Title: The HI-to-H2 transition in a Turbulent Medium

Lecturer: Andrea Maccio
Affiliation: New York University of Abu Dhabi
Title: The NIHAO project: simulating galaxy formation in a dark universe
Abstract:

Title: What can we learn from GRB afterglows? Implications for the central engine and shock acceleration

Title:
Cosmicflows, Bayesian inference, constrained simulations and the Local Universe
Abstract:
The association of ‘Near Field’ and ‘Cosmology’ rests on the implicit Copernican assumption that the near field constitutes a typical patch of the universe. A key question that needs to be addressed is how typical the near field is, and thereby how relevant it is to cosmology at large. Constrained simulations embody Near Field Cosmology in the realm of cosmological simulations and are used here to shed light on the problem.

Fuelling star formation across cosmic time

Title: The Youngest Massive Star Clusters: the Closeup Views from ALMA and TEXES

Title: The tidal disruption of G2
Abstract: Recently a gas cloud, called G2, has been observed in the midst of being tidally disrupted in the center of our galaxy. I'll talk about recent advances in the understanding of the disruption process, obtained with analytic arguments coupled with simulations done with the RICH code.

​​How to Feed a Gluttonous Monster -
the many scales and open questions related to supermassive black hole fueling

Limits on the growth rate of supermassive black holes at early cosmic epochs

Title:
Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability of Cold Streams in Galaxies
Abstract:

The SPLASH Survey of the Andromeda Galaxy
I will present results from our group's study of the Andromeda galaxy. Topics will include: M31's dynamical mass, bulk tangential motion and impending encounter with the Milky Way, dwarf satellite dynamics and stellar content, (sub)structure, kinematics, metallicity, and age of the stellar halo, dynamics of the stellar disk, rare stellar populations, etc. Our study is based on a combination of ground-based and HST photometry and Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy.

Magnetorotational instability in eccentric disks

Title: On the nature of radiative processes in Gamma-Ray Bursts

Lecturer: William G. Unruh, University of British Columbia
Abstract:
Black holes, one of the most surprizing and contentious of the predictions of
Einstein's theory of gravity, have puzzled physicists for the past
century. While the classical aspects were cleared up about 50 years ago, that
was also when the quantum surprize, discovered by Hawking, occured. Are black
holes black, or do they glow? Understanding this puzzle was one of both Jacob
Bekenstein's and my life's work. In 1981 I argued that at least some parts of