FIR Workshop 2007

Far-Infrared and Submillimeter Emission of the Interstellar Medium:
Models meet extragalactic and Galactic Observations
5-7 November 2007 at the Physikzentrum, Bad Honnef

A big THANK YOU goes to all participants. It is you who made this workshop a success, through various contributions, through talks, posters, questions, ideas, and discussions, during the day and into the late evening hours. The meeting brought together 66 participants from 12 countries over a period of 3 days at the Physikzentrum in Bad Honnef. (November, 8, 2007)

Workshop poster

Scientific Rationale

Star formation is often shrouded in mystery by the parental dusty interstellar medium. However, the absorbed energy induced by deeply embedded young sources is largely reradiated at submillimeter and far-infrared wavelengths. This cooling emission provides the key tool to study the interplay between the ISM and star formation. FIR emission from gas and dust thus allows to study the role of the ISM in the cycle of matter in widely different environments, from high-z galaxies to local star formation in the Milky Way. In the forthcoming years, new ground- and space based observatories with unprecedented sensitivity and high resolution will invigorate this field. Herschel and SOFIA in particular will offer for the first time the possibility to observe spectrally resolved Extragalactic and Galactic FIR cooling lines of the ISM on a regular basis.

The main goal of this workshop is to stimulate the exchange of knowledge on the structure and composition of the ISM, near and far, bringing together modellers and observers. It thus follows-up and extends on the Onsala workshop 2005 .

The workshop will consist of reviews, contributed talks, and poster contributions. Ample space will be left for discussion. We plan to have 14 invited talks of 30 min each and about 18 contributed talks of 20 min.

Key questions:

Chemical tracers: What are the key chemical tracers of the physical conditions of the ISM in different environments in the Milky Way and in external galaxies ?
Heating mechanisms: What is the relative importance of shocks, UV-photons, X-rays, cosmic rays in different galactic environments ?
What is the mutual relation between star formation and turbulence ?
Phases of the ISM: The cold and dense molecular ISM is a prerequisite for any star formation. How does it form and how is it dispersed ? What do we know about the cycle of interstellar matter through the various phases of the ISM ?

Confirmed invited speakers:

Ralf Klessen	Simulations of the ISM
Maria Cunningham	Large scale turbulence: the Delta Quadrant Survey
Miguel Avillez	Phases and feedback
Serena Viti	Millimeter emission from hot cores
Takashi Onaka	The infrared view of the ISM
Kotaro Kohno	Tracing star formation in galaxies with molecular line and continuum observations
Linda Tacconi	Molecular line emission as tool for studying distant galaxies
Jacques LeBourlot	PDR models: basic properties
Bruce Draine	Interstellar Dust and Spitzer
Jerome Pety	Galactic PDRs: the millimeter view
Marco Spaans	The importance of the HCN/HCO+ ratio in PDRs
Suzanne Madden	The ISM in low metallicity environments
Markus Röllig	Metallicity effects in PDRs
Antonio Usero	Large-scale shocks in galaxies

Date and Location

FIR 2007 is going to take place from 5.-7. November 2007, with 4. November and 8. November as arrival and departure dates. Location of the workshop is the Physikzentrum Bad Honnef.

The Physikzentrum Bad Honnef has been serving as the main meeting point of the German Physical Society (DPG) since 1976. It offers a secluded setting for research conferences, seminars, and workshops. The mansion housing the Physikzentrum is located in the small town of Bad Honnef, at the foot of the Siebengebirge ("the Seven Hills") on the right bank of the Rhine river south of Bonn, about 40 km south of Köln. Recently, a new lecture hall has been openend in the Physikzentrum. It offers seating with a modern double rear projection, interactive electronic board, and full video conferencing equipment. Technical equipment includes data-, overhead- and videoprojection, poster- and blackboards, internet- and email-access via WLAN. Downstairs, a comfortable and cosy clubroom invites discussions and extended talks in the evenings.

Sponsor

The FIR 2007 Workshop is sponsored in part by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) via the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) grant 494.