Small Galaxies, Cosmic Questions - II

Durham University, UK
29th July – 2nd August 2024

Scientific Rationale

Dwarf galaxies are unique laboratories for studying galaxy formation processes and testing key cosmological predictions. They are the building blocks of more massive galaxies in the current galaxy formation paradigm, and their relatively old and metal poor stellar populations give clues to the formation of the first stars and galaxies. Despite their low masses, their relatively large dark matter fractions allow us to probe the nature of dark matter on small scales.

Deep photometric and spectroscopic surveys have been key to enhancing our understanding of dwarf galaxies. A large number of these entities have been discovered in recent years, pushing the boundary of the faintest galaxies we know of and raise fundamental questions about the formation of first stars and galaxies in the lowest mass dark matter halos. JWST is also revolutionising the field by providing new data on, and discovery of, the counterparts of these faint objects at higher redshifts. In the coming years, progress will only accelerate thanks to to various upcoming surveys and datasets, such as the Rubin Observatory, the Roman Space Telescope, and WEAVE.

On the other hand, theoretical modelling of these galaxies in a cosmological context has been very challenging due to their low mass and faint luminosities, not to mention their sensitivities to galaxy formation processes. Despite these challenges, both hydrodynamical simulations and semiempirical + Nbody models have had major advances in recent years allowing more robust predictions for properties of these objects.


In this conference, we would like to bring together researchers working on various aspects of dwarf galaxy formation and evolution across cosmic time to discuss the recent progress and key open questions and challenges for the upcoming years. In particular, we will be covering the following broad areas:


There will be a stellar streams workshop “Streams24: The Theory Edition” the following week (5-9th August) hosted at Durham University. If you are interested, you can see details here.

Scientific Organising Committee

Ana Bonaca (Carnegie Observatories)
Sownak Bose (co-chair; Durham University)
Denis Erkal (University of Surrey)
Azi Fattahi (co-chair; Durham University)
Kyle Oman (Durham University)
Laura Sales (University of California Riverside)
Else Starkenburg (University of Groningen)
Dan Weisz (University of California Berkeley)
John Wise (Georgia Tech)

Important Dates

All deadlines are at 23:59 UTC.
1st February 2024 Abstract submission opens
31st March 2024 Abstract submission closes
end-April 2024 Decision on abstract contribution
Early May 2024 Registration opens
15th June 2024 Registration closes
29th July – 2nd August 2024 Conference

Abstract Submission and Registration

Abstract Submission

The decisions on abstract submissions have been announced. If you have not received the decision on your submission, please get in touch with the organisers as soon as possible.

Registration

The registration is closed.

Code of Conduct

The organisers are committed to making this meeting productive and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, nationality or religion. We will not tolerate harassment of participants in any form. All participants are required to abide by the following Code of Conduct to help us achieve a safe and positive conference for everyone. Please follow these guidelines:

  1. Be kind to and respect others. Do not insult or put down other attendees.
  2. Behave professionally. Harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary comments or jokes are not appropriate. Harassment includes sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, sexual attention or innuendo, deliberate intimidation, stalking, and photography or recording of an individual without consent. It also includes offensive comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race or religion.
  3. All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate.
Participants asked to stop any inappropriate behaviour are expected to comply immediately. Attendees violating these rules may be asked to leave the event at the sole discretion of the organisers without a refund of any charge. We reserve the right to report any violation of the code of the conduct to the individual's host institution.

Any participant who wishes to report a violation of this policy is asked to speak, in confidence, to either Sownak Bose (sownak.bose@durham.ac.uk), Azi Fattahi (azadeh.fattahi-savadjani@durham.ac.uk), any member of the SOC, or one of the astronomy allies.


Acknowledgement

This code of conduct is based on the "London Code of Conduct", as originally designed for the conference "Accurate Astrophysics. Correct Cosmology", held in London in July 2015. The London Code of Conduct was adapted with permission by Andrew Pontzen and Hiranya Peiris from a document by Software Carpentry, which itself derives from original Creative Commons documents by PyCon and Geek Feminism. It is released under a CC-Zero licence for reuse.

Conference Programme

The conference starts on Monday 29th July at 9am (registration is available from 8:30am) and finishes on Friday 2nd August at lunch time. A live version of the schedule can be found here, and a static version is shown below. The full list of participants is available here, and the detailed program with the individual titles and abstracts can be found here.

Talk format

Invited review talks will be 25min long + 5min for questions. Contributed talks will be 10min long + 5min for questions.

Posters

All posters will be given a 1min flash talk, which will happen at the end of each session (see the schedule). You can find the schedule for the flash talks here. Hopefully, everyone who has been given a poster has already been contacted with instructions on how to upload their flash talks. If you haven't, please get in touch with the organisers as soon as possible.

The maximum poster size is A1 (portrait with width less than 27 inches). It can be printed on either paper or fabric. Please also create a PDF of your poster to be posted online (e.g., on Slack).

Accessibility of talks and posters

1. Formatting your presentation:

  • Use a consistent layout with clear, simple language.
  • Use a large font size (minimum 18 points).
  • Prefer simple sans-serif fonts (e.g., Arial, Helvetica, Verdana), avoid all caps, excessive italics, or underlines.
  • Combine colour with bold fonts for emphasis and ensure high contrast between text and background.

2. During your talk:

  • Describe visuals clearly.
  • Speak at a moderate pace.
Further guidance from the British Geophysical Association.

Logistics

Visa Invitation Letter

If you require a visa to attend the conference, we can provide an invitation letter for you to include in your UK visa application. Please contact durhamdwarfsconference@gmail.com

Traveling to Durham

The nearest airport is Newcastle International Airport (about 40min by taxi) and the nearest train station is in Durham City centre (25 min walk or a 5 min taxi ride). For more information on how to get to Durham, see here.

Kids & Childcare

For those bringing family and children with them to Durham during the conference, a list of entertainment suggestions are provided on the "Things to do" tab below.
You can also find a list of registered local childcare professionals at the Durham County Council Families Information Service. St Oswald’s School, which is a ~5min walk to the conference, runs a nursery and kids club (see here). The Physics Department has a dedicated EDI room, which can be used for nursing, etc. If you need more information, please contact the organisers.

The Venue

The conference will be held in the Ken Wade Lecture Theatre (CLC203) in the Calman Learning Centre on the Durham University Science site.

Eating out

Durham has a wide range of restaurants and cafes around town. If you'd like some ideas on where to go to eat, we've listed a selection of the options within walking distance of the Physics Department and the town centre here.

Places to Stay

For information about accommodation options, see here.

Things to do

For suggestions on activities (including good pubs) around the Durham area, see here.

Contact

  • Address

    Ogden Centre West
    Durham University
    Durham, DH1 3LE
    United Kingdom