The Kavli–IAU workshop on “Probing the Universe from far-infrared to millimeter wavelengths: future facilities and their synergies” took place from 26 to 28 March 2024 in Pasadena, USA, and its report is now available.  This workshop was the third of an ongoing collaboration with The Kavli Foundation to organise triennial workshops of the IAU Executive Committee (EC) working group on Global Coordination of Ground and Space Astrophysics.

The 2024 Kavli-IAU Workshop convened 70 researchers from six continents and sixteen countries. Featuring fourteen invited talks and five panel discussions, it aimed to define the needs and potential synergies for different facilities at wavelengths from ~30 μm to a few cm in the 2030+ era, considering both financial and programmatic limitations and exploring how to maximise the scientific insights from the data they will yield in the coming decades.  The participants, ranging from early-career researchers to senior scientists, came from universities, research institutes, observatories and space agencies and included science community leaders and technology experts.

The report summarises the findings and the recommendations emerging from the excellent presentations and lively discussions at the workshop. This wavelength range provides unique probes of relatively cool, dense interstellar material central to studying the physics and chemistry of nascent stars, protoplanetary discs, and young forming exoplanets. On larger scales, these facilities probe dust and dense gas in galaxies and around highly obscured accreting supermassive black holes and are thus essential for characterising feedback processes and galaxy evolution out to the highest redshifts. Solar system and time domain studies are also addressed.

The main recommendations include the need for ALMA to develop an ALMA2040 vision; for ngVLA to maintain its momentum and schedule and further develop international partnerships; for far-IR astronomy to pursue a space-based observatory with urgency; and for large aperture, wide field millimeter/submillimeter telescopes to continue studies to mature science and technology. The outcomes of the workshop were presented in the Global Coordination working group meeting at the XXXII General Assembly in Cape Town on August 13, 2024. 

This workshop was enabled through the generous support of the Kavli Foundation and hosted kindly by Caltech. Global strategic planning and discussion are key to developing long-term collaborative efforts and maximising science returns worldwide. The IAU stimulates such activities through its working group on Global Coordination of Ground and Space Astrophysics. The co-chairs of the Working Group in this period were Roger Davies and Rachel Somerville, with the IAU Executive Committee liaisons IAU past presidents Ewine van Dishoeck and Debra Elmegreen. Full membership of the working group can be found here.

More information

The IAU is the international astronomical organisation that brings together more than 12 000 active professional astronomers from more than 100 countries worldwide. Its mission is to promote and safeguard astronomy in all its aspects, including research, communication, education and development, through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and the surface features on them. Founded in 1919, the IAU is the world's largest professional body for astronomers.

The Kavli Foundation was established in 2000 by Fred Kavli, a Norwegian-American entrepreneur and champion of science, with a vision to advance science for the benefit of humanity. The Kavli Foundation identifies potentially transformative ideas and catalyzes opportunities that unlock the benefits of science to create lasting impact for science and society.

Links

• Kavli-IAU Workshop Report
• Kavli-IAU Workshop Official Webpage
• IAU Executive Committee (EC) working group on Global Coordination of Ground and Space Astrophysics

Contacts

Ewine van Dishoeck
Past President of the IAU
Email: ewine@strw.leidenuniv.nl

Lina Canas
IAU Membership Coordinator
Email: lina.canas@iau.org / iaupressoffice@iau.org 

Guido Schwarz
IAU Press Officer
Email: iaupressoffice@iau.org