Conference: Galaxy Cluster Formation (GCF) 2020

Published: 20 Feb 2020
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ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 13–17 July 2020 

Please mark your calendars and register to participate in the second edition of The Early Stages of Galaxy Cluster Formation (GCF) 2020: Mergers, Proto-clusters, and Star Formation in Overdense Environments. Proto-clusters, high redshift galaxy clusters, and merging clusters represent the initial stages in the formation of largest gravitationally-bound structures in the Universe. Forming via mergers and accretion, (proto-)cluster assembly has a decisive impact on their subsequent evolution, and is thus an important process to understand. The aim of GCF2020 is to discuss cluster formation over the last roughly ten billion years, from its beginnings to the present day, with a particular focus on the progress and developments since our first GCF meeting in 2017.

This is truly a golden age to study assembling clusters and proto-clusters. New facilities covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum have just been completed, are being commissioned now, or are in the advanced planning phase. Among the key topics that the workshop will address are: definition of proto-clusters and what distinguishes them from clusters; how reliably do we detect and select merging clusters and proto-clusters; when does the hot intra-cluster medium form; how does the formation of (proto-)clusters relate to the peak of star formation and black hole activity; what new facilities are needed to advance the study of cluster/proto-cluster assembly? For this highly multi-wavelength topic, participants with expertise from the full span of the electromagnetic spectrum are encouraged to contribute. 

The talks abstract deadline is on 20 Mar and early registration ends on 23 April. Please visit our conference website for additional information.