Welcome

Nuclear star clusters around Massive Black Holes are likely the most collisional stellar systems in the universe. At the same time they are embedded in an extremely deep gravitational potential well, often probing the relativistic regime. Consequently, unique stellar dynamical processes and interactions are expected to take place. Many surprises have already been found within 0.05 pc of the black hole in the Galactic Center, including (1) the perplexing population of young stars that are isotropically distributed (S-stars) in a region that is hostile to star formation, (2) the lack of old stars in this region in which a peaked cusp of stars was expected and (3) a new class of cold stars in this same region that are two orders of magnitude larger than typical stars (e.g., G2). The implication of these is tightly linked to the gas dynamics and accretion processes that take place in the galactic center.

Conference photo album

Application and Registration

Online application is open. You can apply here.

Important dates

September 15 2015: Online application opens

November 15 2016: Application deadline

A note from the organizers

We encourage those from groups underrepresented in science and engineering to attend and have (limited) funding earmarked for members of these groups. We are committed to making this meeting productive and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, nationality or religion. All of the meeting spaces are wheelchair accessible, as are a few of the meeting condos. If you have any concerns or questions regarding diversity or attending this meeting due to diversity issues please contact Smadar Naoz: snaoz@astro.ucla.edu.