Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for Infrared Exploration (JASMINE) aims to construct a map of the Galactic bulge with a 10 μas accuracy. We use z-band CCD or K-band array detector to avoid dust absorption, and observe about 10 × 20 degrees area around the Galactic bulge region.

In this poster, we show the observation strategy, reduction scheme, and error budget. We also show the basic design of the software for the end-to-end simulation of JASMINE, named JASMINE Simulator.

We use a Galerkin method to compute the eigenfunctions and eigenperiods of some of the Earths spheroidal and toroidal modes. The boundary conditions are treated using a Tau method. We show that for a realistic Earth model the difference between the computed and observed periods is less than 1.4%. We conclude that a Galerkin method may be an effective tool for the studies of the Earth's normal modes.

Using a combination of deep MID-IR observations obtained by IRAC, MIPS and IRS on board Spitzer we investigate the MID-IR properties of Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) at z~3, establish a better understanding of their nature and attempt a complete characterisation of the population. With deep mid-infrared and optical observations of ~1000 LBGs covered by IRAC/MIPS and from the ground respectively, we extend the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the LBGs to mid-infrared. Spitzer data reveal for the first time that the mid-infrared properties of the population are inhomogeneous ranging from those with marginal IRAC detections to those with bright rest-frame near-infrared colors and those detected at 24μm MIPS band revealing the newly discovered population of the Infrared Luminous Lyman Break Galaxies (ILLBGs). To investigate this diversity, we examine the photometric properties of the population and we use stellar population synthesis models to probe the stellar content of these galaxies. We find that a fraction of LBGs have very red colors and large estimated stellar masses M∗>5×1010M⊙. We discuss the link between these LBGs and submm-luminous galaxies and we report the detection of rest frame 6.2 and 7.7 μm emission features arising from Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) in the Spitzer/IRS spectrum of an infrared-luminous Lyman break galaxy at z=3.01.

ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, provides a large collecting area at a location on a high dry site, endowing it with unparalleled potential for sensitive spectral line observations. Its wide frequency coverage, superb receivers and flexible backend will ensure that that potential is met. Although in the Southern Hemisphere, its tropical latitude ensures good coverage of the northern sky. Since the last meeting on astrophysical masers, the ALMA team has substantially enhanced its capability for line observations. Japan's entry into ALMA has provided increased sensitivity with the addition of the 16 antennas of the Atacama Compact Array, equivalent to eight additional 12m telescopes. The first four cartridges for the baseline ALMA receiver packages (to be augmented by three other bands owing to Japanese participation) have been accepted, with performance above the already-challenging specifications. At first light, ALMA will offer nearly complete frequency coverage of the millimeter and submillimeter spectral windows, ensuring coverage of a variety of masering transitions. ALMA's flexibility as a spectrometer has increased with the enhancement of the baseline correlator with tunable filter banks, and with the addition of a separate correlator for the ACA. As an example of the increased flexibility, ALMA is now capable of multi-spectral-region and multi-resolution modes. With the former, one might observe e.g. four separate transitions anywhere within one of four 2 GHz bands with a high resolution bandwidth. With the latter, one might simultaneously observe with low spectral resolution over a wide bandwidth and with high spectral resolution over a narrow bandwidth. Thus, one could simultaneously cover an extremely broad velocity range while providing high spectral resolution of groups of lines within that range. Several science examples will be presented illustrating ALMA's potential for transforming the millimeter and submillimeter study of masers.

The first dedicated space-VLBI project, the VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP), commenced with the successful launch of radio-astronomical satellite HALCA in 1997. Plans for a second generation space-VLBI project have been made by a working group over a number of years. This project, VSOP-2, has now been approved by Japan's space agency, JAXA, as the ASTRO-G project. It is planned for the spacecraft to observe in the 8, 22 and 43 GHz bands with cooled receivers for the two higher bands, which include important maser lines. It will have a maximum angular resolution at 43 GHz (7 mm) of about 40 micro-arcseconds. Although the VSOP project mainly observed continuum emission from active galactic nuclei (AGN), VSOP-2/ASTRO-G is expected to enable a variety of high angular resolution maser line observations.

The understanding and modelling of the structure and evolution of stars is based on statistical physics as well as on hydrodynamics. Today, a precise identification and proper description of the physical processes at work in stellar interiors are still lacking (one key point being that of transport processes) while comparison of real stars to model predictions, which implies conversions from the theoretical space to the observational one, suffers from uncertainties in model atmospheres. This results in uncertainties on the prediction of stellar properties needed for galactic studies or cosmology (as stellar ages and masses). In the next decade, progress is expected from the theoretical, experimental and observational sides. I illustrate some of the problems we are facing when modelling stars and possible ways toward their solutions. I discuss how future observational ground-based or spatial programs (in particular those dedicated to micro-arc-second astrometry, asteroseismology and interferometry) will provide precise determinations of the stellar parameters and contribute to a better knowledge of stellar interiors and atmospheres in a wide range of stellar masses, chemical composition and evolution stages.

Pseudobulges form from unstable disks, while classical bulges form in violent episodes of star formation when a merger sweeps cold gas to a galactic centre. It seems unlikely that smashed disks contribute much to classical bulges. During mergers central black holes make cusps shallower and inflate kinematically decoupled cores. The abundance of galaxies with no detected classical bulge can perhaps be understood if galaxies exchange gas with the IGM more freely than is often supposed.

Stellar populations in the Milky Way and in external galaxies are reviewed, based on the conferences and posters presented at this meeting.

We describe the ongoing hardware and software developments that shall enable the ESO VLTI to perform narrow-angle differential delay astrometry in K-band with an accuracy of up to 10 μarcsec. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to perform an astrometric search for extrasolar planets around nearby stars.

This paper focuses on highlights of the symposium and attempts to synthesize recent results in terms of key advances and unsolved problems related to maser research.

The Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) Treasury Survey (CATS) has observed 11 Chandra sources (10 AGN) at z ~ 1 in the GOODS-South field with the laser guide star adaptive optics (LGSAO) system at Keck Observatory. We combine this K band imaging with ACS imaging in the B, V, I, and z bands to obtain multi-color imaging at a spatial resolution better than 100 mas in all bands. We attempt to remove central optical point sources from AGN using the GALFIT (Peng et al. 2002) routine. We fit Bruzual & Charlot (2003) tau-models to the residuals and find young, dusty stellar populations in the central 1-2 kpc (the mean central optical depth at rest-frame 500 nm is 4-5).

We are entering the era of microarcsecond astrometric accuracy. Breaking the milliarcsecond barrier will lead to consequent leaps in astronomical understanding of diverse topics. Here we review some current ground-based trigonometric parallax efforts and their recent scientific results. We highlight the current status of nearby star research, including the RECONS census of stars within a 10 pc horizon, white dwarfs and cool subdwarfs, and the push to detect substellar objects via astrometry. We also provide details about recent improvements in the methodology that have permitted the determination of parallaxes with ~1 milliarcsecond accuracy, and what might be done to push routinely into the sub-millarcsecond regime.

The chronology of bulge and disk formation is a major unsolved issue in galaxy formation, which impacts on our global understanding of the Hubble sequence. We present colours of the nuclear regions of intermediate-redshift disk galaxies, with the aim of obtaining empirical information of ages of bulges at intermediate z. We work with a sample of 248 galaxies (123 inclined + 125 face-on) from the HST Groth Strip Survey (Groth et al. 1994) and another one with 404 objects (214 inclined + 190 face-on) from the HST GOODS-N field (Giavalisco et al. 2004), covering redshifts 0.1 < z < 1.3. Those samples are apparent-diameter limited at R > 1.4″. We find that, as in the Local Universe, the minor axis color profiles are negative (bluer outward), and fairly gentle, indicating that bulge colours are not distinctly different from disk colours. We apply a conservative criterion to identify bulges and potential precursors of present-day bulges, based on nuclear excess surface brightness above the exponential profile of the outer parts. For galaxies with central brightness excesses, rest-frame colour distributions show a red sequence that confirms the finding of very red bulges by Koo et al. (2005), using independent methods. In contrast, galaxies without central brightness excesses show typical colours of star-forming populations. Clearly, something had truncated star formation in many high-density cores, already at z ~ 1. The truncation epoch is uncertain, 1.5 < z < 10. The colour-magnitude distribution of intermediate-z bulges shows more colour dispersion than that of bulges in the Local Universe. About 50% of bulges are as red as local bulges, while the remainder are significantly bluer, a possible sign of late bulge formation. We also find that bulge colours correlate with integrated galaxy colours and with their disk colours.

We discuss the role of distances for understanding brown dwarfs and estimate the contribution expected by Gaia. We show that Gaia will only observe 25% of L and T dwarfs within 50pc which, at a conservative estimate, amounts to less than 400 objects. We discuss how Gaia results will nevertheless aid the ground-based programs providing reliable, bias free constraints for the calculation of parallaxes in an absolute system. We list the current ground-based programs underway and the possibilities for future all sky survey programs.

Galaxy kinematics at early epochs give a key insight into the assembly of mass. Redshifts z ~ 1 − 3 appear to be the peak of the star formation rate of the Universe, possibly corresponding to the maximal merger activity. 2D velocity fields of late-type galaxies can be used to put important constraints on its total mass and hence on its dark matter halo. As dark halos are thought to govern the rate of galaxy evolution, securing reliable mass measurements for early systems at high redshift is a fundamental observational goal. In addition, accurate inner shape rotation curves, only drawed by 3D spectroscopic studies, should allow to disentangle cosmological scenarii. In the purpose of probing the evolution in masses and mass-to-light ratios of the galaxies during an epoch of expected strong evolution, and setting constrains on their formation and evolution, we present preliminary results obtained from Integral Field NIR Spectroscopy with SINFONI/VLT of a first sample of ten high-z (1.3 < z < 3.3) late-type galaxies selected in the VIMOS/VLT Deep Survey (VVDS). The SINFONI NIR-IFU mode allow to spatially resolve galaxy dynamics using bright rest-frame optical emission lines, in order to perform statistical studies of dynamical masses at this early epochs.

We review our work on Galactic open clusters in recent years, and introduce our proposed large program for the LOCS (LAMOST Open Cluster Survey). First, based on the most complete open clusters sample with metallicity, age and distance data as well as kinematic information, some preliminary statistical analysis regarding the spatial and metallicity distributions is presented. In particular, a radial abundance gradient of −0.058±0.006 dex kpc−1 is derived. By dividing clusters into the age groups we show that the disk abundance gradient was steeper in the past. Secondly, proper motions, membership probabilities, and velocity dispersions of stars in the regions of two very young open clusters are derived. Both clusters show clear evidence of mass segregation, which provides support for the “primordial” mass segregation scenario. Based on the advantages of the forthcoming LAMOST facility, we have proposed a detailed open cluster survey with LAMOST (the LOCS). The aim, feasibility, and the present development of the LOCS are briefly summarized.

We use a combination of deep, high angular resolution imaging data from the HST/ACS GOODS survey and ground based near-IR Ks images to derive the evolution of the galaxy major merger rate in the redshift range 0.2 ≤ z ≤ 1.2. We select galaxies on the sole basis of their J-band rest-frame, absolute magnitude, which is a good tracer of the stellar mass. We find steep evolution with redshift, with the merger rate ∝ (1+z)2.44±0.39 for optically selected pairs, and ∝ (1+z)2.07±0.74 for pairs selected in the near-IR. Our result is unlikely affected by luminosity evolution which is relatively modest when using a rest-frame J band selection. The major merger rate evolves by a factor ~5 from the current epoch to 1.6×10−3 Mpc−3 Gyr−1 at z ~ 1.2, suggesting that 58%×(0.5 Gyr/τ) of all galaxies with MJ ≤ −19.5 have undergone a major merger in the last ~ 8 Gyr (where τ is the merger timescale). Interestingly, we find no effect on the derived major merger rate due to the presence of the large scale structure at z = 0.735 in the CDFS. We do find some evidence for increased star formation due to possible interactions between members of a pair using Spitzer MIPS 24μm fluxes to estimate the SFR.

As the oldest objects whose ages can be accurately determined, Galactic globular clusters can be used to establish the minimum age of the universe (and hence, to constrain cosmological models) and to study the early formation history of the Milky Way. The largest uncertainty in the determination of globular cluster ages is the distance scale. The current uncertainty in the distances to globular clusters is ~ 6%, which leads to a 13% uncertainty in the absolute ages of globular clusters. I am the PI on a SIM-Planetquest key project to determine the distances of 21 globular clusters with an accuracy of ranging from 1 to 4%. This will lead to age determinations accurate to 5 − 9%. The mean age of the oldest, most metal-poor globular clusters will be determined with an accuracy of ±3%.

Recent optical and near-infrared surveys have considerably improved our knowledge of galactic structure and galactic evolution. Two ways can be used to infer this knowledge from datasets: either inversing the data to get parameters describing the Galaxy, or using a synthetic approaches to test scenarios of formation and theoretical models for star and galaxy formation and evolution, both approaches being complementary. Using the synthetic approach the Besancon Galaxy model allows to test scenarios for the structure and evolution of the Galaxy by comparing simulations with the survey data. Examples are given using the 2MASS survey. Future uses of astrometric survey data are shown to be able to efficiently constrain the kinematics and dynamics of the Galaxy.

High redshift galaxies play a key role in our developing understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. Since such galaxies are being studied within a Gyr of the big bang, they provide a unique probe of the physics of one of the first generations of large-scale star-formation. We have performed a complete statistical study of the physical properties of a robust sample of z~5 UV luminous galaxies selected using the Lyman-break technique. The characteristic properties of this sample differ from LBGs at z~3 of comparable luminosity in that they are a factor of ten less massive (~few×109 M⊙) and the majority (~70%) are considerably younger (<100Myr). Our results support no more than a modest decline in the global star formation rate density at high redshifts and suggest that ~1% of the stellar mass density of the universe had already assembled at z~5. The constraint derived for the latter is affected by their young ages and short duty cycles which imply existing z~5 LBG samples may be highly incomplete. These intense starbursts have high unobscured star formation rate surface densities (~100s M⊙ yr−1 kpc−2), suggesting they drive outflows and winds that enrich the intra- and inter-galactic media with metals. These properties imply that the majority of z~5 LBGs are in formation meaning that most of their star-formation has likely occurred during the last few crossing times. They are experiencing their first (few) generations of large-scale star formation and are accumulating their first significant stellar mass. As such, z~5 LBGs are the likely progenitors of the spheroidal components of present-day massive galaxies (supported by their high stellar mass surface densities and their core phase-space densities).