December 2 to 6, at the Centro de Convenciones Puebla, México

Massive Young Star Clusters Near and Far: From the Milky Way to Re-ionization

- Useful information was also provided in the second and third announcement -

This is the fifth in the series of Guillermo Haro Conferences organized by INAOE and AMC. The conference will be dedicated to the topic of Young Massive Star Clusters and their surrounding medium over a large range of scales from those in the Milky Way to those in the most distant galaxies. This topic is an apt way to commemorate the work and legacy of Professor Guillermo Haro Barraza (1913-1988), on his birth centenary.

Guillermo Haro made many contributions to observational astronomy, particularly with the 28-inch Tonantzintla Schmidt telescope. In the late forties he developed the three-colour and objective prism techniques that led to the discovery of new types of emission line objects. These techniques were used in the well-known Palomar Haro-Luyten survey of blue objects and Byurakan observatory lists of blue galaxies performed by Markarian and collaborators. He is recognised as the co-discoverer of the Herbig-Haro objects. Above all, he was the main motor behind bringing Mexican Astronomy to what it is today.

A large fraction of the objects he discovered with the 28-inch Tonantzintla Schmidt telescope are star-forming galaxies similar to the blue compact dwarfs, HII galaxies, and the more distant Lyman break and Lyman alpha emitting galaxies. Interestingly, the latter classes of objects are discovered using the same techniques pioneered by Haro, but with modern detectors and telescopes. The common link between all these star forming galaxies is the presence of an ionizing Young Massive Star Cluster which is the focal point of this conference.

  • As most stars are considered to be born in clusters, the study of these coeval systems should bring important clues to the formation of stars.
  • Most of the information about metal content and the history of galaxies comes from the study of massive young clusters and their associated HII regions.
  • Because of their high UV luminosity, massive young star clusters or/and the surrounding ionized regions are visible at large look-back times, enabling them as useful tools to learn about the evolution of galaxies.
  • Massive star clusters, during their early phase of evolution produce large quantities of new metals, energetic photons and mechanical energy. This "feedback" plays an important role in the evolution of galaxies and may be responsible of the reionization of the early Universe.

    The meeting will bring together observations and theory on the different aspects of Massive Star Cluster formation and evolution covering from Gamma Rays to Radio wavelengths.

    Key topics include but are not limited to:

  • Formation of Massive Young star Clusters in the Milky Way (Molecular Cloud Structure, Young massive proto-clusters, Mass segregation, Initial Mass Function of stars, cores and clumps, Formation of Binaries, Triggering of star formation)
  • Ionized gas around Massive Young star Clusters (Chemical Composition, kinematics)
  • Evolution of Massive star clusters (Spectral and dynamical evolution, feedback, relation to globular clusters dwarf ellipticals and spiral bulges)
  • Massive young star clusters in different galactic environments (nuclear, circumnuclear, disk, intergalactic, tidal)
  • Cosmology using massive star clusters, star-forming regions at high redshift, early star cluster formation, reionization etc.