Are AGN Special? A Durham-Dartmouth International Workshop, Durham University, 30 July

Thanks to all our delegates for a great meeting!

Conference Photo

PDFs of the talks and poster presentations are now available.

Workshop overview

Powered by mass accretion onto super-massive black holes, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are undoubtedly exotic phenomena. According to most theoretical models of galaxy formation, AGN have also had a profound impact on the way the Universe looks today. However, AGN activity is, in another sense, a common phenomenon: the finding that essentially all massive galaxies host a central supermassive black hole clearly indicates that these galaxies have all hosted AGN activity at some point during their lives. Are these AGN phases a special period in the lifetime of the galaxy that require specific environmental conditions, or are they simply a random event that can occur at any time in any galaxy?

The objective of this international workshop is to bring together observers and theorists to explore the environmental dependence and global impact of AGN activity. During the five days of the workshop we will investigate:

• What host-galaxy properties facilitate AGN activity?

• What larger-scale environments facilitate AGN activity?

• Is the high-redshift Universe a special environment for AGN activity?

• How do AGN shape the way the Universe looks?

The workshop will be held in the historical city of Durham in England over 30th July to 3rd August 2018. The workshop will include a combination of invited, contributed, and poster talks, in addition to extended discussion sessions.

Confirmed speakers:
James Aird, Thaisa Storchi Bergmann, Almudena Alonso Herrero, Alison Coil, Vernesa Smolcic, Debora Sijacki, Bram Venemans, Yohan Dubois, Nadia Zakamska, Giovanni Cresci

Tweeting the Meeting

The official twitter account of the meeting is @SpecialAGN18. Follow us for updates, and use the hashtag #AGNSpecial18 to spread the word!

Tweets by SpecialAGN18

"Local" Organizing Committee

David Rosario (Durham, chair)
David Alexander (Durham)
Sotiria Fotopoulou (Durham)
Thomas Jackson (Durham)
Lizelke Klindt (Durham)
Elisabeta Lusso (Durham)
Jan Scholtz (Durham)
Mike DiPompeo (Dartmouth)
Christopher Harrison (ESO Garching)
Ryan Hickox (Dartmouth)
George Lansbury (Cambridge)
Lauranne Lanz (Dartmouth)
Allegra Santis (Brand Designer)

Science Organizing Committee

David Alexander (Durham, co-chair)
Ryan Hickox (Dartmouth, co-chair)
Richard Bower (Durham)
Marcella Brusa (Bologna)
Alison Coil (UC San Diego)
Sara Ellison (Victoria)
Santiago Garcia-Burillo (Madrid Observatory)
Ian McCarthy (Liverpool John Moores)
Adam Myers (Wyoming)
Priya Natarajan (Yale)
Debora Sijacki (Cambridge)
Thaisa Storchi-Bergmann (UF Rio Grande do Sul)
Benny Trakhtenbrot (ETH Zurich)