Overview:
Cosmic dust is omnipresent; the universe contains various types of dust and the field of cosmic dust research is manifold. Our understanding of cosmic dust has evolved significantly in the past two decades particularly in context of the dust properties and role of dust in a wide range of astrophysical processes, including grain alignment in interstellar magnetic fields, the influence of dust in stellar mass-loss processes, its impact on the thermal structure of ionized gas, and the critical role of grains in driving molecular chemistry in the interstellar medium. This field has witnessed substantial advances with the advent of recent developments in the ground based and space spaced infrared observing facilities, sophisicated numerical codes to model the observations more realistically and the advancement in laboratory astrophysics which provides accurate optical properties of astronomical dust.
In this rapidly advancing context, it is timely and essential to review recent developments in cosmic dust research and to disseminate these advances to early-career researchers. Such an effort is crucial for sustaining and strengthening India’s contributions to this field in the years to come. This provides strong motivation for organizing this Workshop on Astrophysics of the Interstellar Dust. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) aspires to play a significant role in this effort, uniting individual expertise that enhances the country’s contributions to this rapidly advancing field. The Vainu Bappu Observatory (VBO) has hosted two workshops on astrophysical dust over the past few decades, both of which were highly successful and helped consolidate the Indian dust research community. This will be the third workshop in that series.
Aims:
● To discuss the current trends and to provide adequate knowledge on the research on cosmic dust among young researchers (mostly PhDs)
● To train them on the observations and modelling tools used in cosmic dust research
● To foster collaboration in cutting-edge research areas in this field.
Objectives:
● Dust in different environments: solar system, circumstellar (young and evolved stars, supernovae), ISM and extragalactic.
● Cosmic dust: origin, composition, properties, and their impacts.
● Dust and ISM magnetic fields study using polarization techniques in diverse astrophysical environments
● Grains in ionized and neutral gas: their presence and impact on thermal structure and abundances
● Introduction to observational, theoretical, and modeling techniques related to dust and magnetic fields.
● Hands-on sessions on a) Data analysis b) Radiative transfer Modelling c) CLOUDY modelling d) Grain alignment modelling from students/PDFs
Registration:
Registration is required for both in-person and online participants. In-person participation in the workshop is limited and is reserved for the PhD students who are working on related topics. Students seeking in-person participation should register with name, affiliation, title of the thesis, expected year of submission and a short write up on how the workshop will be useful to their research. A reference letter from his/her guide has to be submitted.
For in-person participants, transport from Bangalore to VBO (both ways) and local hospitality at VBO during the workshop will be provided.
Abstract Submission:
All the participants (in-person and online) are welcome to submit the abstracts if they want to present their work
