The Research Centre for Astronomy and Applied Mathematics of the Academy of Athens (KEAEM) is organising the European Astronomical Society (EAS) conference “HERA24: The nature and dynamics of structures observed in galactic disks”. The conference lectures are technical, aimed only at specialists and will be held in the East Hall of the Academy of Athens Building from 16 to 20 September.
The aim of the conference is to transfer knowledge to the new generation of researchers in the field of Galactic Dynamics. The conference is attended by selected young researchers who have recently completed their PhD and are working at universities/research institutions of European EAS member countries. Seven extended presentations will be given by internationally recognised researchers/academicians in this field and there will be thirty-one presentations of research results by delegates. The conference is part of a series of similar EAS conferences sponsored by the “Wilhelm and Else Heraeus” foundation and therefore codenamed “HERA”.
This very important initiative by the W&E Heraeus Foundation and the adoption of the “HERA” conference organisation by EAS demonstrates the importance of the proper transfer of knowledge from the older generation of researchers to the next. In our time, the rate of production of new knowledge in all fields of science is unprecedented. This results in the publication of a large number of articles in prestigious international scientific journals, with a high impact index after review. Long before they appear in the journals, these articles have already been shared with individual scientific communities in online databases as preprints. (After all, in astronomy, as in all positive sciences, the most important scientific journals have abolished their print edition and appear only online). International competition requires constant updating of developments in the research field of each scientist, which often becomes problematic due to the pace of production of new knowledge. Young researchers also sometimes face the possibility of… reinventing the wheel, having overlooked existing solutions to their problems in the sea of information with which they are inundated.
In this context, young researchers are faced with the problem of acquiring all the necessary techniques to carry out their research, as well as the need to acquire knowledge in a broader area in which their field of expertise lies, in order to expand their research to new horizons. The organisation of the HERA conference series by EAS and the Heraeus Foundation aims to give the opportunity to selected young European scientists to come into contact with cutting-edge research in their field and to be guided towards new challenges by their experienced colleagues.
The field of Galactic Dynamics is a basic line of research in modern Astrophysics. Its aim is to understand the motions of stars and the flow of gas in galactic systems, such as our Milky Way, in whose disk the Sun is located. This knowledge is of central importance for modern Astronomy, as it is related both to the creation of new stars and to the flow of gas towards the centers of galaxies that feed objects such as black holes. At the same time, on a cosmological scale, the dynamics of galaxies are affected by the distribution of dark matter in the halos that surround them.
The dynamics of galaxies is a fundamental research pillar of the KEAEM of the Academy of Athens. The Centre has the longest tradition in this area in Europe and that is why it was chosen by the EAS to organize the conference. With the pioneering work of the current Supervisor of the Academic Centre G. Kontopoulos, already in the 1960s and 70s, stellar orbits in galactic patterns were calculated for the first time, which contribute to the maintenance of the observed structures, i.e. bars and spirals. The results of these calculations were compared with observations. Studies of orbits and their stability apply Chaos theory to galactic systems. Later, and to this day, other studies followed that shed light on the structure of galactic disks in the third dimension, as well as on the flow of gas.
Modern research in Galactic Dynamics relies on both ground-based and space-based observations (such as with the telescopes of the European Southern Observatory in Chile or the James Webb Space Telescope), as well as on theoretical and numerical studies on supercomputers. These areas are complementary to each other and the need for interaction between researchers working in the individual areas is crucial for the progress of research. We hope that the exchange of results, methods and research processes between young scientists working from different research angles towards common research goals will be beneficial for their studies and will contribute to the understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies.
More information, as well as the schedule, can be found on the conference website: http://astro.academyafhens.gr/hera24.html
* Director of Research, Director of the Research Center for Astronomy and Applied Mathematics of the Academy of Athens, Dr. Astrophysics.
