Activities

During the 1st Meeting two courses, technical seminars, public talks and a meeting to discuss more specific issues concerning Astronomy Education and Twinning Program related issues will be developed.

Courses

Course 1

L-V10-12

Radiative Processes in Astrophysics

Prof. Elena Rossi

Our knowledge of the universe is mainly indirect, mediated by the light we receive on earth from the objects in the sky. Therefore, to understand how objects like planets, stars and galaxies work, we need a physical understanding of how their observed light is produced. The goal of this course is twofold. First, to comprehend how light interacts with matter and how matter can convert different kinds of energy into light. Second, to learn how to extract from observations physical information about the emitter, like its size, temperature and composition. After reviewing some basic concepts (e.g. intensity, radiative transfer equations), we will study thermal (e.g. Bremsstrahlung) and non-thermal (e.g. Synchrotron) continuum emission processes and then we will conclude with line emission. The course requires basic knowledge of thermodynamics, electromagnetism and special relativity, although some of the concepts will be reviewed.

Course page: Course Radiative Processes in Astrophysics

Course 2

L-V16-18

Astronomical Observing Techniques

Prof. Bernhard Brandl

Astronomical observations are increasingly demanding in terms of sensitivity, image contrast, field of view, stability and calibrations, pushing telescopes and instrumentation closer and closer to fundamental limits. Meaningful results require a careful understanding of the technologies and equipment that is being used. This course provides a general overview of most aspects that are relevant to modern observational astronomy, covering both the underlying physical principles (telescopes, image formation, signal-to-noise) and the technical concepts (detector technology, adaptive optics, interferometry, spectroscopy).

Course page: Course Astronomical Observing Techniques

Public Talks

Tuesday August 20th, 2013, 18:30

Parque Explora

The Supermassive Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way

Prof. Elena Rossi

Summary

Our Galaxy is our home, and in this talk I will show you a special room in our home: the Galactic Centre! All there is extreme: there is a supermassive black hole, stars travelling faster than everywhere else, and explosions have recently happened. I will journey together through this fascinating environment and learn what astronomers know and what they still do not understand.

Friday August 23rd, 2013, 18:30

Medellin Planetarium

Measuring the Universe with current and future Telescopes

Prof. Bernhard Brandl

Summary

Modern astronomy is one of the most vibrant areas of sciences, searching for Earth-like planets in other solar systems as well as the first stars and galaxies in our Universe. Astronomy, however, is foremost an observational, experimental science, requiring bigger and better telescopes, instruments and detectors. Without the tremendous advances in many areas of technology over the past 50 years, from computer control and analysis to optical manufacturing and detector technology, the modern telescopes would not have been possible. In my talk I will discuss the scientific and technical challenges for many kinds of observations, review the history of telescopes and show a few examples of future astronomical facilities.

Technical Seminars

Tuesday August 13rd, 14:00

The Star Formation Properties of Starbursts: A Multiwavelength Bayesian Study

Juan Rafael Martínez, Ph.D.

Harvard Center for Astrophysics (U.S.)

Abstract

Starbursts are the most luminous and massive environments of star formation in the Universe. Although large multiwavelength datasets have been collected for a large number of starburst regions and galaxies, and several models have been proposed to explain them, our understanding of the physical mechanisms that activate them is still poor. One scenario is that they are triggered by galaxy interactions that compress the gas into small regions, producing the massive collapse of large gas reservoirs. Nevertheless, the relation between the global star-forming properties of these systems and the properties of the massive stars and the interstellar medium (ISM) at smaller scales remains unexplored. I will offer a possible connection between the overall multi-wavelength emission properties of starbursts and the internal physics that control the evolution of individual HII regions. I will present CHIBURST, a novel Monte-Carlo Bayesian method that fits the multi-wavelength SEDs (and spectra) of star-forming systems and returns probability distribution functions for model parameters together with the results of applying the method to the SEDs of a set of interacting galaxies.

Thursday August 15th, 14:00

Magnetic constraints on the habitability of exoearths and exomoons

Prof. Jorge I. Zuluaga

FACom / IF / FCEN / UdeA

Abstract

Surface habitability of planetary environments is essentially constrained by two basic and related conditions: 1) the existence of a thick enough atmosphere and 2) proper levels of insolation or other sources of energy able to guarantee the right temperatures required for the existence of surface liquid water. Now it is widely accepted that magnetic fields play a central role into determining if a planet is able to preserve a dense enough atmosphere or the right content of volatiles required for habitability. In the Solar System Venus and Mars provide examples of planets that, though located inside the Radiative Habitable Zone (RHZ), lack a protective magnetic field and have lost their inventory of water or most of their early atmospheric content by a combination of thermal and non-thermal atmospheric losses. We present here a review of the role that magnetic fields would have at constraining the habitability of planetary environments, both in the case of Earth-like planets and super-Earths (exoearths) and for the case of exomoons around giant planets in the RHZ of their host stars.

Friday August 16th, 14:00

Properties of the cosmic mass distribution: Halos environments and galaxies

Prof. Juan C. Muñoz

FACom / IF / FCEN / UdeA

Abstract

In the first part of this seminar, we will present briefly the current projects under development in the line of galaxies and cosmology in the Group. In the second part, we will present in some detail some work on the Properties of the cosmic mass distribution, in particular, we combine results from numerical simulations of the formation of structures in the universe with observational results of galaxy redshift surveys to study the spatial distribution of mass in the large scale structure. Using cosmological N-body simulations we study the properties of the distribution of mass in and around dark matter halos and relate it to the assembly history of the dark matter halo and its environment. Using data from the seventh data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) we present an improved technique to identify galaxy groups and dark halos in the volume of the survey. We show that the technique indeed produces realistic galaxy groups and provide a realistic mass assignment. Using the known density distribution of dark matter in the neighborhood of dark halos and the halo catalogs obtained from the SDSS we perform reconstructions of the cosmic mass density field.

Tuesday August 20th, 14:00

An Evolutionary Diagram for Comets

Prof. Ignacio Ferrin

FACom / IF / FCEN / UdeA

Abstract

There are three comet reservoirs: the Oort Cloud, the Kuiper Belt

and the asteroidal belt. Due to their particular circumstances, it is

expected that the time evolution of the comets populating them will be

different. In stellar astrophysics the Herprung-Russell diagram is

famous for depicting the evolution of different types of stars. There

is no equivalent diagram for comets. In this work we will show that

the diagram of remaining revolutions, RR, versus the mass-loss age,

MLAGE (pronounces like "milage"), separates clearly the location

of the three different reservoirs and exhibits evolutionary paths. The

diagram shows the evolution of suffocationg comets and sublimating

comets. The Dead Dates, DD, are calculated and the border

suffocating-sublimating is shown. It is expected that this diagram

will be used to describe the evolutionary paths of comets. A full

theoretical description of these paths is non-existing at the present

time.

Friday August 23rd, 14:00

MHD waves in the solar atmosphere

Marialejandra Luna Cardozo

FACom / IF / FCEN / UdeA

Abstract

Over the last years, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves have been observed in the solar atmosphere using high-resolution EUV imager onboard spaceborne telescopes. These oscillations can be used for the diagnostics of coronal structures by implementation of the magnetoseismology, to obtain different physical parameters through matching the MHD wave theory and wave observations in the solar atmosphere. In this talk, I will present a general picture of the Sun, waves, observations and previous works. Then, I show how MHD wave theory is further developed by modelling the effects of density and magnetic stratifications in longitudinal oscillations in a solar waveguide. The results found here could help to have a more complete understanding of the extremely inhomogeneous magnetic field and plasma density distribution in the solar atmosphere.

Friday August 23rd, 14:00

Magnetic Fields and Habitability in super Earths

Pablo Cuartas

FACom / IF / FCEN / UdeA

Abstract

Planets with masses between 1- 10 Earth masses are known as "super Earths". This kind of planets have the possibility to be habitable depending not only in its location inside the habitable zone of its host star, but on its geophysical and thermal features also, specially the existence of a planetary magnetic field. In this seminar we show some of our main discoveries related with the creation, maintenance and duration of protective planetary magnetic fields and the role played by the thermal evolution on the habitability of super Earths.

Poster Session

Participants are invited to present their scientific work as Posters that will be exhibited during the whole two weeks close to the rooms where the courses will be held.

Presentation and discussion about posters could be developed in the time before and after the course sessions in the morning and afternoon.