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(fwd) THE INTERPLAY AMONG BLACK HOLES, STARS AND ISM IN GALACTIC NUCLEI
Dear Colleague,
We are pleased to invite you to a conference entitled
THE INTERPLAY AMONG BLACK HOLES, STARS AND ISM IN GALACTIC NUCLEI
(BHSIGN) to be held in Gramado, south of Brasil, March 1-5, 2004.
We are anticipating a stimulating meeting, congregating people working
in different areas which, through their inter-relationships, are
essential for understanding the process of galaxy evolution.
Please find below a preliminary program and list of invited speakers.
If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to:
BHSIGN@if.ufrgs.br.
Best regards,
Thaisa Storchi Bergmann (thaisa@if.ufrgs.br)
Chair of the SOC (www.if.ufrgs.br/~thaisa/)
Other members of the SOC (Scientific Organizing Committee)
Daniela Calzetti - USA
Francoise Combes - France
Timothy Heckman - USA (Co-chair)
Luis C. Ho - USA
Duccio Macchetto - USA-ESA
Hagai Netzer - Israel
Miriani G. Pastoriza - Brasil
Linda Tacconi - Germany
Martin Ward - UK
Andrew S. Wilson - USA
Keiichi Wada - Japan
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Title: THE INTERPLAY AMONG BLACK HOLES, STARS AND ISM IN GALACTIC NUCLEI
(Obs.: We have submitted this program to IAU requesting it to be
an IAU Symposium, but will only know the answer by mid August.
The Conference will happen anyways.)
SCIENTIFIC RATIONALE
It is now believed that all galaxies with bulges have black holes (BH)
in their nuclei, with masses which seem to be proportional
to those of their bulges, suggesting that both structures
(BH and bulge) have grown together. The discussion of the
various processes at play in the evolution of galaxies,
their nuclei and bulges, and the relationships of these processes
to the environment is the main goal of this conference.
In the above scenario, the manifestations of Active Galactic Nuclei
and Starbursts can be considered lightposts marking fundamental steps in
the evolution of galaxies. Both types of activity are
triggered by the accumulation of gas in the central
region of galaxies, leading ultimately to the growth of the
nuclear BH and galactic bulge. The understanding of the nuclear
feeding processes and of the feedback of the nuclear BH and
starburst are essential for our understanding of the mechanisms
responsible for galaxy evolution.
The feeding and feedback processes are intimately related to many
structures which we observe and/or model on different scales:
1) On nuclear (sub-parsec) scales - accretion disks, jets and winds
2) On scales of tens to hundred parsecs - nuclear star clusters,
bars and spirals
3) On kiloparsec scales, morphological distortions, bars and spiral arms
4) On large (galactic) scales, tidal distortions due to interactions
with the environment (companion galaxies or a galaxy cluster
potental).
The presence of winds in starbursts and
AGNs is now well established, although the signatures of the
accretion disks are still a matter of debate. The discs are, however,
necessary to collimate the observed radio jets, and it is now
understood that the discs should have different structures
according to the accretion rate. The main constraints on the physical
processess in the vicinity of the nuclear supermassive BH are
provided by X-ray observations, which probe closer to the BH
than any other waveband. These observations also provide
unique probes of both the active galactic nucleus
and any starburst going on around it. Chandra and XMM-Newton,
the first X-ray observatories of the 21st century,
are providing fundamental information on topics ranging
from the spin of the supermassive black hole to the
photoionization of gas around it, as well as the
nature of hot gas in circumnuclear starbursts.
On scales of tens to a hundred parsecs, recent HST imaging
suggests an excess of gas and dust in the central region
of active galaxies, similarly to what is observed
in starburst galaxies. Two of the major processes that
have been suggested to explain how gas moves from galactic
scales to the nucleus, and which could explain why certain
galaxies are active, are interactions and bars. However, although
there seems to be a clear relation between the presence of bars
and signatures of interactions and starburst activity in galaxies,
this is not the case for galaxies with AGN: there seems to be no
clear excess of bars or companions in AGN hosts when compared
with a control sample of non-active galaxies. This makes it
puzzling to understand what causes the nuclear activity.
On the other hand, recent work suggests that interactions
are actually important in feeding the nucleus, but since there
is a delay between the time the interaction occurs and
when the gas falls into the black hole, we would expect to
see the galaxies passing through different activity cycles,
possibly from a Starburst-dominated, to a Seyfert-dominated
and then to a LINER nucleus. Due to this evolution, we may
witness the signatures of the interaction in the Starburst
(or composite Starburst + Seyfert) phase, but the signatures may
be gone in the Seyfert and LINER phases.
The above scenario is supported by the detection of recent star
formation (actually stellar population with ages from a million
to a billion years) around AGNs. This finding also raises
questions like: What is the influence of circumnuclear star
formation on the AGN and the evolution of the Black Hole?
Does the mass of the starburst depend on the mass of the black hole,
or does the accretion rate depend on the mass of the starburst?
Evolutionary scenarios can only be tested with very
large samples, which are now becoming available through all sky
spectroscopic surveys. Cosmological observations, which
probe a younger Universe much richer in interactions can also
be used to test how the evolution proceeds. These observations,
in turn, can be understood only within a theoretical framework
- an evolutionary model.
In summary, we propose to analyse the different
components of a galaxy - its nucleus, stars and ISM, and then the
connections among them, as well as with the environment and
finally discuss possible scenarios for galaxy evolution
within the framework of cosmological observations and models.
SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Daniela Calzetti - USA
Francoise Combes - France
Timothy Heckman - USA (Co-chair)
Luis C. Ho - USA
Duccio Macchetto - USA-ESA
Hagai Netzer - Israel
Miriani G. Pastoriza - Brasil
Thaisa Storchi Bergmann (Chair) - Brasil
Linda Tacconi - Germany
Martin Ward - UK
Andrew S. Wilson - USA
Keiichi Wada - Japan
LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Charles Bonatto (Chair) - IF-UFRGS
Basilio X. Santiago - IF-UFRGS
Roberto Cid Fernandes (Co-chair) - CFM-UFSC
Laerte Sodre Jr. - IAG-USP
Eduardo Telles - ON-RJ
Alberto Ardila - LNA-MG
PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
I) Historical perspective:
Virginia Trimble - Black Holes: from exotic phenomena in Quasars
to ubiquity in the nuclei of galaxies
II) Topic 1 - Black Holes (BH), accretion phenomena, jets, winds,
broad-line region
Reviewers/invited:
A. Barth - Supermassive Black Holes
A. S. Wilson - X-ray observations of AGNs
D. Axon - Radio-jets
M. Urry - Bl Lac's
D. Macchetto - Black holes in spiral galaxies
B. Peterson - What do we know from the BLR
III) Topic 2 - Stars: nuclear Starbursts and star clusters; connection
with bulge formation - sizes, masses, SFR, winds; stellar population in
active and non-active galaxies
Reviewers/invited:
M. Carollo - Bulges
G. Bruzual - Stellar populations in galaxies
C. Leitherer - Starbursts
R. Cid Fernandes - Stellar population in AGNs
Jun Makino - Stellar dynamics vs. BH - implications from
recent N-body simulations
IV) Topic 3 - ISM: gas and dust distributions and properties in AGNs
and Starbursts
Reviewers/invited:
H. Netzer: BLR/NLR
N. Arav: Outflows from AGNs
D. Strickland: Starburst outflows
L. Taconni: molecular gas in AGN
P. Martini: dust in the nuclear environment of AGN hosts
R. Maiolino: dust/gas in AGN - IR view
D. Calzetti: dust/gas in Starbursts
V) Topic 4 - Connections: accretion to and feedback from the BH,
the triggering of Starbursts and AGNs
Reviewers/invited:
M. Begelman - feedback from BH
K. Wada - Nuclear disk simulations
S. Collin - accretion disk models
F. Combes - The role of bars
H. Schmitt - The role of interactions
VI) Topic 5 - Connection with galaxy evolution: cosmological
observations and models
Reviewers/invited:
D. Sanders - AGNs in ULIRGs
R. Terlevich - Evolution of star-forming galaxies
B. Boyle - Evolution of the AGN luminosity function
G. Kaufmann - Galaxy formation
P. Madau - Connection between black holes and galaxies
evolution
M. Haehnelt - Mergers and evolution of Black Holes
VII) Summary/perspectives: Heckman: Parallel between Starbursts and
AGNs' evolution - are Starbursts leading to build-up of bulges
and Black Holes inside?
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DATES AND LOCATION:
Gramado is a small tourist town in southern Brasil (with about 25 000
inhabitants). It has more than 100 hotels, with capacity
for hosting more than 6000 visitors at a time. Many conferences
on all fields of human knowledge are promoted there:
physics, medicine, industry, psichology are well-known examples.
Our Brazilian Movie Festival is held there. High seasons are July
(winter vacations) and December-February (summer vacations).
The reason for choosing this town are:
(1) Good infrastructure for hosting the meeting:
We have reserved the dates of March 1-5 2004 in Hotel Serrano
(www.hotelserrano.com.br), which is one of the
best for the meeting because of its auditorium which can seat up to 375
people, about the maximum number of people we would expect to attend the
conference. Many shops, restaurants and parks, as well as
other hotels are located within walking distance (15 minutes).
(2) The town is small, so neither transportation/traffic problems
nor safety concerns are issues (e.g., wandering around is OK even at
night).
(3) Pleasant place, with interesting countryside nearby,
which allows visits to a nearby canyon (Itaimbezinho - see
attached picture), a waterfall (Caracol - see attached picture),
and a wine district. This town is also known for the
production of chocolate and knits.
--
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Thaisa Storchi Bergmann http://www.if.ufrgs.br/~thaisa
Instituto de Fisica - UFRGS e-mail: thaisa@if.ufrgs.br
Campus do Vale, CP 15051 Phone: 55 51 3316 6443
91501-970 Porto Alegre - RS - Brasil FAX: 55 51 3316 7286
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