The End of Star Formation

Center for AstroPhysical Surveys

NCSA, University of Illinois

2 March – 6 March 2026

HST composite of NGC 3256

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

Scientific Rationale

Galaxy merging is a central prediction of the ΛCDM paradigm, and has the potential to drive rapid changes in galaxy properties. Most importantly, mergers have the potential to both rapidly enhance and then rapidly halt – or "quench" – star formation in the remnant. In this conference, we will bring together members of the astrophysical community studying the merger-driven rapid quenching of star formation in galaxies, from the nearby universe to high-redshift. We aim to address the following key questions:

What are the main mechanisms for rapid quenching and what are its signatures?
How is rapid quenching related to morphological change and the buildup of central black holes?
What are the big open questions regarding the physics of rapid quenching?
What is the influence of AGN throughout the quenching phase?
What have we learned in the last several years (with e.g., JWST, ALMA, new cosmological simulations, etc.) and how will upcoming facilities progress our understanding of rapid galaxy quenching?

The idea of this meeting is to bring together observers, with experience at all wavelengths, and theorists working on rapid quenching at any simulation scale. With a focus on discussion and model–observation comparison, we aim to identify the biggest open questions on how and why galaxies quench, and collaboratively discuss which areas are most critical for advancement.

Low-redshift post-starburst galaxy with molecular gas

Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF), A. Smercina (STScI)

Scientific Organizing Committee

Katey Alatalo (co-chair; Space Telescope Science Institute)

Marcella Brusa (University of Bologna)

Decker French (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Claudia Lagos (University of Western Australia / ICRAR)

Li-Hwai Lin (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics)

Desika Narayanan (University of Florida)

George Privon (National Radio Astronomical Observatory)

Kate Rowlands (Space Telescope Science Institute)

Adam Smercina (Space Telescope Science Institute)

Masayuki Tanaka (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

Ezequiel Treister (co-chair; Institute for Advanced Research, Universidad de Tarapacá)

Vivienne Wild (University of St. Andrews)

Invited Speakers

TBA

Gas-rich galaxy merger from the FIREbox simulation

Image credit: J. Moreno

Code of Conduct

The organizers are committed to making this meeting productive and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, nationality or religion. We will not tolerate harassment of participants in any form. Please review this code of conduct before registering for this conference.

Please follow these guidelines:

Behave professionally. Harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary comments or jokes are not appropriate. Harassment includes sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, sexual attention or innuendo, deliberate intimidation, stalking, and photography or recording of an individual without consent. It also includes offensive comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race or religion.

All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other attendees. Critique ideas, not people.

If participants wish to share photos or contents of talks/slides of any attendee or speaker on social media, we ask that they first get permission.

Participants asked to stop any inappropriate behavior are expected to comply immediately. Attendees violating these rules may be asked to leave the event at the sole discretion of the organizers without a refund of any charge.

Any participant who wishes to report a violation of this policy is asked to speak, in confidence, to any member of the LOC.

This code of conduct is based on the "London Code of Conduct", as originally designed for the conference "Accurate Astrophysics. Correct Cosmology", held in London in July 2015. The London Code of Conduct was adapted with permission by Andrew Pontzen and Hiranya Peiris from a document by Software Carpentry, which itself derives from original Creative Commons documents by PyCon and Geek Feminism.