Event details

Date
February 8, 2027  – February 12, 2027
Location
Sport & Kurhotel at Bad Moos - Via Val Fiscalina 27, 39030, Sexten
This workshop is by invitation only

Scientific Rationale

It is widely recognized that in a few years Astrophysics and Cosmology are going to be revolutionized by the large amount of data that ground-based and space observing facilities will provide to the community. This quantum jump in the amount of data available is going to be even more effective for resolved stellar populations and nearby cosmology.

Gaia DR4 is expected to be released at the end of 2026 and will provide accurate and homogeneous photometric, spectroscopic, and astrometric information for billions of stars in the Milky Way and in Local Group stellar systems. Note that this information, together with radial velocities collected from ground-based facilities, will allow us to integrate the orbits of millions of stellar tracers and to trace back in space and time the early formation of stellar systems (clusters, galaxies).
Meanwhile, with the release of the first commissioning data expected in mid-2026 and the official start of the survey announced on June 29, 2026, we are witnessing the transition into the Vera Rubin- LSST era. This experiment will collect over a timescale of ten years images of the entire Southern sky in six different photometric (ugrizy) bands. The 8 metre class telescope will allow us to reach a depth of r∼24 mag per single exposure. With these limiting magnitudes, the photometric accuracy and the homogeneity of the data, the survey will exceed current limits set by Gaia several orders of magnitudes both in depth and in completeness. This means the unique opportunity to investigate the outskirts of the Galactic Halo by using main sequence stars and variable stars to investigate stellar populations beyond the Galactic center.

In parallel, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is entering its operational phase with the definition of its Core Community Surveys and the announcement of the Cycle 1 General Investigator Program selections. Among the five approved GI proposals, two focus on resolved stellar populations—one targeting globular clusters and the other the stellar populations of the Andromeda Galaxy and Triangulum Galaxy—further highlighting the strong scientific interest in this field.
This is just one piece of the story; since comprehensive public spectroscopic surveys will further complement this revolution. WEAVE is already collecting data, 4MOST already passed science verification. The former experiment will collect in a single exposure optical spectra of up to one thousand targets of Northern targets. The latter one will collect spectra for ∼2400 objects over a field of view of four square degrees. Moreover, SDSS V will perform optical and NIR spectroscopy of the entire sky with multi-epoch measurements. This new frontier in stellar spectroscopy based on high multiplex and high spectral resolution, will provide complete and accurate distribution functions for iron peak, alpha and neutron capture elements in the MW and in LG galaxies. This means an extensive use of chemical planes (abundance ratios) and metallicity gradients to constrain chemical evolution models and to remove the intrinsic degeneracy of the kinematical planes adopted for the identification of Galactic components and stellar streams.

We are planning to put together the main actors of this revolution: photometrists, spectroscopists, astrometricists and theoreticians to share initiatives, codes, projects to cope with this new and titanic challenge. The list of speakers we have put together (many of whom have already been contacted and have responded enthusiastically) has been compiled taking into account gender, age and geographical balance.

We intend to allocate ample time to each speaker, allowing for in-depth presentations and, most importantly, for meaningful discussion and the exchange of ideas (30-45min). Rather than a tightly scheduled format, the emphasis will be on interaction and collective thinking. Each contribution will be an opportunity to explore perspectives, raise questions, and propose new approaches.

In addition, each day we will identify a set of key topics to revisit in dedicated brainstorming sessions at the end of the day. These sessions will be designed to encourage informal discussion, stimulate creativity, and help synthesize the ideas that emerge throughout the meeting.

All contributions will be preserved for future reference, as the SOC has signed an agreement with the editors of the Videomemorie series, which will record the individual talks, assign them a DOI, and include them in a dedicated volume of the meeting available at https://www.memsait.it/MemSAITvideomemorie.php.

Organizers

Bono G., Calamida A., Di Criscienzo M., Fiorentino G., Matsunaga N., Monelli M., Lardo C

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Payment details

Registration Fee
350 Eur The registration fee includes the daily use of the conference room, Wi-Fi, a daily coffee break, and a couple of social events (TBD), including a beer-and-go on the last day and, weather permitting, a hike during the week.
Workshop code for bus and payment
RSP27