The stellar line-of-sight velocity distribution (LOSVD) can be strongly asymmetric in regions where the light contributions of both disc and bulge in spiral and lenticular galaxies are comparable. Existing techniques for the stellar kinematics analysis do not take into account the difference of disc and bulge stellar populations. Here we present a novel approach to the analysis of stellar kinematics and stellar populations. We use a two-component model of spectra where different stellar population components are convolved with pure Gaussian LOSVDs. For this model we present Monte-Carlo simulations demonstrating degeneracies between the parameters.

The theoretical community is beginning to appreciate (and predict) the potential diversity of explosive outcomes from stellar evolution, while the supernovæ surveys are finding new kinds of supernovæ. This talk described two such new supernovæ. The first are ultraluminous core collapse supernovæ with radiated energies approaching 1051 ergs. The talk went on to present our recent work that explains these events with late-time energy deposition from rapidly rotating, highly magnetized neutron stars: magnetars. It concluded with our theoretical work on helium shell detonations on accreting white dwarfs that predict a new class of supernovæ called “.Ia's”. The first such candidate may well have been found by the Palomar Transient Factory.

The low metallicity interstellar medium of dwarf galaxies gives a different picture in the far infrared(FIR)/submillimetre(submm)wavelengths than the more metal-rich galaxies. Excess emission is often found in the submm beginning at or beyond 500 μm. Even without taking this excess emission into account as a possible dust component, higher dust-to-gas mass ratios (DGR) are often observed compared to that expected from their metallicity for moderately metal-poor galaxies. The Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of the lowest metallicity galaxies, however, give very low dust masses and excessively low values of DGR, inconsistent with the amount of metals expected to be captured into dust if we presume the usual linear relationship holding for all metallicities, including the more metal-rich galaxies. This transition seems to appear near metalllicities of 12 + log(O/H) 8.0 - 8.2. These results rely on accurately quantifying the total molecular gas reservoir, which is uncertain in low metallicity galaxies due to the difficulty in detecting CO(1-0) emission. Dwarf galaxies show an exceptionally high [CII] 158 μm/CO (1-0) ratio which may be indicative of a significant reservoir of ‘CO-free’ molecular gas residing in the photodissociated envelope, and not traced by the small CO cores.

We describe the La Silla-QUEST (LSQ) Variability Survey. LSQ is a dedicated wide-field synoptic survey in the Southern Hemisphere, focussing on the discovery and study of transients ranging from low redshift (z < 0.1) SN Ia, Tidal Disruption events, RR Lyræ variables, CVs, Quasars, TNOs and others. The survey utilizes the 1.0-m Schmidt Telescope of the European Southern Observatory at La Silla, Chile, with the large-area QUEST camera, a mosaic of 112 CCDs with field of view of 9.6 square degrees. The LSQ Survey was commissioned in 2009, and is now regularly covering ~1000 square deg per night with a repeat cadence of hours to days. The data are currently processed on a daily basis. We present here a first look at the photometric capabilities of LSQ and we discuss some of the most interesting recent transient detections.

The workshop on Historical Time-Domain Astronomy (TDA) was attended by a near-capacity gathering of ~30 people. From information provided in turn by those present, an up-to-date overview was created of available plate archives, progress in their digitization, the extent of actual processing of those data, and plans for data distribution. Several recommendations were made for prioritising the processing and distribution of historical TDA data.

This talk explored variability in active galactic nuclei (AGN) for a variety of scales across the time domain. From billion-year-scale intermittency to a quasi-periodic oscillation signal with a period of one hour, time-varying signals offer insights into a myriad of complex processes driven by the AGN central engine. Athough the era of time-domain observations of AGN across the spectrum has but just begun, already observations reveal the rich detail of phenomena associated with actively accreting black holes which challenge theoretical models.

The star formation rate (SFR) is still a poorly known characteristic of the Milky Way, especially concerning the possibility of an irregular SFR, compared to a constant rate. Some recent results based on the distribution of dwarf stars with chromospheric ages suggest at least two major bursts in the past 10 Gyr, while other investigations are consistent with an approximately constant SFR. The SFR also shows important spatial variations, particularly concerning the radial variations along the galactic disc. In this work, we investigate two different problems relative to the galactic SFR: (i) We estimate the star formation rate in the galactic disc based on the age distribution of the planetary nebula central stars (CSPN), and compare these results with previous investigations based on dwarf stars. The CSPN ages were derived on the basis of five different methods, involving the observed nebular metallicities and kinematical properties; (ii) We derive radial abundance gradients from several elements in planetary nebulae, and compare these results with recent determinations based on younger objects, such as HII regions and cepheid variables. Since the gradients are linked to the formation process of the galactic disc, we can estimate the spatial variation of the SFR. Preliminary results indicate that at least one major star formation burst is obtained, as well as a relatively smooth variation of the SFR along the galactocentric radius.

The dynamic transient gamma-ray sky is revealing many interesting results, largely due to findings by Fermi and Swift. The list includes new twists on gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), a GeV flare from a symbiotic star, GeV flares from the Crab Nebula, high-energy emission from novae and supernovae, and, within the last year, a new type of object discovered by Swift—a jetted tidal disruption event. In this review we present highlights of these exciting discoveries. A new mission concept called Lobster is also described; it would monitor the X-ray sky at order-of-magnitude higher sensitivity than current missions can.

A giant e± pair halo is formed by electromagnetic cascades developing around an AGN under the intergalactic magnetic field (1nG - 1μG). Many studies have been focussed on the pair halos in the gamma band because it has been predicted that the e±s in the pair halos up-scatter the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) to be gamma-rays. However, the pair halos do not emit only gamma photons but also X-ray photons via synchrotron radiation. In this paper, the Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) and the angular distributions of the synchrotron radiation of the pair halos from the Monte Carlo simulations will be discussed.

We present the spectral energy distributions (SED) of the 323 galaxies of the Herschel Reference Survey. In order to provide templates for nearby galaxies calibrated on physical parameters, we computed mean SEDs per bin of morphological types and stellar masses. They will be very useful to study more distant galaxies and their evolution with redshift. This preliminary work aims to study how the most commonly used libraries (Chary & Elbaz 2001, Dale & Helou 2002 and Draine & Li 2007) reproduce the far-infrared emission of galaxies. First results show that they reproduce well the far-infrared part of mean SEDs. For single galaxies the Draine & Li (2007) models seem to reproduce very well the far-infrared emission, as does the Dale & Helou (2002).

Stellar bars are important structures for the internal secular evolution of galaxies. They can drive gas into the central region of galaxies, and result in an enhancement of star formation activity there. Previous studies are limited in the comparisons between barred and unbarred galaxies. Here we try to investigate the connection between star formation activities and different bars, based on multi-wavelength data in a sample of barred spirals. We find that there is no clearly trend of the surface star formation rates in different structures along the bar strength. In addition, there is larger scatter for the properties of star formation activity in the galaxies with middle-strength bars, which may indicate that a variety of star formation stages are more likely associated with these bars.

We presented our analysis of a sample of type II supernova (SN) light curves measured by the Caltech Core Collapse Project (CCCP). CCCP is a large observational program which made use of the robotic 60-in and the Hale 200-in telescopes to obtain optical photometry, spectroscopy and IR photometry of 49 nearby core-collapse supernovae (SNe). It provides a fair sample of core-collapse events, with well-defined selection criteria, and uniform, high-quality optical/IR observations. Our goal is to characterize the little-studied properties of core-collapse supernovae as a population. Preliminary data indicate a diverse set of sub-populations including “standard” type IIP supernovæ, declining supernovæ (at different rates) and slowly rising peculiar supernovæ. Work is in progress to map and quantify that diversity better. It is hoped that a single tunable formula will be able to describe most light-curve shapes, thereby helping us attain a better understanding of the physical mechanisms underlying these results.

In order to determine the emission height of the optical photons from pulsars we present an inverse mapping approach, which is directly constrained by empirical data. The model discussed is for the case of the Crab pulsar. Our method, which uses the optical Stokes parameters, determines the most likely geometry for emission including the magnetic-field inclination angle (α), the observer's line-of-sight angle (χ) and emission height. We discuss the computational implementation of the approach, and the physical assumptions made. We find that the most likely emission altitude is at 20% of the light-cylinder radius above the stellar surface in the open field region.

Element abundance ratios hold important clues to understanding the evolution of stellar populations, through the varying timescales of different nucleosynthetic contributors. Newly measured and compiled [Mg/Fe] ratios in the MILES stellar library are used to confront models of star spectra. Such models have been used in recent years to provide estimates of differential changes in spectral line strengths, due to enhancements in [α/Fe]. In this paper we test one widely used set of theoretical element response functions. Using magnesium as a proxy for all alpha elements we test the reliability of these theoretical response functions against empirical observations, and thus the reliability of current methods of measuring element abundance ratios in the stellar populations.

The VAST survey is a wide-field survey that observes with unprecedented instrument sensitivity (0.5 mJy or lower) and repeat cadence (a goal of 5 seconds) that will enable novel scientific discoveries related to known and unknown classes of radio transients and variables. Given the unprecedented observing characteristics of VAST, it is important to estimate source classification performance, and determine best practices prior to the launch of ASKAP's BETA in 2012. The goal of this study is to identify light-curve characterization and classification algorithms that are best suited for archival VAST light-curve classification. We perform our experiments on light-curve simulations of eight source types and achieve best-case performance of approximately 90% accuracy. We note that classification performance is most influenced by light-curve characterization rather than classifier algorithm.

We present GalMC (Acquaviva et al. 2011), our publicly available Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm for SED fitting, show the results obtained for a stacked sample of Lyman Alpha Emitting galaxies at z ~ 3, and discuss the dependence of the inferred SED parameters on the assumptions made in modeling the stellar populations. We also introduce SpeedyMC, a version of GalMC based on interpolation of pre-computed template libraries. While the flexibility and number of SED fitting parameters is reduced with respect to GalMC, the average running time decreases by a factor of 20,000, enabling SED fitting of each galaxy in about one second on a 2.2GHz MacBook Pro laptop, and making SpeedyMC the ideal instrument to analyze data from large photometric galaxy surveys.

The current state-of-the-art of population synthesis is reviewed. The field is currently undergoing major revisions with the recognition of several key processes as new critical ingredients. Stochastic effects can artificially enhance or suppress certain evolutionary phases and/or stellar mass regimes and introduce systematic biases in, e.g., the determination of the stellar initial mass function. Post-main-sequence evolution is often associated with irregular variations of stellar properties on ultra-short time-scales. Examples are asymptotic giant branch stars and luminous blue variables, both of which are poorly treated in the models. Stars rarely form in isolation, and the fraction of truly single stars may be very small. Therefore, stellar multiplicity must be accounted for since many systems will develop tidal interaction over the course of their evolution. Last but not least, stellar rotation can drastically increase stellar temperatures and luminosities, which in turn leads to revised mass-to-light ratios in population synthesis models.

Lessons learned in the history and philosophy of science have generally had little immediate impact on how we as individual astronomers conduct our research. And yet we do share many common views on how we undertake basic research, and how we translate observations and theory into communicable knowledge. In this introductory talk I will illustrate how we as extragalactic astronomers have already violated some of the basic tenets of what constitutes “science” as seen from a philosophical point of view, and I will predict what the future of astronomy as a science may soon look like. Simple examples of how we are already “cognitively closed” to many immediate and tangible aspects of the Universe will be given and some solutions to this dilemma will be proposed. We may be at a point in time where more data is not necessarily the best solution to our problems. Discovering that familiar concepts and even certain objects may not exist in the traditional sense of the word could provide a motivation for broadening our way of conceptualizing the extragalactic Universe, more as a continuum of processes and phase transitions rather than an assembly of discrete objects. Once again the Universe may be “forcing us to think”.

We emphasize the crucial importance for authors and researchers to attach good and adequate metadata to their time-domain data. We provide pointers to existing and emerging standards, and provide guidance for labelling time in publications.

The star formation history (SFH) of galaxies is a principle uncertainty in SED modeling, and simple parameterizations of the SFH in typical SED fitting techniques may introduce biases in the resulting derived parameters. It is possible to constrain the SFH of galaxies more tightly through the observations of resolved stellar colour-magnitude diagrams with HST. This work is a first attempt to combine constraints on galaxy SFH from resolved stars with broadband SED modeling from the UV to the IR. This combination allows for the effects of different realistic SFHs on the SED to be quantified.