Exoplanets by the Lake
July 31 — August 4 2023
A focused summer school on high-resolution spectroscopy of exoplanet atmospheres at Lake Starnberg — Munich.
Background
In its wake, the pandemic has dramatically transformed the way that academia conducts its conferences, workshops and summer schools. Most academic events now offer hybrid formats, allowing for the possibility of remote participation. Exoplanets by the Lake is intended to be a signature summer school series that aims to reinstate an interactive, in-person summer school format among participants that is not easily achievable online. In 2023, our focus is on the use of high-resolution spectroscopy and ground-based telescopes to probe the physical and chemical properties of the atmospheres of exoplanets. This line of research is highly synergistic with space-based telescopes like the JWST, while still providing unique insights into the dynamics of atmospheres and their molecular constituents. High-resolution spectroscopy of exoplanetary atmospheres is one of the key science cases of the Extremely Large Telescope, which will come online in the next decade.
The distinctive features of the summer school include:
- Emphasis on in-person interaction at an attractive, self-contained venue with at most 50 participants. The number of participants is kept small in order to encourage unrestricted, interactive discussions among exoplanet scientists of all sub-disciplines and seniority.
- The event will be held for 5 days (4 nights). The first 3 days involve pedagogical lectures during the day and evening guest lectures. There is an optional half-day excursion, via ship on the lake. The last 1.5 days feature a mini-conference format, where a small number of invited experts share their views and interact with the participants. Participants have the chance to contribute short talks, if desired.
Key details
- Topic
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High-resolution spectroscopy of exoplanetary atmospheres
- Lecturers
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Prof. Matteo Brogi (Turin, Italy), Dr. Jens Hoeijmakers (Lund, Sweden)
- Dates
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July 31 2023 to August 4 2023 (Monday to Friday, 4 nights)
- Venue
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Vier Jahreszeiten Hotel in Starnberg (30 minutes from Munich main station by S Bahn).
- Registration fee:
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700 euros — includes hotel accommodation, all meals and coffee/tea breaks.
Lecturer profiles
- Matteo Brogi
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Matteo Brogi is an associate professor at the University of Turin in Italy. He pioneered the use of high-resolution spectroscopy to measure the orbital inclinations and masses of non-transiting exoplanets. He also co-developed cutting-edge Bayesian inference techniques for use with the cross-correlation method to measure precise abundances and temperature. He leads a research group that specialises in infrared high-resolution spectroscopy using various ground-based telescopes.
- Jens Hoeijmakers
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Jens Hoeijmakers is an associate senior lecturer at Lund Observatory in Sweden. He led the discovery of iron and titanium in the exoplanet KELT-9b in 2018, which inspired several research groups around the world to engage in the hunt for metals in ultra-hot Jupiters. He leads a research group that specialises in high-resolution spectroscopy using various ground-based telescopes, to answer fundamental questions about the compositions and climates of the atmospheres of hot exoplanets.
Programme (tentative)
- Monday: Meet-and-greet at 10am. Lectures start after lunch + evening guest lecture on philosophy of science (Prof. Erik Curiel, Munich).
- Tuesday: Full day of lectures (with coffee/tea breaks, lunch and dinner) + evening guest lecture
- Wednesday: Half day of lectures and after-lunch excursion or free afternoon
- Thursday: Workshop with invited talks from experts (Dr. Lisa Nortmann - Göttingen, Prof. Enric Palle - Tenerife, Dr. Ulrike Heiter - Uppsala)
- Friday: Half day of contributed talks from participants and panel discussion
