AAAS 2014 Science Symposia

2014 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting

From Dust and Gas to Disks and Planets

Friday, 14 February 2014
08:30 – 11:30 a.m. CST
Water Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago

Symposium Description:

Radio-wavelength emission is little affected by intervening dust and gas, and astronomical radio telescope systems can probe deep into regions that are largely inaccessible at optical and infrared wavelengths, such as the interiors of the protoplanetary disks where planets are being born. This symposium explores how a new generation of enormously more capable radio-wavelength research tools, such as the international Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, are revolutionizing our ability to observe, analyze, and understand protoplanetary disk and planet formation, opening new scientific frontiers. The discovery space that astronomers can now explore has recently and dramatically expanded as these state-of-the-art telescope systems have initiated science operations. Astronomers now have access to orders of magnitude better sensitivity, broader wavelength coverage, and increased imaging and spectral resolution that are enabling major advances in our understanding of the kinematics, chemistry, composition, structure, and evolution of the earliest dust-enshrouded phases of protoplanetary disk and planet formation.

Organizer: Mark T. Adams, National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Speakers:

John Tobin Jr., National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Abstract: Observing the Earliest Phases of Protoplanetary Disk Formation
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Jonathan Williams, University of Hawaii
Abstract: Protoplanetary Disk Evolution
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Laura Perez, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Abstract: Dust Growth in Protoplanetary Disks: The First Step Toward Planet Formation
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Edwin A. Bergin, University of Michigan
Abstract: New Perspectives on the Physics and Chemistry of Planetary Birth
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David J. Wilner, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Abstract: Decoding Dusty Debris Disks
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Arielle Moullet, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Abstract: Exploring Our Solar System: Planets, Moons, and Small Rocky Bodies
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New Millimeter-Wavelength Insights into Galaxy Evolution in the Early Universe

Saturday, 15 February 2014
10:00 – 11:30 a.m. CST
Water Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago

Symposium Description:

Galaxies are the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Understanding how they formed in the early universe and have evolved through cosmic time is one of the primary goals of modern cosmology. Galaxies are now thought to have evolved in a non-linear manner by episodes of accretion, intensive star formation, and supermassive black hole (SMBH) activity triggered by large-scale phenomena such as galactic mergers. When the universe was just a billion years old, “starburst” galaxies converted vast reservoirs of gas and dust into new stars at a furious pace—many thousands of times faster than normal spiral galaxies like our Milky Way—creating SMBHs and near-solar elemental abundances. This symposium focuses on the enormous progress being made in our understanding of galaxy kinematics, structure, and evolution in the early universe through exquisite observations being acquired with new, state-of-the-art centimeter- and millimeter-wavelength telescope systems such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile, the South Polar Telescope in Antarctica, the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy in California, and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico.

Organizer: Mark T. Adams, National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Speakers:

Dominik Riechers, Cornell University
Abstract: Fueling Cosmic Star Formation: The Interstellar Medium in Distant Starburst Galaxies
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Alexandra Pope, University of Massachusetts
Abstract: Dust-obscured Galaxies in the Early Universe
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Joaquin D. Vieira, California Institute of Technology
Abstract: Distant Starburst Galaxies Revealed by Gravitational Lensing
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