We have an active seminar series for the benefit of MQAAAstro members.

We welcome all astronomers visiting Sydney to come and give us a seminar (and are especially keen for any overseas visitors). Overnight accommodation can be provided if necessary.

Please contact Heath Jones our seminar organiser (heath.jones@mq.edu.au) for further information and assistance.

Seminars usually take place 3pm Fridays in room E6B 2.300, (located on the second floor of the E6B building). It is a 5 min walk from the Macquarie University train station to building E6B, both of which are located on the eastern edge of campus.

This week’s Seminar

Friday 11 December, 2015

Speaker: Daniel MacDonald (Macquarie)

Title: A heuristic approach to fitting dusty disks about asymptotic giant branch stars

Abstract:

Circumstellar disks are believed to play an important role during the final stages of evolution of small to medium mass stars, a phase in which theory does not yet explain observations entirely.

We set out to constrain disk parameters, of which little is known, in the hope of better understanding possible evolutionary paths. We apply numerous genetic algorithms to the fitting of radiative transfer models to interferometric observational data. By doing so, we are able to derive relative likelihood functions for the input parameters, an ability that allows us to better constrain a disk's structure and to ultimately gain understanding in this complex phase of stellar evolution.

Seminar Schedule 2015

The seminar schedule and titles for:

2014: here
2013: here
2012: here