The Physics of Astronomical Transients
Start date: 21 Jan 2012
Address: Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen, Colorado, United States
This meeting focuses on issues related to the physics and discovery of astronomical transients. Rapid advances in detector technology, computer processing power and data storage are fostering a data-driven revolution in astrophysics. This is enabling surveys that probe ever-larger areas of the sky and ever-fainter sources, opening up a vast discovery space. These advances also add temporal information to what was previously a relatively static picture of the sky. In addition to aiding the discovery of whole new classes of variable astronomical phenomena, temporal information probes the fundamental physics of the underlying objects. Coupling these surveys with innovative exploration strategies and novel theoretical work will open new windows onto the Universe.