Meetings

The XVI Scientific Meeting of the SEA will be held in Granada from July 15 to 19, 2024, organized jointly with the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC).

As a new feature, this edition will offer the possibility to organize small thematic symposia within the scientific meeting. 

Light pollution has a direct impact on the environment, on astronomical observations and on the starry sky as a heritage resource of humanity. Excessive light confuses the biological clocks of humans, animals and plants with its spectral composition similar to daylight. As a result, it makes it difficult to distinguish between day and night and between the seasons to which living organisms are physiologically attuned.

Light pollution is therefore an environmental problem caused by the inappropriate use of artificial light (the pollutant) with a strong transboundary character because, under the right conditions, light can spread up to hundreds of kilometres away from its source. It can therefore affect habitats far away from the pollutant sources.

For this reason, the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish government, through the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, is organising, in collaboration with the Spanish Network of Studies on Light Pollution, this international scientific meeting dedicated to addressing the pressing issues surrounding light pollution and its monitoring, which is a matter of significant environmental and legal concern.

This meeting is dedicated to addressing the pressing issues surrounding light pollution and its monitoring, which is a matter of significant environmental and legal concern. The program is structured into four insightful sessions:

• Legal and Environmental Justification for Monitoring Light Pollution: This session will delve into the legal frameworks and environmental imperatives driving the need for vigilant monitoring of light pollution.
• Measurement of Light Pollution on Ground: Experts will share methodologies and latest technologies employed in measuring light pollution at the terrestrial level.
• Satellite Measurement of Light Pollution: This session will focus on the advancements in satellite technology aiding in the monitoring of light pollution from space.
• Needs for Modelling Light Pollution: Discussions in this session will center around the requirements and strategies for accurate modelling of light pollution to aid in policy formulation and implementation.

With the event "Seven questions that will change the world" we aim to take a well-meaning look at what lies ahead. We want to play at imagining what science will be like in ten, twenty, fifty years' time... What will it have to face? What challenges will it have to take on? What capacities will we be able to achieve?  We are going to try to describe the future as realistically as possible. But, as we have already said, we are not going to succeed. If the history of science and technological development shows us anything, it is that the smart thing to do is to refrain from trying to predict anything. New disruptive technologies will emerge, paradigms will change, seemingly immovable foundations will fall, ideas that nobody imagined will emerge and unexpected discoveries will be made... or perhaps none of this will happen. The only thing that is certain is that the horizon looks worrying. That there are things that must be changed, and that science and technology must help us to do so. To lead the way. But to do so, we must listen to those who know. And this is what we are going to do.  

Eight expert voices will speak today about the science of the future. They will try to answer seven key questions that will mark the path of what is to come, of the future that awaits us. And all this wrapped in music that emerges from the most traditional and classical past to the present. Art of always for the science and technology of the future. 

"Seven questions that will change the world" (The state of the "art" of the science of the future) is part of 100xCiencia.7, the annual meeting of the SOMMa alliance that brings together the scientific community of the Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence and María de Maeztu Units of Excellence, which in this seventh edition will bring together representatives of the 65 entities that currently form part of the alliance.

The Solar Orbiter PHI team meeting will take place in Granada. In this meeting we will discuss the status of the instrument and the science. 

The study of quantum fields in curved spacetime has delivered many important insights not only in the regime of extreme gravitational phenomena, but also in the foundations of quantum field theory. The purpose of the workshop is to bring together researchers with different backgrounds and levels of expertise to foment discussions around fundamental topics within the field: 

• QFT in the early universe and black holes 

• Semiclassical Einstein equations and the backreaction problem

• Relativistic quantum information

• Mathematical foundations of QFTCS

• Interplay between QFTCS and quantum gravity 

As a new feature for this second edition we intend to branch out discussions into fields that are not usually given the spotlight within the community but are nonetheless crucial to its foundation. In particular, we plan to include topics related with quantum gravity, namely how QFTCS fits within the different approaches toward quantum gravity. We strongly encourage the participation of researchers from the field of quantum gravity with an interest in phenomenology and QFTCS. 

The CTAO/CTAC Spring Meeting 2023 will take place in Granada (Spain) and will gather colleagues from the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) and the Cherenkov Telescope Array Consortium (CTAC), who will travel from around the world to attend or join remotely. With a new format that will allow more plenary sessions and discussion panels, the CTAO and CTAC members will present the latest results on different topics, such as science analysis tools, science data challenge, telescope development, computing or science communication, among others.

Active galaxy nuclei (AGN) represent one of the most extreme phenomena in the universe. Since their discovery in the 1960s, AGNs have aroused great interest in the astrophysical community, first as exotic objects and now recognized as major players in galaxy evolution and even recently as candidates for standard candles in cosmology. Since the 1990s it has been well established that massive galaxies (and possibly all galaxies) harbor a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at their center, whose mass is strongly related to certain properties of the galaxy. The evolution of star formation history and AGNs appears to follow similar trends up to very early ages of the universe, while theoretical models indicate that nuclear activity is essential to regulate star formation through feedback mechanisms. Significant progress has recently been made in understanding the physical processes associated with AGNs, but important questions remain open, mainly about their intrinsic nature and their role in galaxy formation and evolution. Advances in the understanding of AGNs are supported by the availability of new astronomical technology that will, at present and in the near future, reduce some of the more severe limitations of previous instrumentation. Spatial resolutions will be achieved that will allow the study of the vicinity of the supermassive black hole and will cover ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum that have been little explored to date. Following the success of previous AGN meetings convened in our country, once again this meeting will allow to review the current understanding in AGN research, discuss the potential of recent and future instrumentation, and find synergies between the different Spanish AGN teams. Special attention will be given to new instrumental projects of relevant interest for AGNs studies in which Spain participates.