bannersize


Galactic bars: driving and decoding galaxy evolution

3 - 7 July, 2023
 

  IMPORTANT DATES

Abstract submission deadline: 15 February

Early bird registration deadline: 1 March

Programme announcement: 1 April

Normal registration deadline: 12 May

Late registration deadline: 1 July

Conference: 3 - 7 July

 

(Most) Presentation files are available here: https://zenodo.org/communities/bars2023/

LAST MINUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS

- Registration desk will be open on Monday from 8:30 to 9:30, and during coffee breaks.

- An slack channel has been set up in order to share information, foster discussions, and facilitate the communication among participants. Please join our Galactic Bars 2023 workspace using this invitation: https://join.slack.com/t/galacticbars2023/shared_invite/zt-1ybjha7z6-EuXgoW1yMUkbusB4YYh5vQ

- We will use the hashtag #galbars23 on social media to make this event visible and spread the exciting science we will be hearing about during this week. Let’s make this hashtag trending topic in our scientific community! 

 

A large fraction of massive disc galaxies in the local Universe, including our own Milky Way, host elongated stellar structures, called galactic bars. These non-axisymmetric structures introduce torques in their host galaxies, which play a key role in their evolution, especially at late cosmic epochs. Chief amongst these secular, bar-driven evolutionary processes, is the redistribution of angular momentum across the galaxy, in the stars, gas and dark matter content. Understanding the formation and evolution of bars is therefore fundamental to achieving a complete picture of galaxy formation and evolution.

In this context, the interplay between observational and theoretical advances has been, and will remain, fundamental. In the past ten years, after the last major meeting on barred galaxies in 2013 (which also took place in Granada), developments in the area have been numerous and significant. The past decade has seen Gaia and numerous ground-based spectroscopic surveys opening new opportunities to study the Milky Way bar and its effects on the Galaxy. On the extragalactic side, the advent of powerful IFU surveys together with multiwavelength campaigns involving facilities such as ALMA, have pushed the field forward in terms of understanding the effects bars have on their host galaxies. At the same time, this past decade has seen exciting developments on the theoretical and numerical side, with important advances in dynamical modelling, the implementation of star formation and feedback in high resolution hydrodynamical simulations, and large strides in modelling barred galaxies cosmological simulations.

With the start of JWST operations and the ELTs coming online in the near future, it is time to take stock of our current understanding on the formation and evolution of bars and their impact on their host galaxies. This meeting will also celebrate Lia Athanassoula's career and her pioneering contributions to the field of bar dynamics thus far. Amongst the main topics to be discussed are:

  • Bar-driven evolution in the Milky Way
  • Barred galaxies in the local and distant universe
  • Bars in cosmological and idealised numerical simulations
  • Theoretical perspectives on bar dynamics

The meeting is intended to be highly participative, with substantial time devoted to discussions,  and should set the basis for the study of bar-driven evolution in galaxies in the new decade.