10-14 Jul 2017 St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands)
We are entering the golden age of time domain astronomy, providing unparalleled insight into variable phenomena associated with supermassive black hole fueling. The uptick in discoveries of "changing-look" AGN in recent years challenges standard accretion theories and some may perhaps be ascribed to tidal disruption events (TDEs), or microlensing. Our aim is to bring together the communities of AGN variability, TDEs, microlensing, and theorists to focus on the following main themes:
- What do we know about AGN variability in general? Are changing-look AGN and TDEs the extreme tail end of this distribution? How can we extend theoretical progress to learn about regular to extreme variability in AGN?
- What can changing-look AGN, TDEs, and microlensing teach us about the theory of accretion physics and the AGN/galaxy connection?
- How can we devise strategies to most efficiently look for these phenomena with the upcoming generation of multiwavelength telescopes, including Pan-STARRS, PTF/ZTF, LSST, eROSITA, SKA, WFIRST?
Conference Official Webpage: https://variableagn2017.sciencesconf.org/
Public Astronomy Lecture
On Friday July 14th at 7pm in the ACC building there will be an astronomy lecture by two of the professional astronomers (Dr. LaMassa and Dr. Alastair) attending the conference.See the flyer.
