Event details

Date
February 15, 2027  – February 19, 2027
Location
Sport & Kurhotel at Bad Moos - Via Val Fiscalina 27, 39030, Sexten

Scientific Rationale

The first stars formed from the collapse of primordial gas clouds devoid of heavy elements. At the end of their lives, they either exploded as supernovae—enriching the surrounding medium and paving the way for subsequent generations of stars—or collapsed into black holes, potentially seeding the supermassive black holes observed at redshifts (z∼6 and above).

Characterizing the properties of this first generation of stars—commonly referred to as Population III stars—and understanding their role in cosmic evolution remain central goals of modern astrophysics. Significant effort is devoted to developing theoretical models that aim to describe their formation and evolution. Observationally, much of our current knowledge comes from so-called Galactic archaeology: the study of low-mass, extremely metal-poor stars in the Milky Way. These stellar “messengers” carry the nucleosynthetic signatures of the first supernovae. By analyzing their chemical compositions, we can reconstruct the physical conditions under which their progenitor stars formed, shedding light on the nature of the first stellar populations.

Direct observation of these stars is expected to be extremely challenging. However, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) with its unprecedented capabilities, has already allowed the detection of several very-low metallicity galaxies and stellar clumps at z>6 that could host PopIII star formation. In addition, metal-poor gas clouds observed in absorption against high-redshift background sources provide another powerful probe. These distant snapshots preserve the elemental fingerprints of the earliest stars and galaxies, offering valuable insight into the chemical evolution of the Universe. This international conference will bring together experts to synthesize these multi-messenger approaches. By bridging the gap between local stellar archaeology and high-redshift observations, we will address the following key questions:

• What are the definitive observational signatures of Pop III stars?
• How can we leverage synergy between different observational probes?
• What are the realistic prospects for the direct detection of the first stars?

Organizers

SOC
Valentina D’Odorico, Francesca Matteucci, Paolo Molaro, Gabriele Cescutti

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Payment details

Registration Fee
400,00 Eur
Workshop code for bus and payment
ECH27