Massive Galaxies across the Universe

IAU Symposium #396





9-13 June 2025,
Naples, Italy


The aim of this international conference is to bring together observers and theorists to discuss the formation and cosmic evolution of the most massive galaxies in the Universe, focusing on their mass and luminous structure, stellar populations, and the environments in which they live.

The most massive M* > 1011 and oldest galaxies account for more than half of the total stellar mass in the local Universe. Their formation and evolution still represent an open contentious question in present-day astrophysics and cosmology. Recent observations have revealed the presence of massive quiescent galaxies even in the first cosmic epochs (out to z>4), representing a challenge for galaxy formation models: it is unclear how they became so massive  over such short timescales, how their stellar metallicity grew so fast to solar or supersolar values and, finally, what quenched these objects so quickly and efficiently. 

The main aim of this symposium is twofold: 

 

Key Topics

Physical processes driving the early phases of massive galaxies formation
Metal enrichment, abundances, star formation and the ISM in massive galaxies
Stellar population properties of massive galaxies
The stellar Initial Mass Function in massive galaxies
Influence of internal and external physical processes, and of environment on the evolution of massive galaxies
The co-evolution between black holes and hosting galaxies
Kinematics and dark matter content in massive galaxies, 3D structure of DM halos

 

Organising Committees

Scientific Organising Committee (SOC):

Felipe Barrientos (Universidad Catolica di Chile)

Davide Bevacqua (INAF IT, PhD)

Paula Coelho (University of São Paulo, Brazil) 

Roberto de Propris (FINCA, Turku, FI & BIUST Botswana)

Anna Ferré-Mateu (IAC, Tenerife, ES)

Ignacio Ferreras (IAC, Tenerife, ES)

Karl Glazebrook (Swinburne University, AUS) 

Johanna Hartke (FINCA, Turku, FI)

Michaela Hirschmann (CH)

Mariska Kriek (NL) 

Wang Lan (Academy of Sciences, China)

Michalina Maksimovic-Maciata (Bristol UK, PhD)

Danilo Marchesini (USA)

Nicola Napolitano (Univ. Federico II, IT)

Anna Pasquali (Universität Heidelberg, DE)

Rosalind Skelton (South Africa Astronomical Observatory) 

Paolo Saracco (Chair; INAF, Brera)

Chiara Spiniello (Co-chair; Oxford University, UK)

Masayuki Tanaka (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

Daniel Thomas (Univerasity of Portsmouth, UK)

Local Organising Committee (LOC):

Gabriella De Lucia (INAF) 

Fabio Fontanot (INAF)

Anna Gallazzi (INAF)

Adriana Gargiulo (INAF)

Francesco La Barbera (INAF)
Amata Mercurio (Univ. Fisciano)

Nicola Napolitano (Univ. Federico II)

Maurizio Paolillo (Univ. Federico II)

Paolo Saracco (INAF)

Crescenzo Tortora (INAF) 

Stefano Zibetti (INAF)

Venue

NAPLES

The symposium will take place in Naples, a beautiful and attractive city by the sea in the south of Italy. 

Naples is home to the Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory, belonging to the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), and the Federico II University which hosts a department of Physics and Astrophysics. 


The city is easily reachable, being served by an international airport and a fast railway. 

THE CONFERENCE VENUE: THE SS MARCELLINO AND FESTO CONVENT

The conference will be held in an astonishing convent complex that includes two 7th century monasteries dedicated to the SS. Marcellino, Pietro, Festo and Desiderio. In the 1808 the monastery was suppressed until it started, some century later, to be used by the University of  Naples Federico II. In the 1932 the Museum of Paleontology was established there.

The rich interior decoration in polychrome marble was designed by Luigi Vanvitelli. The statues of the altar are by Vaccaro and works by Simonelli, Corenzio and Stanzione artists are found too.

CODE OF CONDUCT
This is an IAU Symposium. As such, during the meeting we will adehere to the IAU Code of Conduct:
https://www.iau.org/static/archives/announcements/pdf/ann16007a.pdf