Start date/time

June 23, 2014

End date/time

June 28, 2014

Place

Tallinn,
Estonia

Contact

Sergei Shandarin
sergei@ku.edu

Event website

http://www.iau-zeldovich.org/

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Coordinating Division

Division J Galaxies and Cosmology

Co-Chairs of SOC:
Sergei Shandarin (Dept. Physics & Astron, Univ. Kansas)
Rien van de Weygaert (Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Univ. Groningen)

Co-Chairs of LOC:
Jaan Einasto (Tartu Observatory, Tartu)
Enn Saar (Tartu Observatory, Tartu)

Topics

1. Large Galaxy Surveys: the observational status of the Cosmic Web
2. The Zeldovich Legacy: Theory and Dynamics of the Cosmic Web
3. Large Scale Simulations of Cosmic Structure
4. Primordial Signature of the Cosmic Web (non-Gaussianities, BAOs, neutrinos', ...)
5. The emergence of the first structure: from the Dark Ages to Reionization, high-z Large Scale Structure
6. The Dark Matter Cosmic Web vs. The Gaseous Cosmic Web
7. Dynamical Analysis of the Cosmic Web: from cosmic flows to phase space structure
8. Structural Analysis of the Cosmic Web: Topology, Geometry \& Multiscale Structure, Cosmic Voids
9. Reconstructions of the Local Universe
10. Galaxy Formation and Evolution in the Cosmic Web
11. Future Surveys and the Zel'dovich Legacy: following structure evolution in large and deep surveys

Rationale
With the completion of the large 2dFGRS, SDSS and 2MASS galaxy surveys, the advent of the first deep galaxy surveys like DEEP and zCOSMOS, and the large insights offered by major cosmological N-body simulations, it will be timely to organize a major international conference on the Cosmic Web and cosmic structure formation. We propose to organize a symposium on this topic in the year 2014, as it will be 100 years since the birth of Yakov Zel'dovich, whose seminal work paved the way towards a theoretical understanding of the complex weblike patterns that have been observed in our Universe. The symposium will synthesize the insights obtained from many different observational and theoretical studies and set out the lines for the major upcoming scientific programs that will not only extend our view over a far larger fraction of the visible Universe but also allow the systematic investigation of the evolution of cosmic structure.

The principal organizers of the symposium will be the undersigned of this letter. They are 1) prof. dr. S. Shandarin, Dept. Physics & Astronomy, Univ. Kansas, 2) prof. dr. R. van de Weijgaert, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Univ. Groningen, the Netherlands, 3) prof. dr. J. Einasto, Tartu Observatory, Tartu, Estonia, and 4) prof. dr. E. Saar, Tartu Observatory, Tartu, Estonia.

We wish to organize the symposium in Tallinn, in 1977 the site of the first large and defining international IAU conference on the large scale structure of the Universe. While the 1977 conference opened the subject by bringing together cosmologists from the Soviet Union and the Eastbloc with those from the West, we find it to be a fitting testimony to the tremendous advances of the subject to organize it in the same city.

The intended date for the colloquium is the period from monday June 23 till saturday June 29, 2014. The venue will be the Tallinn University Conference Centre in the centre of Tallinn, Estonia. We would like to approach and ask IAU Division J "Galaxies and the Universe" to accept the coordinating responsibility of this IAU colloquium. We would like IAU Commission 47 "Cosmology" to be the primary scientific basis for the proposed meeting, and will also approach this commission as well as IAU Commission 28 "Galaxies" for support.

In the coming weeks all elements of the proposal, including supporting letters of the above IAU Divisions and Commissions as well as the required information on SOC and LOC, rationale and intended program, will be assembled and sent to you in the proposal package. We hope that the IAU will be able to accommodate and support our application for what we find is a timely meeting on a topic of key importance in our rapidly evolving cosmological worldview.