small groups still do fundamental experiments with modest instruments. The development of this field will be described up to the latest results of the Planck satellite and those of the BICEP2 experiment, which if confirmed push the cosmic clock back to 10-38 seconds after the Big Bang; and the future of experimental radio astronomy in the era of megaprojects will be discussed in the light of the current renaissance in low frequency experimental radio astronomy.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Nirupam Roy	ORATED

MPIfR

Although novae, which are the sudden visual brightening triggered by runaway thermonuclear burning on the surface of an accreting white dwarf, are fairly common and bright event, many fundamental questions about them remain unanswered. Despite their astronomical significance as nearby laboratory for the study of nuclear burning and accretion phenomena, multiple such discrepancies suggest surprising limits to our physical understanding of these events. In this talk, I will describe, using examples of recent results from the EVLA nova team, how multifrequency radio observations can potentially play a crucial role in addressing some of these puzzling issues.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Frank Schinzel	ORATED

MPIfR

I will present a brief review on unassociated gamma-ray sources and summarize the results of an all-sky radio survey between 5 and 9 GHz of the fields surrounding all unassociated gamma-ray objects listed in the Fermi Large Area Telescope Second Source Catalog (2FGL). The observations were conducted in two steps, first observations with the Very Large Array and the Australia Telescope Compact Array provided localizations of weak radio point sources found in 2FGL fields at arcmin scales. In a second step a subset of those were followed-up with the Very Long Baseline and the Long Baseline Arrays providing detections at sub-arcsecond resolution. In total we found 865 radio sources at arcsec scales as candidates for association and 76 firm associations for previously unknown gamma-ray active galactic nuclei based on sub-arcsec scale detections. In addition I will discuss implications for a galactic population of unassociated gamma-ray sources. Two plausible galactic candidates are pulsars and supernova remnants, both of which we can detect using the LWA and other radio telescopes. At the end of my talk I will also provide a brief update on the current status of the Long Wavelength Array project which has recently received funding for the construction of a second full station in New Mexico.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Henrik Junklewitz	ORATED

AIfA

I present RESOLVE, a new algorithm for radio aperture synthesis imaging of extended and diffuse emission in total intensity. The algorithm is derived using Bayesian statistical inference techniques, estimating the surface brightness in the sky assuming a priori log-normal statistics. RESOLVE not only estimates the measured sky brightness in total intensity, but also its spatial correlation structure, which is used to guide the algorithm to an optimal reconstruction of extended and diffuse sources. For a radio interferometer, it succeeds in deconvolving the effects of the instrumental point spread function during this process. Additionally, RESOLVE provides a map with an uncertainty estimate of the reconstructed surface brightness. Furthermore, with RESOLVE a new, optimal visibility weighting scheme is introduced that can be viewed as an extension to robust weighting. In tests using simulated observations, the algorithm shows improved performance against two standard imaging approaches for extended sources, Multiscale-CLEAN and Maximum Entropy Method.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Ann Mao	ORATED

MPIfR

In this talk, I will present a study of the magneto-ionic medium in the Whirlpool galaxy (M51) using new wide-band multi-configuration polarization data at L band (1-2 GHz) obtained at the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. By fitting the observed diffuse complex polarization as a function of wavelength directly to various depolarization models, we find that polarized emission from M51 at 1-2 GHz originates from the top of the synchrotron disk and then experiences Faraday rotation in the near-side thermal halo of the galaxy. Thus, the scale height of the thermal gas must exceed that of the synchrotron emitting gas at L band. The derived rotation measure structure functions indicate a characteristic scale of rotation measure fluctuations of less than 560 pc in the disk and approximately 1 kpc in the halo. The outer scale of turbulence of 1 kpc found in the halo of M51 is consistent with superbubbles and the Parker instability being the main energy injection mechanisms.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Ivan Marti-Vidal	ORATED

Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden

The lensed blazar of PKS1830-211 is a unique source in many aspects. It is one of the (only two!) known grativational lenses showing molecular absorption, being also the most distant molecular absorber known to date. The background lensed blazar is also quite active in gamma rays, and the different blazar images can be resolved in radio, from cm to submm wavelengths, using current interferometric arrays. All these ingredients make this source unique for the study of very different problems in Physics and Astronomy: from variability studies in the radio band with an extremely high sensitivity (and its connection to gamma rays), to studies on the time variation of fundamental constants of Physics, or even studies on the cosmic evolution of the CMB temperature and the chemical evolution of the Cosmos. I’ll summarize the main results obtained by our group on the analysis of both spectral-line and continuum mm/submm observations of PKS1830-211 with ALMA, emphasizing the recent (and serendipitous) ALMA observation of the subtle submm counterpart of a gamma-ray flare. I will also discuss on our current and future ALMA/eMERLIN/VLBI projects related to this peculiar object; a unique astronomical treasure on the sky!

	Special Colloquium
Prof. Shih-Ping Lai	ORATED

National Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan

Finding the youngest protostars and investigating their environment is a critical step toward fully understanding star formation. In this talk, I will present our SMA and ALMA observations of VLA1623. Our data reveal that this “prototypical” Class 0 object is in fact a triple non-coeval system with each source driving its own outflows. In addition, two surprising results are discovered. First, we find a rotating disk-like structure about VLA1623A with indications of pure Keplerian rotation, which, if real, would make it one of the first evidence of Keplerian disk structures around Class 0 protostars. Second, we find VLA1623B to be a bona fide extremely young protostellar object between the starless core and Class 0 stages – a first core candidate. I will also introduce a new method we developed for identifying faint YSO population in Giant Molecular Clouds using multi-band photometry data. We separate YSOs from the background galaxies in multi-dimensional magnitude space, which is equivalent to using all possible variations of Color-Magnitude Diagrams simultaneously. As a results, we select 28c2d project, and thus Star Formation Rate (SFR) also increases 28Compared to theories in Krumholz & McKee (2005), our derived SFR suggests that star formation in large scale is dominated by supersonic turbulence rather than magnetic fields.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Nazar Ikhsanov	ORATED

Pulkovo Observatory & Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

We explore a possibility to model spin evolution of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) in terms of accretion by an isolated neutron star from a fossil non-Keplerian magnetic disk. We show that the observed spin-down rates of the neutron stars can be explained within this scenario provided the surface magnetic field of the star is ranged within the interval 0.1 - 10 TG. The X-ray spectrum of the pulsars under these conditions is soft and fits well the observed spectrum. We show that the period clustering of these pulsars may indicate that these neutron stars are the descendants of High Mass X-ray Binaries which have been disintegrated in the core-collapse supernova explosion. The gamma-rays activity of these sources within this approach is associated with the fission of heavy nuclei storied at the bottom of upper crust of neutron stars.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Cornelia Müller	ORATED

Sternwarte Bamberg, Univ. Würzburg

Centaurus A is the closest radio-loud active galaxy. Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) enables us to study the jet-counterjet system on unprecedented small linear scales, providing essential high-resolution data on jet emission and propagation within the inner parsec of an AGN jet. I will present the results of a kinematic study performed within the framework of the AGN monitoring program TANAMI. Over 3.5 years, the evolution of the central-parsec jet structure of Cen A was monitored with VLBI. These observations reveal complex jet dynamics which are best explained by a spine-sheath structure supported by the downstream acceleration occurring where the jet becomes optically thin. Both moving and stationary jet features are tracked. A persistent local minimum in surface brightness suggests the presence of an obstacle interrupting the jet flow, which can be explained by the interaction of the jet with a star at a distance of 0.4pc from the central black hole.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Glennys Farrar	ORATED

New York University

Progress in modeling the large scale structure and as well as the random components of the Galactic magnetic field has accelerated due to a convergence of 1) more complete, high-quality all-sky data, 2) computing power needed for fitting models of the required complexity to the tens of thousands of independent data points and 3) need for detailed and accurate GMF models for many other fields ranging from calculating astrophysical background to Dark Matter signals to predicting deflections of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. In this talk I will describe some of the methods and observations being used to constrain the GMF, and some of the applications.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Patricia Arevalo	ORATED

Universidad de Valparaiso, Chile

Accreting supermassive black holes have had a large impact in the evolution of their host galaxies, and even inject significant energy into their host cluster of galaxies. Although the black hole’s influence in these large structures is evident, the central engine itself is remarkably difficult to observe. Their extremely compact nature makes it impossible to resolve the final source of fueling, the accretion disc, although interferometric observations have started to reveal important details of the material directly outside this region. In this talk I will review the techniques that have shed light into the structure and behaviour of the central engine in the quest to find out how black hole grow. Finally, I will review our latest results on obscured AGN where the accretion process is veiled by dense clouds. Hard-X-ray data taken with the new satellite NuSTAR can be used to study the nuclear obscurers and sometimes even see right through it.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Jorge Cuadra	ORATED

Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago

Supermassive black hole binaries form after major galaxy mergers, which often involve large amounts of gas flowing to the centre of the new system. Here we present numerical models of binary black holes surrounded by a massive gaseous disc, and show how their interaction shrinks the binary orbit, while at the same time increases its eccentricity and produces a highly variable accretion rate. We will show that, in the case that the disc fragments and form stars, a relatively large number of the newly-formed stars will be tidally disrupted, producing peculiar reverberation mapping signatures.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Sandra Savaglio	ORATED

University of Calabria, and European Southern Observatory

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are explosions of stars (longer than 2 seconds) or merging compact objects (neutron stars / black holes, shorter than 2 seconds). Although GRBs are the most energetic events after the Big Bang, their detection and localization are still very difficult. Systematic search during the past 17 years led to 350 spectroscopic redshifts; for about half of them, the host galaxy was studied in some detail. Despite the small numbers, their impact on our understanding of galaxies is large. GRB hosts offer the opportunity to explore regions of the universe which are observationally hostile for traditional means, due to gas and dust absorption, or to the large distance. The typical long-GRB host galaxy at low redshift is small, star-forming and metal poor, whereas explorations in recent years at intermediate-redshift have revealed the presence of more massive, dusty and chemically evolved galaxies. Finally, z > 5 long-GRB hosts have given so far elusive results, indicating very small galaxies, smaller than what is reachable today with NIR deep surveys. The common factor is the stellar progenitor: in long GRBs these are very massive rare/short-lived stars, present in young regions whose redshift evolution is closely related to the star-formation history of the universe.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Rick Perley	ORATED

NRAO, Socorro

The JVLA’s construction phase ended two years ago, and the array is now in full operation. The major ‘A’ to ‘D’ configuration move has just been completed, and the array will progress through the ’C’, ’B’ and ’A’ configuration cycles over the next 16 months. All astronomical scheduling is now done through the ‘OST’ (Observation Scheduling Tool), which attempts to maximize the efficiency of observing through knowledge of weather, array status, and proposal rating. The major software development phase has been completed, and most major correlator observing modes now work reliably. But with restricted operational funding, and departures of some key people, development of further software and hardware capabilities will be slow. Recent work on fast time dumps has been emphasized, in support of the VLA’s effort to detect and localize FRBs. Also, re-deployment of the low frequency capabilities is ongoing, and an NRL-funded initiative to produce a full-time commensile observing capability ’VLITE’ is well underway. In my view, the major effort for the next few years must be in the development of the methodology and software to make JVLA data calibration easier. There is considerable evidence that our users are being ’drowned’ in the vast sea of data generated by the correlator. The effort in calibration and imaging is seriously complicated at the lower frequencies by the ubiquitous presence of RFI. The NRAO Users’ Committee has identified this issue as high priority, and the observatory has identified the production of ’science ready’ data products as one of its key goals. The NRAO Director, Tony Beasley, is promoting wide discussion of the future direction for the Observatory. A clear path, and plan, must be enunciated well before the next decadal panel. I’ll present a basic, and undeveloped concept for moving the VLA forwards.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Anvar Shukurov	ORATED

University of Newcastle, UK

Detailed, realistic models of the interstellar medium (ISM) are a prerequisite of any physical interpretation of the new and forthcoming observations of the Milky Way and other galaxies at high resolution and sensitivity. This is especially true in the radio range as interstellar magnetic fields are affected by the compression and shearing by compressible and intermittent turbulent flows. Most of the existing models of the ISM do not include the elements required to reproduce interstellar magnetic fields realistically. Since the latter are known to affect significantly the overall and local structure of the ISM, the quality of such models may be questionable in many respects. I will review recent extensive simulations of the multiphase ISM that include external gravity, differential rotation, injection of thermal and kinetic energy by supernova (SN) explosions, optically thin radiative cooling, photoelectric heating, magnetic fields, and various transport and dissipation processes. Most of the modelled ISM complexity can be captured in terms of just three phases involved in transonic, highly compressible turbulence whose correlation scale tends to grow with distance from the galactic mid-plane. Despite the extreme, violent randomness of the interstellar gas flow driven by the SNe, the ISM amplifies both the mean and random magnetic fields via two distinct dynamo mechanisms. Magnetic field growth rates differ for the mean and fluctuating magnetic fields, with clear scale separation between the two. The gas density and magnetic fields obtained from the model are well suited for statistical interpretations of the observations of total and polarised radio emission.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Denise Gabuzda	ORATED

Measurements of the distribution of Faraday rotation of the plane of polarization occurring in the vicinities of the jets of Active GalacticNuclei (AGN) using multi-wavelength polarization VLBI can be used to probe the magnetic (B) field structure of the jet, as well as the B field and and distribution of thermal electrons in the immediate vicinity of the radio-emitting region. Because the Faraday rotation measure (RM) depends on the line-of-sight component of the B field in the region of Faraday rotation, it can provide a diagnostic for the presence of toroidal or helical fields, offering an important observational tie to theoretical models of jet launching. The crucial importance of determining whether reports of transverse RM gradients interpreted as evidence for helical jet B fields were reliable led to a number of studies aimed at improving our understanding of pixel-based uncertainties in images, sometimes leading to surprising results. My talk will discuss recent analyses of RM measurements of AGN on parsec scales aimed at searching for evidence of helical jet B fields, as well as Monte Carlo simulations investigating restrictions on the reliability of observed transverse RM gradients. These simulations have revised our ideas about the estimation of pixel-based uncertainties in images, and also clearly show the ability to detect transverse RM gradients when the intrinsic jet structures are much narrower than the beam size. This has cleared the way to both re-evaluating the significance of previously reported results, and searching for new reliable RM gradients across AGN jets. The majority of previously reported transverse RM gradients have proved to be reliable (statistically significant), and a number of new gradients have been discovered in the past year. The collected results suggest that helical B fields are common in AGN jets, and provide evidence for the action of a cosmic battery, as initially proposed by Contopoulos et al. (2009).

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Tomasz Kaminski	ORATED

MPIfR

Mergers of stars do happen before our eyes! A class of eruptive variables, called red novae, has been recently recognised as systems where we have witnessed a stellar-merger event. This group of stars includes the famous objects V838 Mon, with its spectacular light echoes, and V1309 Sco, which was evidently an eclipsing binary before its eruption. I am going to present observations of galactic red novae years to decades after their outbursts. The multiwavelength (optical to radio) observations reveal very complex circumstellar environments abundant in molecules and dust. I am going to discuss the revealed circumstellar stuctures (disks, outflows, etc.) and some chemical peculiarities of red novae in the context of the merger scenario.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Shep Doeleman	ORATED

MIT

A convergence of high-bandwidth radio instrumentation and global mm- and submm- wavelength facilities is enabling assembly of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT): a short-wavelength Very Long Baseline interferometry array with the capability of observing the nearest supermassive black holes with Schwarzschild radius resolution. Initial observations with the EHT have revealed event horizon scale structure in Sgr A*, the 4 million solar mass black hole at the Galactic center, and in the much more luminous and massive black hole at the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87. Over the next 2–3 years, this international project will add new sites and increase observing bandwidth to focus on astrophysics at the black hole boundary. EHT data products will have an unprecedented combination of sensitivity and resolution, with excellent prospects for imaging strong general relativistic (GR) signatures, detecting magnetic field structures through full polarization observations, time-resolving black hole orbits, new tests of general relativity, and modeling black hole accretion, outflow, and jet production. This talk will briefly review the technical roadmap and timeline for building out the EHT and describe the latest EHT observations.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Jim Braatz	ORATED

NRAO

Water vapor masers have been detected in over 150 galaxies. In at least 25the masers are arranged in thin, sub-parsec disks orbiting the central supermassive black holes in AGNs. Maser disks can be mapped with VLBI, and in fact they provide the only means of mapping gas in AGNs on such scales, directly. So far, twenty have been mapped. The masers trace Keplerian orbits about the nucleus, and provide gold-standard masses of the central black holes. In several cases, they can be used to measure the distance to the host galaxy, geometrically. The Megamaser Cosmology Project (MCP) focuses on discovering such maser disks and using them to measure galaxy distances, and hence the Hubble Constant. The MCP is playing a critical role in resolving the apparent discrepancy between standard-candle based measurements of H0 and the value predicted by Planck measurements of the CMB.

	Main Colloquium
Matthias Kadler	ORATED

RAIUB & MPIfR

Extragalactic jets launched from the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) are key objects in modern astronomy and astroparticle physics. AGN jets carry a fraction of the total gravitational energy released during the accretion of matter onto supermassive black holes and are prime suspects as possible sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and the recently detected extraterrestrial neutrinos at PeV energies. TANAMI (Tracking Active galactic Nuclei with Austral Milliarcsecond Interferometry) is a multiwavelength monitoring program of AGN jets of the Southern sky combining high-resolution radio VLBI imaging and higher-frequency observations at IR, optical/UV, X-ray and gamma-ray energies. I will review recent results of the TANAMI program, highlighting AGN candidate neutrino-emitters in the error circles of the IceCube PeV neutrino events. Assuming the X-ray to gamma-ray emission originates in the photoproduction of pions by accelerated protons, the integrated predicted neutrino luminosity of these TANAMI blazars is large enough to explain the detected PeV events.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Henrik Junklewitz	ORATED

AIfA

TBA

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Talayeh Hezareh	ORATED

MPIfR

Radio astronomy plays a key role in increasing our understanding of the environment and the universe in which we live. By its nature it is a passive service, so it never causes interference to other users of the radio spectrum, but unfortunately it is becoming increasingly difficult to protect radio astronomy operations from radio interference as use of the spectrum increases by other (active) users. There is therefore an urgent need for actions to keep the frequency bands used for radio astronomy and space sciences free from interference. I am the new frequency manager for the Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF). I represent the European radio astronomy at spectrum management and engineering meetings and also world radio conferences. I will introduce my tasks and responsibilities in the technical and regulatory framework and will lift the curtain to reveal the efforts of a group of awesome people who have been tirelessly protecting radio astronomy since the past several years.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Hiroko Shinnaga	ORATED

East Asian ALMA Regional Center /National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

We report on a study of the magnetic field structures of IRAS 20126+4104, a massive dense clump in which the rotation axis and the magnetic field axis are misaligned. In addition to the SHARP/CSO data that we reported in 2012 (Shinnaga et al. 2012), we analyzed polarization data sets that were taken with the SMA along with SCUPOL/JCMT, both at 850µm. Comparing with the recent VLBI measurements of spectropolarimetric observations of this object (Surcis et al. 2014), these four independent data sets allow us to investigate the magnetic field structures across a high spatial dynamic range, between 20 AU scale and 1 pc scale of the massive dense clump – massive (  10Msun) (proto)star system. The magnetic field vectors measured in these four different spacial scales are consistent. At the scale observed with SMA the magnetic field appears to be rather perpendicular to warm bipolar outflow direction. We carried out detailed theoretical simulations for this object based on the study by Kataoka et al. 2012. By comparing the observational results with the theoretical simulations, we find that the magnetic field plays a critical role during the course of the gravitational collapse of the massive dense clump.

	Lunch Colloquium
Prof. Eduardo Ros	ORATED

MPIfR

A small fraction of supernovae display radio emission. For a very few cases in nearby galaxies the morphology of the radio emission can be probed by VLBI. By combining data and a proper modelling of the radio emission, several physical properties of the progenitor system and its circumstellar environment such as the pre-explosion mass-loss rate can be determined. I will show recent progress on radio observations of those objects, and more concretely of the type Ia supernova SN 2014J (see arXiv:1405.4702 and ATel #6153).

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Rainer Beck	ORATED

MPIfR

Magnetic fields with spiral patterns exist in grand-design, barred and flocculent galaxies, and in central regions of starburst galaxies. To our surprise, polarisation observations with the Effelsberg and VLA telescopes revealed that ordered fields are generally strongest in regions between the optical spiral arms, sometimes forming pronounced “magnetic spiral arms”, with lengths of at least 30 kpc. The magnetic energy density is sufficiently high to affect gas flows and the propagation of cosmic rays. Several models of the origin these features are under discussion: dynamo action, shearing gas flows or MHD waves, but none of them can explain this striking phenomenon.

	Special Colloquium
Prof. Dr. Luciano Rezzolla	ORATED

MPI for Gravitational Physics, Albert Einstein Institute, Golm

The merger of a binary system of compact objects (neutron stars or black holes) is expected to be a strong source of gravitational waves, but will also be accompanied by an intense electromagnetic signature. I will overview the rapid recent progress in this problem and show how the dynamics of a binary of magnetized neutron stars leads to a rapidly-spinning black hole surrounded by a hot and highly-magnetized torus. I will also discuss whether jets should be expected during the inspiral and merger of binary supermassive black holes and highlight the difficulties behind their detection.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Andreas Küpper	ORATED

Columbia University, New York

Dissolving globular clusters produce cold tidal streams in the Milky Way halo which can span up to several degrees on the sky. These streams trace the gravitational field of the Galaxy’s dark halo and enable us to measure its mass and shape. On the example of the most prominent globular cluster stream, Palomar 5, I will demonstrate how existing data from imaging surveys like SDSS and from spectroscopic campaigns can be used to constrain models of the stream progenitors. From the modeling we can infer the shape of the Galactic dark halo as well as the mass, distance and orbit of the globular cluster. Future survey data from, e.g., LSST and Gaia will reveal large numbers of streams in the Milky Way and allow us to probe the Galactic potential with increasing precision.

	Main Colloquium
Tim Huege	ORATED

MPIfR Bonn

Cosmic rays were discovered 100 years ago, but the nature of their sources is still a mystery, in particular at the highest energies of up to 1020 eV. The highest energy particles are so rare that studying individual events as well as possible by combining different detection techniques is the only viable option. Nearly 50 years ago, the first radio signals from cosmic ray air showers were detected. After many successful studies, however, research ceased not even 10 years later. Only a decade ago, the field was revived with the application of powerful digital signal processing techniques implemented in hardware based on LOFAR prototype electronics. Since then, the detection technique has matured, and we are now in a phase of transition from small-scale experiments accessing energies below 1018 eV to experiments with a reach for energies beyond 1019 eV. We have demonstrated that air shower radio signals carry information on both the energy and the mass of the primary particle, and current experiments are in the process of quantifying the precision with which this information can be accessed. All of this rests on a solid understanding of the radio emission processes which can be interpreted as a coherent superposition of geomagnetic emission, Askaryan charge-excess radiation, and Cherenkov-like coherence effects arising in the density gradient of the atmosphere. I will review the progress that has been made with the modern experiments at MHz and higher frequencies, discuss the current focus of research and give an outlook on the future of radio detection in the context of cosmic ray research.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Takashi Moriya	ORATED

AIfA

Massive stars are known to explode as SNe because of the central core collapse. Stars with the ZAMS mass above around 10 Msun trigger the core collapse after the formation of an Fe core. However, it has been suggested that massive stars whose mass is slightly smaller than the mass required to form the Fe core can still make an electron-degenerate O+Ne+Mg core which can trigger core collapse through the electron-capture reactions. This kind of SNe are called electron-capture SNe. The stars which explode as electron-capture SNe are super-AGB stars at the time of the explosions. Since super-AGB stars experience large mass loss, electron-capture SN explosions occur within dense circumstellar media which affect the observational properties of the SNe. We performed numerical radiation hydrodynamics calculation to predict the light curve properties of electron-capture SNe exploded within super-AGB wind. We compare our results to observaed SN light curves, focusing on the historical light curve of SN 1054, which is currently known as Crab Nebula and has been suggested to be an electron-capture SN.

	Lunch Colloquium
Patrick Lazarus	ORATED

MPIfR

Pulsars are rapidly rotating, highly magnetized neutron stars, and are frequently used as tools to probe physics in extreme conditions which are inaccessible to terrestrial experiments. Many of the >2000 known pulsars have successfully been used to test relativistic gravity, study the interstellar medium, constrain the equation-of-state of ultra-dense matter, etc. The huge scientific potential of pulsars has researchers keen to find more. The on-going PALFA survey at the Arecibo Observatory is the most sensitive survey for radio pulsars ever conducted. While radio-frequency interference does negatively impact its sensitivity, the PALFA survey has already discovered 135 pulsars, including some of the most distant millisecond pulsars, several relativistic binary pulsars, and an apparent extra-galactic fast radio burst (FRB). I will give an overview of the PALFA survey, its status, the impact of interference on its sensitivity, and highlight several of its most exciting discoveries.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Jochen Greiner	ORATED

MPE, Garching

Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic explosions in the Universe, with a rate of about three per day. The general consensus is that they are linked to the explosion of a sub-class of very massive stars at the end of their lives. The mechanism producing the gamma-ray radiation has remained largely unresolved. Despite this ignorance, the bright afterglow emission of GRBs is used to probe the circumburst and interstellar medium along our line of sight. In the last few years, new instrumentation both in space and on the ground have provided a wealth of new information. I will review this new information, discuss the new questions which arose, and touch upon the impact GRBs have (or will have) on other fields of astrophysics.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Tatiana Vasyunina	ORATED

MPIfR

Since the pioneering study of chemistry in the Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs) – the earliest star-formation regions, a wealth of molecular line data have been collected and analyzed, providing a basic understanding of relevant physical and chemical processes. Using a high-sensitivity and a broad frequency coverage of the modern radio-telescopes, we detected more that 20 species of different chemical families in several representative IRDCs. This unique dataset enables us to perform detailed analysis and modeling of the chemical evolution of IRDCs. With our first model, based on state-of-the-art gas-grain chemical network and static physical conditions (0D), the evolutionary behavior of the simple molecules such as N2H+, HCO+, HCN, HNC, has been explained. In the second step this analysis was extended toward complex organic molecules, namely, CH3CCH, CH3OH, CH3CHO, CH3OCH3 and CH3OCHO. It was found that their observed abundances cannot be reliably reproduce with the simple model. To achieve a better agreement with the observations, we had to take non-thermal desorption mechanisms and the thermal evolution of the environment into account. With such a fully time-dependent physico-chemical model we obtained a reasonably good fit to the abundances of both simple species and complex organic molecules. As IRDCs often possess of both active and quiescent star-forming regions, we have chosen for a more detailed study a starless core candidate and a hot core candidate within IRDC028.34+0.06. I will present the newly observed spectra and detected lines and molecules, as well as the elaborate analysis of the data followed by the chemical modeling utilizing different IRDCs models.

	Lunch Colloquium
Prof. Karl Menten	ORATED

MPIfR

Starting in the late 1930s, studies of molecular absorption toward diffuse and translucent clouds (in the solar neighborhood) have traditionally been in the realm of optical and, later, ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Over the last decades, observations at radio and (sub)mm wavelengths have greatly added to our knowledge of the chemistry of the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) Galaxy-wide. Measurements toward strong continuum sources are a powerful means to detect spectral lines that have their lower level in (or near) the rotational ground state of a molecule and may be the only way to detect a number of species in low density environments or even at all. Recent high sensitivity/high spectral resolution absorption measurements with the Herschel Space Observatory of the ground state lines from several key light hydrides not observable from the ground have had a transformative impact on our knowledge of diffuse ISM chemistry. For example, we can now understand fundamental oxygen chemistry with the detection of, all, H_2O, H_2O^+, OH^+ and H_3O^+. The same is true for the pathways to carbon- and nitrogen-bearing species. I shall give an overview of the Herschel results, augmented by data obtained with APEX and SOFIA and provide the context to our studies of the Milky Way’s structure.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Meng Xiang-Grüss	ORATED

MPIfR

During the past few decades, a large number of extrasolar planets have been detected. Beside those with expected physical properties, planets have also been found with surprising characteristics such as the so-called “Hot Jupiters” or misaligned Hot Jupiters. In my talk, I will describe the current understanding of the formation and evolution of planets with special attention to their interaction with the gaseous discs in which they have been formed. I will discuss the theory of planet migration as well as possible scenarios for the formation of planets on inclined orbits.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Emmanouil Angelakis	ORATED

MPIfR

The blazar emission - attributed to incoherent synchrotron processes involving relativistic electrons - is expected to be highly polarised especially in the optical bands. The specific conditions required for the emergence of polarisation, the emission and radiative transfer processes subsequently make the polarisation parameters and their dynamics, unique probes of the microphysics of the emitting plasma as well as the conditions and the configuration of the magnetic field at the emission site. The recent discovery of rotations of the polarisation angle seen associated with high energy flares observed in the GeV energy bands, opened up a new field dealing with the nature of the emission and variability mechanisms, the configuration of the magnetic field and high energy emission site etc. The degree of difficulty involved has limited the polarisation studies - and especially monitoring - to hand-picked cases rather than unbiased samples forbidding systematic population studies. In order to lay the ground for systematic and extensive polarimetric studies we have concieved, designed and constructed a novel-design optical polarimeter that has already been commissioned at the Skinakas telescope in Crete. The program aims at monitoring the linear polarisation for a sample of almost 100 gamma-ray loud sources that comprise an unbiased set and 15 gamma-ray quiet "comparison sample sources” with a duty cycle of close to 3 days for non active sources and for a fraction of a night for cases in active state. The achieved precision in the polarisation degree reaches a fraction of the percentage for sources of 18-th magnitude. Here we present: (a) the scientific motivation, (b) the design of the instrument, (c) the sample selection and (d) the results from the first season of operation. We show that while the fractional polarisation for both gamma-ray loud and gamma-ray quiet sources are well-described by exponential distributions, the two classes have different optical polarisation properties. This is the first time this statistical difference is demonstrated in optical wavelengths.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Santiago Garcia-Burillo	ORATED

OAN, Madrid, Spain

NGC1068 is the most luminous nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy and a prime candidate for studying the feeding and the feedback of activity using high-resolution molecular line observations. We have used ALMA (in bands 7 and 9) to map the emission of a set of molecular gas tracers and continuum emission in the central 2-kpc of NGC1068 with spatial resolutions 20-35pc. These observations have greatly improved the sensitivity and spatial resolution of any previous interferometer study of this Seyfert. ALMA observations have revealed an AGN-driven molecular outflow in the nuclear disk (from radii 50pc to 300pc), a smoking gun evidence of ongoing AGN feedback. We also discuss how the observed dramatic changes of molecular line ratios can be interpreted if AGN feedback is at work.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Roland Diehl	ORATED

MPE, ExCU Garching

Gamma-ray lines from radioactive decay of unstable isotopes co-produced by nucleosynthesis in massive stars and supernova have been measured with INTEGRAL over the past ten years, complementing the earlier COMPTEL survey. The 26Al isotope with 1My decay time had been first direct proof of currently-ongoing nucleosynthesis in our Galaxy. This has now become a tool to study the  My history of specific source regions, such as massive-star groups and associations in nearby regions which can be discriminated from the galactic-plane background, and the inner Galaxy where Doppler shifted lines add to the astronomical information. Recent findings are that superbubbles show a remarkable asymmetry, on average, in the spiral arms of our galaxy.60Fe is co-produced by the sources of 26Al, and the isotopic ratio from their nucleosynthesis encodes stellar-structure information. Annihilation gamma-rays from positrons in interstellar space show a puzzling bright and extended source region central to our Galaxy, but also may be partly related to nucleosynthesis. 56Ni and 44Ti isotope gamma-rays have been used to constrain supernova explosion mechanisms. Here we report latest results using the accumulated multi-year database of observations, and discuss their astrophysical interpretations.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Tim de Zeeuw	ORATED

ADDRESS: ESO, Garching

ESO is an intergovernmental organization for astronomy founded in 1962 by five countries. It currently has 14 Member States in Europe with Brazil poised to join as soon as the Accession Agreement has been ratified. Together these countries represent approximately 30 percent of the world’s astronomers. ESO operates optical/infrared observatories on La Silla and Paranal in Chile, partners in the sub-millimeter radio observatories APEX and ALMA on Chajnantor and is about to start construction of the Extremely Large Telescope on Armazones. La Silla hosts experiments, robotic and national telescopes as well as the NTT and the venerable 3.6m telescope. The former had a key role in the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe and the latter hosts the ultra-stable spectrograph HARPS which is responsible for the discovery of nearly two-thirds of all confirmed exoplanets with masses below that of Neptune. On Paranal the four 8.2m units of the Very Large Telescope, the Interferometer and the survey telescopes VISTA and VST together constitute an integrated system which supports 16 powerful facility instruments, including adaptive-optics-assisted imagers and integral-field spectrographs, with half a dozen more on the way and the Extremely Large Telescope with its suite of instruments to be added in about ten years time. Scientific highlights include the characterisation of the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre, the first image of an exoplanet, studies of gamma-ray bursts enabled by the Rapid Response Mode and milliarcsec imaging of evolved stars and active galactic nuclei. The single dish APEX antenna, equipped with spectrometers and wide-field cameras, contributes strongly to the study of high-redshift galaxies and of star- and planet-formation. Early Science results obtained with the ALMA interferometer already demonstrate its tremendous potential for observations of the cold Universe. The talk will outline the development of ESO, summarize the current program and consider new opportunities for the coming decades.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Satoshi Yamamoto	ORATED

University of Tokyo

One of characteristic features in chemical compositions of molecular clouds is existence of various carbon-chain molecules, such as HC2n+1N, CnH, CnH2, and CnS.. These highly saturated hydrocarbon molecules are abundant in young prestellar cores, while they are generally deficient in evolved prestellar cores and star-forming regions. On the other hand, NH3 and HN2+ become abundant in the evolved prestellar cores. Thus, the CCS/NH3 and CCS/HN2+ ratios, for instance, have been employed as a chemical evolutionary tracer of molecular cloud cores. In this talk, I am going to present the extension of such studies toward the following three directions. (1) Regional-to-region difference of a fraction of carbon-chain rich cores: We studied the CCS/NH3 ratio toward many nearby dense cores. Carbon-chain rich cores are found in Taurus and Aquila rift, whereas they are absent in the Ophiuchus region. This suggests that a timescale of the starless-core phase is different from region to region owing to environmental effects (e.g. Hirota, T. et al. ApJ, 699, 585 (2009)). (2) Discovery of protostellar cores harboring rich carbon-chain molecules: We found the protostellar cores with extraordinarily rich carbon-chain molecules. They are L1527 in Taurus and IRAS 15398-3359 in Lupus. In these sources, carbon-chain molecules are efficiently produced from CH4 evaporated from dust grains in a warm region around the protostar (warm carbon-chain chemistry: WCCC). An origin of this peculiar chemistry is discussed in relation to past star-formation processes in these sources (e.g. Sakai and Yamamoto, Chem. Rev. 113, 8981 (2013)). (3) Tracing formation of the protostellar disk by carbon-chain molecules: Recently, we have identified the outermost radius of the protostellar disk of L1527 by observing carbon-chain molecules with ALMA. We have found that a drastic chemical change takes place in formation of the protostellar disk (Sakai et al. Nature, in press.).

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Francesco Ferraro	ORATED

University of Bologna, Italy

In this talk I discuss the surprising properties of Terzan 5, a stellar system similar to a globular cluster (GC), located in the inner Bulge of our Galaxy. Two distinct populations, defining two well separated red clumps in the (K, J-K) color-magnitude diagram, have been discovered in this system by Ferraro et al. (2009, Nature, 462, 483). Spectroscopic observations demonstrated that the sub-populations in Terzan 5 have quite different iron content, covering a huge metallicity range (Delta[Fe/H]  1 dex) . Such a feature has been found only in another GC-like stellar system, omega Centauri, in the Halo of the Galaxy. Moreover, the abundance of light elements measured in the sub-populations does not follow the typical anti-correlations observed in genuine GCs and the overall chemical patterns of Terzan5 appear strikingly similar to those of the Bulge stars (Origlia et al. 2011). These observational facts demonstrate that Terzan 5 is not a genuine GC, but a stellar system that experienced complex star formation and chemical enrichment histories. The strong chemical link with the Bulge, together with the location in the inner region of it, suggest that Terzan 5 (at odds with omega Centauri) is not the nucleus of an accreted dwarf galaxy, but possibly the relic of one of the pristine fragments that contributed to form the Bulge itself.

	Lunch Colloquium
Prof. Wolfgang Kundt	ORATED

AIfA

Observational astronomy has evolved rapidly during the past century, often faster than its theoretical understanding, and explanation in the literature. In particular, hard radiation was occasionally detected - at MeV, GeV, TeV, or even PeV energies - in the vicinity of extended cosmic radio sources, without a hint at the boosters of the radiating, extremely relativistic charges. Terrestrial shock waves became topical via nuclear bombs, and were applied to SN explosions even though the latter are of the splinter type, not of the pressure type. During the late 1970s, ’in-situ’ acceleration - of sometimes electrons, sometimes ions - seemed to fill this gap of understanding, and conquered the market, in neglect of efficiency considerations, quantified by the Second Law. Our text books do not tell us (yet) how the inorganic Universe has formed its engines that generate e.g. the Cosmic Rays, the Gamma-Ray Bursts, SN Explosions, and Jet Sources on all scales. I like magnetised rotators.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Frank Israel	ORATED

Leiden Observatory

I will introduce the most important characteristics of the giant radio source Centaurus A, and focus on the interaction between the supermassive black hole, the outgoing relativistic jet, and the interstellar medium in the galaxy. I will show some recent results obtained with Herschel, APEX and ALMA.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Paulo Freire	ORATED

MPIfR

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are believed to be old neutron stars, formed via Type Ib/c core-collapse supernovae, which have subsequently been spun up to high rotation rates via accretion from a companion star in a highly circularized low-mass X-ray binary. The recent discoveries of several nearly identical Galactic field binary MSPs in eccentric orbits therefore challenges this picture. Here, we present a hypothesis for producing this new class of systems, where the MSPs are formed directly from a rotationally delayed accretion-induced collapse of a super-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarf. We demonstrate that our hypothesis can reproduce the observed eccentricities, masses and orbital periods of the white dwarfs, as well as forecasting the pulsar masses and velocities. Finally, we describe in detail what we might learn about neutron star physics, in particular about the binding energy of neutron stars (an important constrain on the equation of state for dense matter) and kick velocities of AIC supernovae.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Vardha N. Bennert	ORATED

CalPoly, San Luis Obispo

The discovery of close correlations between supermassive black holes (BHs) and their host-galaxy properties has sparked a flood of observational studies pertaining both to the local Universe and cosmic history over the last decade. Nevertheless, a clear understanding of their origin still eludes us. Uncertainty remains as to the fundamental driver of these relations, whether purely local and baryonic or global and dark matter dominated. While studying the evolution of these relations with cosmic time provides valuable clues, a definitive resolution of this conundrum relies on understanding the slope and scatter of local relations for AGNs. We discuss first results from a unique three-fold approach. (i) From a sample of  100 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) in the local Universe, we build a robust baseline of the BH mass scaling relations (MBH-sigma, MBH-L, MBH-M), combining spatially-resolved Keck spectroscopy with SDSS imaging. (ii) We study the evolution of the MBH-sigma and MBH-L relations out to a look-back time of 4-6 Gyrs using Keck spectra and HST images. (iii) We extend this study out to the pivotal cosmic time between the peak of AGN activity and the establishment of the present-day Hubble sequence, a look-back time of 8-10 Gyrs. We measure spheroid stellar masses using deep multi-color HST images from GOODS and determine the MBH-M relation. The results indicate that (i) AGNs follow the same scaling relations as inactive galaxies. From (ii-iii) we conclude that BH growth precedes bulge assembly. Combining results from (i-iii) allows us to test the hypothesis that evolution is driven by disks being transformed into bulges. We will also discuss the role of pseudo-bulges in this evolution.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Simone Recchi	ORATED

University of Vienna

TBA

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Gabriele Bruni	ORATED

MPIfR

Accounting for  20an unsolved problem in the AGN context. They present wide troughs in the UV spectrum, due to material with outward velocities up to 0.2 c (among the highest found for outflows). The two models proposed in the literature try to explain them as a particular phase of the evolution of QSOs or as normal QSOs, but seen from a particular line of sight. We built a sample of Radio-Loud BAL QSOs, and carried out an observing campaign to piece together the whole spectrum in the cm wavelength domain, and highlight all the possible differences with respect to a comparison sample of Radio-Loud non-BAL QSOs. VLBI observations at high angular resolution have also been performed, to study the pc-scale morphology of these objects. Furthermore, we tried to detect a possible dust component, indicative of an early-stage of the QSO life, with observations at mm-wavelengths. Finally, we analyzed the spectra in the near-infrared band to identify possible differences in terms of black hole mass, broad line region radius and Eddington ratio. I will review the results of this 4 years-long observational campaign.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Christoph Olczak	ORATED

Astronomisches Rechenzentrum, Heidelberg

The young star clusters we observe today are the building blocks of a new generation of stars and planets in our Galaxy and beyond. Despite their fundamental role we still lack knowledge about the initial conditions under which star clusters form and the impact of these often harsh environments on the formation and evolution of their stellar and substellar members. I will demonstrate the vital role numerical simulations play to uncover both key issues. Using dynamical models of different star cluster environments – from NGC 2024 to the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) and to the Arches cluster – I will show the huge variety of effects stellar interactions potentially have: they can prevent or trigger planet formation, modify the disk structure, affect the stellar multiplicity, and - fortunately - leave characteristic signatures that can be traced observationally. Moreover, I will present a recently developed very efficient measure of mass segregation in stellar systems. Its application to realistic numerical models of young star clusters shows that mass segregation occurs rapidly even for spherical systems without substructure. This finding is a critical step to resolve the controversial debate on mass segregation in young star clusters andi provides strong constraints on their initial conditions.

	Lunch Colloquium
Prof. Dr. Hans Fahr	ORATED

AIfA

I discuss the behaviour of cosmic baryons near the phase of the recombination era, when photons and baryons get out of thermodynamic touch to each other, and study the velocity distribution function of baryons under collision-free cosmic conditions. I will show that the baryon distribution function, if ever Maxwellian before, will not stay Maxwellian under the ongoing expansion of the universe. The moments of the baryon distribution function also behave very unexpectedly, e.g. the density as the temperature fall off like (1/R2) and the baryon entropy will decrease with the cosmic expansion instead of staying constant, as is usually assumed under adiabatic reaction. This puts in question whether at the time of recombination under such perturbed thermodynamic conditions the cosmic photon distribution (present CMB!) can still be expected as purely Planckian..

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Daniel Whalen	ORATED

Los Alamos National Lab, New Mexico

Primordial stars are the key to understanding the nature of primeval galaxies, early cosmological reionization and chemical enrichment, and the origin of supermassive black holes. Unfortunately, because they lie at the edge of the observable universe, individual Pop III stars will not be visible to JWST or even the next generation of thirty-meter class telescopes. But primordial supernovae may soon reveal the properties of the first stars because they can be detected at high redshifts and because their masses can be inferred from their light curves. I will review the state of the art in supercomputer models of Pop III star formation and present numerical simulations of Pop III SNe and their light curves and spectra. I will also discuss how light from these ancient explosions will be found in future deep-field and all-sky surveys by JWST and WFIRST.

	Lunch Colloquium
Dr. Matthias Maercker	ORATED

AIfA

In the last years, HIFI has provided us with high-sensitivity and high-resolution observations of molecular emission lines from the circumstellar envelopes (CSEs) of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars. Observations of molecular emission lines are essential for understanding the chemical and physical processes in the CSEs, as well as for our understanding of the evolution of this important stellar population. I will present the results from a molecular inventory of 9 oxygen-rich (M-type) AGB stars as part of the HIFISTARS guaranteed time key program. The sensitivity and high spectral resolution provide valuable information on the chemistry and dynamics of the CSEs. We detect a total of 9 different molecules, as well as some of their isotopologues, covering a wide range of excitation conditions throughout the CSEs. The observed line intensities set constraints on the velocity profile of the wind, in some cases suggesting very rapid acceleration. In addition, they can be used as a tracer of the mass-loss mechanism and chemistry as a function of the chemical composition and initial stellar mass. In this context H2O is of particular importance for M-type AGB stars, both as a tracer of the chemistry and dynamics close to the central star, and as a dominant coolant in the inner CSE. Accurate modelling of the observed H2O lines requires detailed, non-local, non-TE radiative transfer modelling. I will discuss the challenges connected with such detailed modelling, and demonstrate the importance of coupled modelling between the dynamics, dust, gas, and H2O cooling.

	Special Colloquium
Dr. Julia Schawaechter	ORATED

France

The Perseus Cluster is a famous example of (radio-mode) AGN feedback, showing X-ray bubbles filled with radio plasma that are driven by the radio jet of the central galaxy Perseus A (NGC 1275, 3C 84). The radio jet, in turn, is powered by accretion onto the supermassive black hole in Perseus A. In this talk, I will present our results for the R <  50 pc molecular hydrogen disk around the supermassive black hole in Perseus A. Based on near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy obtained with NIFS+ALTAIR (Gemini North), this disk is interpreted as the outer parts of an accretion disk, possibly fed by one or more streamers of molecular hydrogen. The data show first indications of an ionisation structure within the disk. A new black-hole mass estimate for Perseus A is derived by modelling the observed disk kinematics. The role of jet feedback and accretion in driving the shocks and turbulence in the molecular gas of Perseus A will be discussed.

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Hyung Mok Lee	ORATED

Seoul National University

Stellar black hole (BH) binaries are one of the promising GW sources for GW detection by the ground-based detectors. To investigate the formation and evolution of the BH-BH binaries in the dense stellar systems like the galactic nuclei, we have carried out the direct N -body simulations. Nuclear star clusters (NCs) located at the center of galaxies are known to have massive black holes (MBHs) and to be bounded a deep gravitational potential from other galactic build- ing blocks like the bulge. This environment of NCs provides a good laboratory for the BH-BH binary formation by the gravitational radiation (GR) capture due to the high BH number density and velocity dispersion. We find that the overall formation rates for BH-BH binaries per NC is 10-10 per year for the Milky-Way-like galaxies and weakly dependent on the mass of central black hole. Because the merging time of these binaries is negligible compared to the cluster life time, the binary formation rates can be directly converted to the merger rates of 0.2 to 2 per year. Most of the binaries have very eccentric orbits (1-e  10-4), and would produce waveforms quite different from the ones with circularized orbits. The expected detection rates for the next-generation GW detectors can be obtained by the cosmological volume integration of the merger rates and MBH mass function up to the maximum horizon distance. We estimate the detection rate for advanced LIGO. However, several factors such as the dynamical evolution of the cluster, the variance of the number density of stars and the mass range of MBH give uncertainties by a large factor (up to  100).

	Main Colloquium
Dr. Rainer Spurzem	ORATED

ARI, Heidelberg

Many if not all galaxies contain supermassive black holes (SMBH). We study their growth and evolution by tidal accretion of stars and the presence of a central gas disk, and the motion of multiple central SMBHs during and after a galaxy merger. Dynamical Friction and superelastic three-body scatterings with stars will lead to the formation of a SMBH binary - two black holes of millions of solar masses orbiting each other in a distance comparable to the size of our planetary system. Relativistic corrections to Newtonian dynamics (so-called Post-Newtonian approximations) have to be taken into account at this stage. In spite of recent other claims there is no evidence for stalling or final parsec problem if there is sufficient deviation from spherical symmetry. Some preliminary results about the Post-Newtonian relativistic evolutions of SMBH including Spin-Spin and Spin-Orbit interactions will be shown. The SMBH binary emits gravitational radiation across a huge range of the frequency spectrum in the course of its evolution. Ground based and space based gravitational wave detection (LISA) is discussed, as well as the relevance of pulsar timing, If time permits there will be some presentation of the computational science aspect of our work. Recently one of our direct N-body simulations has used 700k GPU cores simultaneously and we are advancing to the Petaflop range. The use of GPU, MIC, FPGA is discussed.