Annual Report 2011 Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

Max Planck Institute 

for Astronomy 

Heidelberg-Königstuhl 

Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie Heidelberg 

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Heidelberg 

Annual Report 2011

Cover Picture: 

The “Haus der Astronomy” (House of Astronomy) was inaugurated in November 2011, only three years after its foundation 

in 2008 by the Max Planck Society and the Klaus Tschira Foundation (see chapter V for more information). 

Its form is inspired from the spiral galaxy Messier 51 in the constellation Canes Venatici, called the whirlpool galaxy. 

This unique center for astronomy education and outreach on the MPIA campus hosts also the volunteer association Astronomieschule 

e.V. und the editorial offices of the popular astronomy magazine “Sterne und Weltraum”, which has been 

produced on the Königstuhl since 1962. 

Credits: Swen Carlin, Heidelberg

Max Planck Institute 

for Astronomy 

Heidelberg-Königstuhl 

Annual Report 2011 


Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Heidelberg

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy 

Scientific Members, Governing Body, Directors: 

Prof. Thomas Henning (Managing Director) 

Prof. Hans-Walter Rix (Director) 

Scientific Coordinator: Dr. Klaus Jäger (Phone: 0049 6221 528 379) 

Public Outreach (Head), 

Haus der Astronomie (Managing Scientist): Dr. Markus Pössel (Phone: 0049 6221 528 261) 

Administration (Head): Mathias Voss (Phone: 0049 6221 528 230) 

MPIA Observatories: Roland Gredel (Phone: 0049 6221 528 264) 

Emeriti Scientific Members: 

Prof. Immo Appenzeller, Heidelberg Prof. George H. Herbig, Honolulu 

Prof. Karl-Heinz Böhm, Seattle Prof. Guido Münch, La Jolla 

External Scientific Members: 

Prof. Steven V. W. Beckwith, Baltimore Prof. Rafael Rebolo, Teneriffa 

Prof. Willy Benz, Bern 

Advisory Council: 

Prof. Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, Honolulu (chair) Prof. Sabine Schindler, Innsbruck 

Prof. Ewine van Dishoeck, Leiden Prof. Stephan Shectman, Pasadena 

Dr. Philip John Puxley, Arlington Prof. Rens Waters, Amsterdam 

Prof. Dieter Reimers, Hamburg Prof. Robert Williams, Baltimore 

Prof. Anneila I. Sargent, Pasadena Prof. Harold Yorke, Pasadenan 

Board of Trustees: 

Prof. Karlheinz Meier, Heidelberg (chair) 

Prof. Bernhard Eitel, Heidelberg 

Dr. Reinhold Ewald, Weißling 

Dr. Michael Kaschke, Oberkochen 

MinDirig. Dr. Heribert Knorr, Stuttgart 

Dipl.-Ing. Matthias Nagel, Bonn 

Stefan Plenz, Wiesloch 

Prof. Roland Sauerbrey, Dresden 

Dr. h.c. Klaus Tschira, Heidelberg 

Prof. Andreas Tünnermann, Jena 

Dipl.-Phys. Ranga Yogeshwar, Köln 

Staff: By the end of 2011, a staff of 290 was employed at MPIA (including externally funded positions). 

This includes 212 scientists, of which 74 were junior and visiting scientists, and 60 were PhD students. 

Address: MPI for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg 

Phone: 0049 6221 5280 Fax: 0049 6221 528 246 

E-mail: sekretariat@mpia.de Internet: www.mpia.de 

Calar Alto Observatory 

Address: Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán, Calle Jesús Durbán 2/2, E-04004 Almería 

Phone: 0034 950 230 988, 0034 950 632 500 Fax: 0034 950 632 504 

E-mail: info@caha.es Internet: http://www.caha.es 

Research Group “Laboratory Astrophysics”, Jena 

Address: Institut für Festkörperphysik der FSU, Helmholtzweg 3, D-07743 Jena 

Phone: 0049 3641 947 354 Fax: 0049 3641 947 308 

E-mail: friedrich.huisken@uni-jena.de 

© 2012 Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg 

Editors: Klaus Jäger, Axel M. Quetz, Thomas Henning, Hans-Walter Rix 

Figures: MPIA and others 

Graphics and Layout: Karin Meißner, Carmen Müllerthann 

Printing: Neumann Druck, 69126 Heidelberg 

Printed in December 2012 

ISSN 1437-2924; Internet: ISSN 1617–0490

Contents 

Preface ..................................................................... 5 

I. General .................................................................. 6 

I.1 Scientific Goals .................................................... 6 

I.2 Observatories, Telescopes, and Instruments ........ 10 

I.3 National and International Collaborations ........... 18 

I.4 Educational and Public Outreach and the New 

“Haus der Astronomie” ......................................... 22 

II. Highlights ............................................................. 24 

II.1 Anchoring Galactic Magnetic Fields in Giant 

Molecular Clouds: A Bird’s-eye View ............. 24 

II.2 Subaru observations of solar systems in 

the making ........................................................ 27 

II.3 In what Galaxies do Black Holes live in the 

Early Universe? ................................................ 30 

II.4 Starbursting Dwarf Galaxies at High Redshift ... 34 

III. Selected Research Areas ................................... 39 

III.1 Planetary population synthesis ......................... 39 

III.2 Formation of star-forming structures in the 

interstellar medium ........................................... 48 

III.3 Dynamics of Galaxies: inferring their mass 

distribution and formation history .................... 56 

III.4 The interstellar Medium of Nearby Galaxies ... 64 

IV. Instrumental Developments and Projects ........... 71 

IV.1 The Pan-StarrS1 surveys and some 

early results ...................................................... 71 

An extremely large camera .............................. 71 

Early results obtained at MPIA ........................ 72 

IV.2 argoS: Laser guided Ground Layer Adaptive 

Optics for the LBT ........................................... 73 

IV.3 MatiSSe – Interferometric Imaging in the 

Mid-Infrared ..................................................... 75 

IV.4 The euclid Dark Energy mission ..................... 77 

IV.5 Special Developments in the Technical 

Departments ..................................................... 79 

trac: A versatile Teamwork Platform used 

in Instrumentation Development ..................... 79 

trac at a glance ............................................... 80 

trac and linc-nirvana .................................... 81 

Interaction Matrix Calibration for 

Adaptive Optics: What is the best method? .... 81 

V. People and Events ................................................ 83 

V.1 Looking back at 2011 ........................................ 83 

V.2 Haus der Astronomie – Centre for Astronomy 

Education and Outreach ................................... 86 

V.3 Honors and Awards ........................................... 94 

Staff .................................................................................... 97 

Departments ..................................................................... 100 

Teaching Activities .......................................................... 101 

Service in Committees .................................................... 102 

Further Activities ............................................................. 103 

Compatibility of Science, Work, and Family ............... 104 

Working Council .............................................................. 105 

Awards ............................................................................... 105 

Cooperation with Industrial Companies ..................... 106 

Conferences, Scientific, and Popular Talks ................ 108 

Haus der Astronomie ....................................................... 117 

Publications ...................................................................... 120

Preface 

This Annual Report is intended for our colleagues worldwide as well as for the interested 

public. 

It describes in particular the scientific activities at the Max Planck Institute for 

Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg. In addition to brief presentations of a broad range 

of current scientific results, we report in more depth on a few selected research areas 

at the MPIA and some of the instrumentation projects. Furthermore, some other activities 

and highlights of the life at the institute are presented. 

The year 2011 has brought a rich scientific harvest on topics ranging from the structure 

of the universe to stars and exoplanets. 

There was also excellent, steady progress on crucial, observing facilities, including 

the LBT and regular science observations with luci 1, second generation VLT and 

VLTI instruments, the PAN-StarrS Survey, the completion of JWST instrumentation 

as well as ongoing contributions for the European Extremely Large Telescope 

(E-ELT), laying the foundation for future astronomical discoveries. 

Furthermore, we had another very successful year of the HerSchel mission with the 

perfect operation of the PacS instrument. 

On December 16, we celebrated in the presence of Peter Gruss (President of the 

Max Planck Society), Klaus Tschira (the building's sponsor), Theresia Bauer 

(Minister for Science, Research and the Arts, State of Baden-Württemberg), Gabriele 

Warminski-Leitheußer (Minister for Education, Youths and Sports, State of Baden- 

Württemberg), Bernhard Eitel (Rector of Heidelberg University), and Eckart 

Würzner (Lord Mayor of the City of Heidelberg) the inauguration of the “Haus der 

Astronomie”, the new education and public outreach facility on the MPIA campus at 

the Königstuhl. 

We hope that this Annual Review will give the reader a flavour of the research and 

work at the MPIA. 

Thomas Henning, Hans-Walter Rix 

Heidelberg, November 2012 

5

6 I. General 

Credit: MPIA / AMQ 

I. General 

I.1 Scientific Goals 

Scientific Research at the Max Planck Institute for 

Astronomy (MPIA, see Fig. I.1.1) is aimed at exploring and 

understanding the nature and evolution of planets, stars, 

galaxies and the universe as a whole. This is pursued 

through the development and operation of telescopes and 

their instrumentation, by designing, executing and analysing 

observing programs and surveys, and by connecting 

the physical nature of the observed phenomena through 

theoretical studies and numerical simulations. The MPIA 

focuses its observational capabilities on the optical and 

infrared spectral regions, taking a leading role in both 

groundbased and space-based instrumentation. 

The research at the MPIA is organized within two 

scientific departments: Planet and Star Formation and 

Galaxies and Cosmology. 

In addition to the staff in these departments, the 

Institute had in 2011 five independent Junior Research 

Groups (two Emmy Noether groups supported by the 

German Science Foundation DFG, and three groups supported 

by the Max Planck Society). 

Over the course of the year 2011, there were a total of 

about 60 postdoctoral stipend holders, about 90 PhD students, 

and 13 diploma and master’s students and student 

assistants working at the institute. 

Strong ties exist between MPIA and the University 

of Heidelberg, with its Center for Astronomy (ZAH), 

both in research and teaching, for example through the 

International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for 

Astronomy and Cosmic Physics. 

The main research fields of the two departments are 

complementary in both scientific and practical terms. 

Obviously, star formation is a critical aspect of the formation 

and evolution of galaxies, and the instrumentation 

capabilities required by both departments share strong 

commonalities: e.g. requirements for high spatial resolution, 

powerful survey capabilities, and the importance 

of access to the infrared and millimeter spectral regions. 

Galaxies and Cosmology 

The “Realm of Galaxies” 

Shortly after the Big Bang, the Universe was rather “simple” 

and nearly homogeneous. Now it is beautifully complex, 

with rich “hierarchical” structure over a wide range 

of physical scales: from the filamentary distribution of gal- 

Fig. I.1.1: The main building of the MPIA on the Königstuhl.

axies on large scales (the “cosmic web”) to galaxies themselves, 

down to clusters of stars, individual stars, and their 

planets. The formation of this wealth of structure appears to 

be driven by gravitational instabilities, but to make things 

‘work’ these instabilities must arise in good part from a 

dominant, but yet to be identified, dark matter component. 

The galaxies we observe in the present-day universe 

represent a central layer in this hierarchical order, each 

consisting of millions to billions of stars, gas, and dust, all 

embedded in halos of dark matter. As Edwin Hubble already 

realized 80 years ago, these “island universes” do 

not show the full variety of morphology (or visual appearance) 

and structures that seem physically possible. On the 

one hand, the variety of galaxies seems vast: galaxies as 

an object class span ten orders of magnitude in their stellar 

masses, and the rate of new star formation varies similarly; 

the physical sizes of different galaxies still vary by a 

factor of 100. While some galaxies apparently do not have 

a black hole at their centers, in other galaxies this central 

black hole has the mass of more than one billion suns. On 

the other hand, observations have shown, particularly in 

the last 15 years, that only a small fraction of the possible 

combinations of the characteristic galactic quantities (stellar 

masses and ages, size, central black hole, etc.) are actually 

realized in the universe. Virtually all physical properties 

strongly correlate with all other properties: massive 

galaxies are large; massive galaxies contain virtually no 

young stars; the central black hole contains a constant mass 

fraction of the spherical star distribution ten million times 

its size. While spiral galaxies are the most common galaxy 

type, no such galaxy is among the most massive ones. 

This means that the “realm of galaxies”, as Hubble 

called it, shows a high degree of order. How this order developed 

from the random mass fluctuations existing after 

the Big Bang is a fundamental question of galaxy formation 

and a central issue of cosmology. 

There are three broad lines of explanation for the limited 

variety in the zoo of galaxies: Either, observed galaxies 

represent the only stable configurations. Alternatively, the 

cosmological initial conditions only permit the formation 

of the galaxies we see. Or, the overall process of galaxy 

formation results in a limited set of outcomes because it is 

very much self-regulating. 

What questions would we like to answer? 

Many of the projects that the MPIA researchers are 

pursuing ultimately address when and where these 

three mechanisms play a role. Some of the specific 

questions being discussed by researchers in this department 

are: 

• During which cosmological epoch did most of the stars 

form? 

• Is cosmic star formation now coming to its end? Why 

has the star formation rate declined over the last six 

billion years? 

• Which galaxies reside in which dark matter halos? 

• How did the central black holes in galaxies form and 

grow? Why is it possible to predict the properties of 

the small-sized central black hole from the overall size 

of a galaxy? 

• Which processes determine the structure and morphology 

of galaxies and when do these processes occur? 

• What is the state of the interstellar medium, the raw 

material from which new stars form? 

• What is the state of the intergalactic medium, in the 

space between galaxies, where most of the atoms in 

the univere reside? 

• Can the various observations be understood ab initio 

within a comprehensive model? 

• How did the Milky Way, our roSetta Stone of galaxy 

evolution, form? 

What do we do to find the answers? 

The approaches used at the MPIA to tackle these questions 

comprise three aspects: the detailed study of galaxies 

in the present-day Universe; the direct study of 

galaxies at earlier cosmic epochs through the observation 

of distant (high-redshift) objects; and the comparison 

of observations with physical models. The observational 

capabilities for the field require survey telescopes, 

large telescopes for sheer photon collecting power on 

faint sources, and particular techniques such as Adaptive 

Optics and Interferometry to achieve high spatial resolution. 

Comprehensive studies of galaxy evolution require 

observations from the X-rays to the radio wavelengths. 

The MPIA has been an important partner in several of 

the surveys that have brought, or promise to bring, breakthroughs 

in these areas: the PanStarrS-1 survey which 

has successfully started in 2010; the Sloan Digital Sky 

Survey (SDSS) and Segue for the Milky Way and Local 

Group; complemented since 2008 by the LBC cameras 

at the LBT; the 2.2 m telescope on La Silla has enabled 

the coMbo-17 galaxy evolution survey; the VLT and the 

LBT are used to follow-up this survey work; the irac and 

MipS instruments on the Spitzer Space Telescope; and 

the pacS Instrument of the herSchel mission to study 

star formation and the interstellar medium, complemented 

by the VLA, the Plateau de Bure Interferometer, apex 

and soon AlMa at radio and sub-millimeter wavelengths. 

The Galaxies and Cosmology department truly carries 

out multi-wavelength astrophysics. 

Planet and Star Formation 

The link between stars and galaxies 

I.1 Scientific Goals 7 

The formation of stars is a fundamental process in the 

Universe, shaping the structure of entire galaxies and 

determining their chemical state. The formation of individual 

stars can be best studied in nearby molecular 

clouds. The study of star formation in other galaxies al-

8 I. General 

lows us to understand this process under physical conditions 

which can be very different from those in the Milky 

Way. Our studies of star formation in the Magellanic 

Clouds allow an investigation of the effect of metallicity 

on the star formation process, which is certainly 

an important factor in understanding star formation in 

the early Universe. Stars are born in the dense and cold 

cores of molecular clouds, which become gravitationally 

unstable and, in general, fragment to form binaries 

and multiple stellar systems. The role of magnetic fields 

or turbulence in controlling the onset of star formation 

remains one of the open key questions. This question is 

immediately related to the shape of the initial (sub-) stellar 

mass function in different environments. Dynamical 

interactions in multiple systems may be a crucial factor 

for the formation of Brown Dwarfs. Massive star formation 

takes place in clusters, leading to complex starforming 

regions. The rapid evolution of massive protostars 

and the associated energetic phenomena provide an 

enormous challenge in identifying the formation path of 

massive stars. 

Looking behind the curtain… 

The earliest phases of star formation are obscured 

by enormous amounts of dust and gas and can only be 

detected by sensitive far-infrared and (sub-) millimeter 

observations. At later evolutionary stages, the objects 

“glow” at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths, and finally 

become visible at optical wavelengths. Our observ- 

like structure. It is composed of tidal star streams, the remnants 

of a smaller satellite galaxy. 

Credit: R. Jay Gabany, D. Martínez-Delgado Fig. I.1.2: The galaxy GC 4651 with its remarkable umbrella- 

ing programs cover a wide range of wavelengths with a 

special emphasis on infrared and (sub-) millimeter observations. 

The formation of planets and planetary systems is a 

natural by-product of low-mass star formation. Because 

of angular momentum conservation, accretion of matter 

onto the central protostar happens predominantly through 

a circumstellar disk. Disks around T Tauri stars are the 

natural birthplaces of planetary systems, resembling the 

solar nebula 4.5 Gyr ago. During the active accretion 

phase, bipolar molecular outflows and ionized jets are 

produced, which in turn play an important role in the evolution 

of star-disk systems. We are presently starting to 

use protoplanetary disks as laboratories for understanding 

the formation of our own solar system and the diversity of 

other planetary systems detected so far. 

The research of the Planet and Star Formation department 

is focused on the understanding of the earliest 

phases of stars, in both the low and high stellar mass 

regime. Observations with space observatories such as 

Spitzer, HST and herSchel, as well as ground-based infrared 

and (sub-) millimeter telescopes, allow the detection 

and characterization of massive protostars and their 

subsequent evolution. The vigorous use of submillimeter 

facilities is preparing the department for the Atacama 

Large Millimeter Array (alMa), which will soon commence 

operation. 

The investigation of Brown Dwarfs, which were first 

detected in 1995, is another important research topic. 

How do Brown Dwarfs form? Are young substellar objects 

also surrounded by disks? What is the binarity fraction 

and the exact mass of these objects? What is the 

composition of their atmospheres? These are among the 

burning questions which are attacked by MPIA scientists.

The formation of planetary systems and the search for 

other planets 

With the detection of the first extrasolar planets, 

the study of planet formation in protoplanetary 

disks entered a new phase of explosive growth. The 

department is well-positioned to play an important 

role in these studies, with a combination of infrared 

and sub–millimeter observations, numerical (magneto-) 

hydrodynamical simulations, and radiative transfer 

studies. Imaging with the hubble Space Telescope 

and the wealth of data from the Spitzer Telescope and 

now from HerSchel is providing new insights into the 

earliest stages of planet formation. Improved spatial 

resolution from our adaptive optics program, infrared 

interferometry with large telescopes and long baselines, 

and the use of millimeter interferometers provide insights 

into disk structure and evolution on spatial scales relevant 

to planet formation. Gas evolution in disks is studied 

by highresolution infrared spectroscopy and the accretion 

behaviour by multi-object spectroscopy. 

We have started new observing programs to search 

for extrasolar planets through direct imaging, the transit 

technique, and astrometry. With the Spectral Differential 

Imaging facility (SDI) at the VLT, we provided a 

new mode for high-contrast imaging with the adaptive 

optics instrument Naco. This system presently outperforms 

any other similar device in the world and was 

I.1 Scientific Goals 9 

Fig. I.1.3: Star Formation in LH 72, a cluster located at the 

northern periphery of the super-giant shell LMC 4 in the Large 

Magellanic Cloud. 

paving the way for the development of eSo’s Sphere 

instrument, where MPIA is Co-PI institute. The department 

actively participates in the planet search program 

SeedS with the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea 

(Hawaii). 

The theoretical program of the PSF department focuses 

on complex numerical simulations of protoplanetary 

disk evolution, including the interplay between 

radiation, dynamics, chemistry, and grain evolution. 

The study of the formation of massive stars constitutes 

another topic for theoretical studies. Multi-dimensional 

radiative transfer codes, both for molecular lines and 

the dust continuum, have been developed in the department. 

These theoretical studies are also well integrated 

with the various observational key projects. 

The understanding of many of the microphysical 

processes and the composition of dust and gas requires 

dedicated laboratory studies. Such a laboratory astrophysics 

unit is part of the Planet and Star Formation 

department, and is located at the Institute for Solid- 

State Physics of the University of Jena. This group 

investigates the spectroscopic properties of nanoparticles, 

as well as molecules, especially PAH’s, in the 

gas phase. 

Credit: eSa / hubble, naSa and D. A. Gouliermis (MPIA)

10 I. General 

Credit: CAHA 

I.2 Observatories, Telescopes, and Instruments 

The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy has been a 

key driver and partner in the construction and operation 

of two large ground-based observatories. During 

the 1970s and 1980s the construction of the Calar 

Alto Observatory, still the largest observatory on the 

European continent, had been the central focus of the 

MPIA, and the two largest telescopes with 2.2 m and 

3.5 m mirrors are still scheduled for competitive observing 

programs. Since 2004 the observatory is jointly 

operated as Centro Astronomico Hispano Aleman (Caha) 

by the Max Planck Society, represented by the MPIA, 

and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas 

(CSIC), represented by the Instituto de Astrofísica de 

Andalucía (IAA), as an organization of Spanish law. 

Since 1997, the MPIA has been the coordinating institute 

for the German participation in the Large Binocular 

Telescope (LBT) on Mt. Graham near Tucson, Arizona. 

By the end of 2007, the second prime-focus camera was 

installed which is now used for regular science programs. 

The year 2008 has seen the installation and the 

beginning of the commissioning of the first of the two 

LuCi instruments, jointly built by the Landessternwarte 

of the Center for Astronomy of Heidelberg University 

(ZAH), the MPIA, and the MPE. Additional contributions 

were also made by the Ruhr University Bochum and 

the Fachhochschule Mannheim. Science demonstration 

observations with this near-infrared multi-object 

spectrometer have commenced in December 2009 and 

at the beginning of 2010 the first excellent spectra 

and images have been published. Furthermore, the 

first adaptive secondary mirror for the LBT started its 

operation in 2010 and hence the first “sharper than 

hubbLe” near infrared LBT-images could be released. 

The MPIA also uses its 2.2 m telescope on La Silla, 

Chile, operated by the European Southern Observatory 

(eso). As of April 1 st 2009 in a new agreement between 

the MPG and Eso, the amount of time available at this 

telescope for MPG researchers has been increased from 

25 to 75 percent. 

Fig. I.2.1: Areal View of the Calar Alto Observatory (caha).

The MPIA has a prominent and successful tradition of 

developing and building instruments for ground-based 

and space-based astronomical observations. Such observations 

are, almost by necessity, complementary. 

Ground-based telescopes usually have larger mirrors 

and therefore more light-gathering power than space 

telescopes. By using cutting-edge techniques such as 

adaptive optics and interferometry – which the MPIA 

has played a leading role in developing – they can also 

achieve higher angular resolution. Space telescopes, on 

the other hand, are the only way to carry out observations 

in wavelength regions where our atmosphere absorbs 

the radiation or generates a bright background, as 

is the case, for example, in wide regions of the infrared 

spectral regime. 

Since the pioneering days of infrared astronomy in 

the 1970s, the MPIA has been a leading instrument developer 

for this field of astronomy. In particular, the construction 

and implementation of Isophot, one of four scientific 

instruments aboard Iso, the first Infrared Space 

Observatory of the European Space Agency ESa, was 

led by the MPIA. From 1996 to 1998, it acquired excellent 

data, particularly in the previously inaccessible farinfrared 

range. The knowledge gained with Iso was the 

basis for MPIA’s prominent role in ongoing space projects 

such as the HerSchel Space Observatory and the 

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Astronomers at 

the MPIA are also actively participating in legacy science 

programs with the Spitzer Infrared Observatory. 

I.2 Observatories, Telescopes, and Instruments 11 

At the end of 2009 HerSchel has provided the first 

data obtained within a number of key science programs 

with MPIA participation. During 2010 and within the 

regular operation, the first scientific papers based on excellent 

HerSchel data (see also chapter III.1 of our annual 

report for 2010) have been published in a dedicated 

Astronomy & Astrophysics special issue. And thanks to 

a trouble-free operation, HerSchel provided us also in 

2011 with excellent data. 

The new generation of instruments for 8 m-class telescopes 

and space missions are too large and expensive to 

be built by a single group, such as the MPIA. At present, 

the Institute is therefore participating in, or leading a number 

of international collaborations for building scientific 

instruments for new large telescopes, thereby gaining 

access to the world’s most important observatories. An 

example in the southern hemisphere is the eSo Very 

Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, with its four 8 m-telescopes 

that can be linked to form a powerful interferometer. 

In the northern hemisphere, MPIA is participating 

in the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona. This 

extraordinary telescope is equipped with two mirrors of 

8.4 m diameter each, fixed on a common mount, making 

it the world’s largest single telescope. With the current 

routine scientific use of the two prime focus cameras 

and the near-infrared multi-object spectrograph luci-1 

Fig. I.2.2: The Very Large Telescope at Cerro Paranal, in the 

Northern Chilean Andes. 

Credit: J. l. Dauvergne, G. Hüdepohl / eSo

12 I. General 

in December 2009, the LBT has become a productive 

world-class observatory. 

In 2007, MPIA became the University of Hawaii’s 

largest Partner in the international Pan-StarrS1 (PS1) 

project (see chapter IV.1), which grants full access 

rights to the data from a 1.8 m wide-field telescope on 

Haleakala/Maui (Hawaii) with a new 1.4 Gigapixel camera 

– the largest digital camera ever built. Since 2010, 

PS1 provided MPIA scientists with regular survey data. 

These collaborations enable MPIA astronomers to observe 

the northern and the southern sky with first class 

telescopes. At the same time the MPIA is participating in 

studies for the instrumentation of next-generation large 

telescopes, the so-called Extremely Large Telescopes 

(ELTs). 

Instrumentation for Ground-based Astronomy 

The currrent activities of the MPIA in the area of groundbased 

instrumentation concentrate on interferometric instruments 

for the eSo VLT Interferometer (VLTI), highfidelity 

imaging instruments for the LBT and the VLT, 

and survey instruments for Calar Alto. The MPIA is 

also involved in studies for future instruments for the 

European ELT (E-ELT). 

VLTI instrumentation 

In September 2008, the differential delay lines for the 

dual-feed VLTI system priMa were installed on Cerro 

Paranal, Chile. These units were built by the MPIA together 

with Geneva Observatory and the Landessternwarte 

Heidelberg. priMa is now in its active commissioning 

phase. In the related science project eSpri, the differential 

delay lines will be used in the combined K-band light 

with two 1.8 m VLT Auxiliary Telescopes, in order to 

measure the separation of a stellar target from a reference 

star with micro-arcsecond precision. The goal is 

the dynamical determination of the masses of extrasolar 

planets by precise astrometric measurements of the 

orbital reflex-motions of planetary host stars. 

MPIA is participating in the second-generation VLTI 

projects MatiSSe and gravity. MatiSSe is a successor of 

the very successful Midi instrument built by the MPIA 

which has been in operation on Paranal since September 

2003. The MatiSSe consortium consists of nine institutes 

led by the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur. MatiSSe will 

combine the light from all four VLT 8.2 m telescopes in 

the mid-infrared for high spatial resolution image reconstruction 

on angular scales of 10 – 20 milliarcseconds. 

The scientific applications range from studies of Active 

Galactic Nuclei (AGN) to the formation of planetary systems 

and of massive stars, and the study of circumstellar 

environments. 

gravity is the successor of priMa. Like MatiSSe it 

will combine four VLT 8.2 m telescopes, but in the 

near-infrared. The gravity consortium is led by MPE 

Garching; the partners include MPIA, l’Observatoire de 

Paris, and the University of Cologne. Assisted by a highperformance 

adaptive optics system, gravity will provide 

precision narrow-angle astrometry and phase referenced 

imaging of faint objects over a field of view of 2. 

This will permit astronomers to study motions to within 

a few times the event horizon size of the massive black 

hole in the Galactic Center, and potentially test General 

Relativity in its strong field limit. Other applications are 

the direct detection of intermediate mass black holes in 

the Galaxy, dynamical mass determinations of extrasolar 

planets, the origin of protostellar jets, and the imaging of 

stars and gas in obscured regions of AGNs, star forming 

regions, or protoplanetary disks. 

High-resolution cameras 

After its integration at MPIA, Luci 1, the first of two 

identical mid-infrared cryogenic imaging cameras and 

multi-object spectrographs for the LBT, was shipped 

to Mt. Graham in August 2008, followed by phases 

of installation and commissioning. This instrument 

built together with the Landessternwarte Heidelberg, 

the MPE Garching, the University of Bochum, and 

the Fachhochschule for Technology and Design in 

Mannheim, has become ready for scientific exploitation 

in December 2009. It provides a 44 field-of-view 

in seeing limited mode. At the beginning of 2010 the 

first excellent spectra and images have been published. 

With the adaptive secondary mirrors (the first one was 

installed at the LBT in 2010), diffraction-limited performance 

can be expected for the two Luci instruments over 

a field of about 0. 5 0. 5. Adaptive optics will also permit 

users to achieve spectral resolving powers of several 

tens of thousands. Scientific applications for the multimode 

Luci instruments are many, including studies of 

star formation in nearby galaxies. 

The by far largest instrumentation project at the MPIA 

is the near-infrared beam combiner linc-nirvana for the 

LBT, which presently is being assembed at the institute. 

As the PI institute, the MPIA leads a consortium with 

the Italian Observatories (Inaf), the MPIfR Bonn, and 

the University of Cologne. linc-nirvana is currently undertaking 

integration and testing at the MPIA as the various 

subsystems provided by the different project partners 

are being delivered. By coherent combination of the two 

LBT primary mirrors via Fizeau interferometry, lincnirvana 

will provide diffraction-limited imaging over 

a 10. 5 10. 5 field of view in the 1 – 2.4 μm regime, 

with the spatial resolution of a 23 m telescope. Multiconjugated 

adaptive optics with up to 20 natural guide 

stars will ensure large sky coverage. Due to the panoramic 

high-resolution imaging and astrometric capabilities 

of linc-nirvana, scientific applications range from 

supernova cosmology, galaxy formation, and extragalactic 

stellar populations and star formation, to extrasolar

Fig. I.2.3: The building of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) 

on Mt. Graham, Arizona. 

planets, stellar multiplicity, the structure of circumstellar 

disks, and the imaging of solar-system planets and their 

atmospheres. 

As Co-PI institute in a consortium with the Laboratoire 

d’Astrophysique de l’Observatoire in Grenoble, the 

Laboratoire d’Astrophysique in Marseille, ETH Zürich 

and the University of Amsterdam, the MPIA coleads 

the development of Sphere, a VLT instrument specialized 

for the imaging of Jupiter-like extrasolar planets. To 

overcome the huge brightness contrast between the planet 

and its host star, Sphere will use eXtreme Adaptive 

Optics (Xao), coronography, and three differential imaging-capable 

focal plane subinstruments that will, respectively, 

employ polarimetry in the visual, dual imagery in 

the near-infrared, and integral field J-band spectroscopy. 

Survey instrumentation 

The current workhorse for MPIAs survey efforts in 

the near infrared at Calar Alto is the oMega2000 nearinfrared 

imager, in operation at the prime focus of the 

3.5 m telescope since 2003. It provides a field of view of 

15.5 15.4, and z to K-band sensitivity. 


The successor of oMega2000 will be panic, the 

Panoramic Near-infrared Camera, which is a wide-field 

general purpose instrument for the Calar Alto 2.2 m telescope. 

panic is a joint development of the MPIA and 

the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía. With four 

Hawaii2-RG detectors, it will provide a field of view 

of 3030. Surveys of extragalactic, galactic, and solar 

system objects will be possible as well. Some of the 

numerous possible science cases are gamma-ray burst 

hosts, supernovae, distance scales, high-redshift quasars, 

accretion disks, post AGB-stars, and X-ray binary counterparts. 

MPIA has also build laiwo, the Large Area Imager for 

the Wise Observatory (Israel). It is an optical camera that 

was re-installed at the observatory’s 1 m telescope in fall 

2008. A mosaic of four CCD detectors with 4 K 4 K 

pixels each provides a field of view of one square degree. 

The main scientific application is the photometric search 

for transiting extra-solar planets of Jupiter size. 

The Hat-South project is a network of 24 small-sized 

automated telescopes with the goal to survey a large 

number of nearby stars to search for transiting extrasolar 

planets. These telescopes are located at three sites: 

Las Campanas in Chile, the Hess site in Namibia, and 

Siding Springs in Australia. MPIA is responsible for the 

site preparation and operations of the Namibian node. 

The survey is expected to detect about 25 planets per 

Credit: John Hill, LBTO

14 I. General 

Credit: eSo/l. calçada 

year. The Hat-South project is a collaboration between 

Harvard, the Australian National University, and MPIA. 

Instruments for next generation telescopes 

In 2010, an eSo commission led by MPIA already finished 

the search for the site of the planned 39 m E-ELT. 

It will be the mountain Cerro Armazones in Chile’s 

Atacama Desert (after intensive studies of various 

suitable places in the world including Spain, Argentina, 

and Tibet). 

In preparation for the future with this awesome 

telescope, MPIA has participated in two studies for 

instruments: MetiS and Micado. The MetiS concept is 

a thermal/mid-infrared imager and spectrograph whose 

wavelength coverage will range from 3 –14 microns. A 

wide range of selectable resolving powers is planned. 

Adaptive optics will permit diffraction-limited obser- 

vations. Science cases are conditions in the early solar 

system, formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks, 

studies of the galactic center and of the luminous centers 

of nearby galaxies, high-redshift AGNs and high-redshift 

gamma ray bursts. 

In December 2008, several concepts of the Micado 

study were evaluated and down-selected for a phase A 

study. Micado is a near-infrared imaging camera with 

multi-conjugated adaptive optics that will provide a 

Fig. I.2.4: The European Extremely Large Telescope, E-ELT. 

spatial resolution exceeding that of the James Webb 

Space Telescope (JWST) by a factor of 6 to 7. It will 

have a sensitivity down to 29 mag in bandpasses from I 

to K. Applications range from young stellar objects in our 

galaxy to star formation in high-redshift galaxies. The 

achievable astrometric precision will further advance 

studies of stellar orbits around the black hole in the 

galactic center and of the proper motions of globular 

clusters in the galactic halo. With Micado, detailed mapping 

will be possible on scales as small as 80 pc of the 

structure, the stellar populations, and the interstellar dust 

distribution in galaxies with redshifts z 1. 

Instrumentation for Space-based Astronomy 

Europe’s new far infrared and submillimetre space observatory 

HerSchel has started its four year long mission 

with a picture-perfect launch aboard an ariane-5 rocket 

on 14 th May 2009. The MPIA has been one of the major 

partners in the development of the Pacs instrument 

which enables imaging and spectroscopy in the wavelength 

range from 60 to 210 mm with unprecedented 

sensitivity and spatial resolution. The MPIA has been responsible 

for delivering the pacS focal plane chopper and 

for characterizing the large Ge:Ga spectrometer cameras 

and their –270 C readout electronics. 

After successful delivery and check-out of the pacS 

hardware contributions, MPIA has been heavily involved 

in many pacS Instrument Control Center tasks.

Credit: eSa / aoeS Medialab 


Fig. I.2.5: The herSchel Space Observatory. 

The Instrument Control Centre (ICC), located at the PI 

institute MPE in Garching, has the responsibility for 

operations, calibration and data reduction of the pacS 

instrument. MPIA is one of four institutes of the pacS 

consortium which are main manpower contributors to 

the pacS ICC. MPIA has coordinated a large number of 

tasks for the calibration of the pacS instrument and has 

been responsible for establishing the pacS performance 

verification phase plan and the central pacS calibration 

document. In particular, the MPIA team has exclusively 

carried out the detailed mission planning of all pacS performance 

verification phase operational days, utilizing 

dedicated software tools, and has delivered the observational 

data bases to the HerSchel Science Center at eSac 

in Villafranca (Spain) and the Mission Operations Center 

at eSoc in Darmstadt (Germany). The MPIA team had 

build up a corresponding calibration plan for herSchel’s 

routine phase and also ensured the optimum inflight setup 

of the Ge:Ga spectrometer detector arrays following 

a procedure developed in the MPIA space laboratory (see 

Fig. I.2.6: Design model of the James Webb Space Telescope 

(JWST), with its large segmented primary mirror and characteristic 

sun shield. 

Credit: naSa

16 I. General 

Point source sensitivity (5s, 1 hour) [Jy] 

100 

1 

0.01 

LINC-NIRVANA 

MATISSE 

MIDI 

10 

GRAVITY (UT) 

GRAVITY (AT) 

LAICA CONICA 

SPHERE 

LUCI/ 

ARGOS 

MICADO 

–4 

10 –6 

10 –8 

ASTRALUX 

NORTE/ 

SUR 

PANIC 

Ω 2000 

10 –10 

NIRSPEC 

MIRI 

PACS 

METIS 

1 10 

Wavelength [mm] 

100 

chapter III.1 of the annual report 2010 for details about 

HerSchel and some of the excellent scientific data obtained 

in the first year of the regular mission). 

The MPIA is the leading institute in Germany for 

the development of instrumentation for the James Webb 

Space Telescope (JWST, Fig. I.2.6), to be launched 

in this decade as the successor to the hubble Space 

Telescope. 

JWST will be equipped with a folding primary mirror 

with a diameter of 6.5 m and four science instruments. 

As a member of a European consortium, MPIA 

is responsible for the development of the cryogenic 

wheel mechanisms required for precise and reliable positioning 

of the optical components in JWST’s mid-infrared 

instrument Miri and is also leading the electrical 

system engineering of this instrument. Miri is designed 

for the wavelength range from 5 to 28 micron, and consists 

of a high-resolution imager and a spectrometer of 

medium resolving power. 

In 2009 the flight model of the filter wheel mechanism 

was delivered for integration into the imager section 

of the Miri instrument. 

The MPIA also provides critical components for the 

second JWST instrument mainly developed in Europe, 

the near-infrared multi-object spectrograph nirSpec 

This contribution, as well as our participation in the 

nirSpec science team, will provide the astronomers at 

MPIA with further excellent opportunities for powerful 

infrared observations. For the development of the precision 

optics of Miri and nirSpec, the MPIA has closely 

co- operated with Carl Zeiss Optronics, Oberkochen, 

and Astrium GmbH, Ottobrunn and Friedrichshafen. 

With the end of 2010, all tasks regarding the cryogenic 

mechanisms were successfully finished and they were 

integrated into Miri and nirSpec. 

Spatial resolution [milliarcsec] 

0.1 

1 

10 

100 

10 3 

10 4 

10 5 

GRAVITY (ATS) 

GRAVITY (UTS) 

MIDI 

MICADO 

MATISSE 

SPHERE 

METIS LINC-NIRVANA 

ASTRALUX 

SUR 

CONICA/LUCI 

ASTRALUX NORTE 

LUCI/ARGOS 

MIRI 

PANIC 

LAICA 

PACS 

Ω 2000 

NIRSPEC 

1 10 100 

Field of view 

1000 10000 

CALAR ALTO VLT NTT LBT Wise Observatorium HERSCHEL JWST E-ELT 

Fig. 1.2.7: Capabilities of MPIA’s major instruments. Left: sensitivity 

as a function of wavelength. Right: spatial resolution as 

a function of field of view. 

The Institute is also leading a major data analysis 

aspect of ESa’s Gaia project, a space observatory 

scheduled for launch in 2012. Gaia will be the successor 

to the HipparcoS astrometry satellite, exceeding the 

latter’s sensitivity by several orders of magnitude. The 

satellite will measure positions, magnitudes, and radial 

velocities of one billion stars, in addition to numerous 

gala-xies, quasars and asteroids. The telescope will provide 

photometric data in 15 spectral bands as well as 

spectra in a selected spectral range. Unlike HipparcoS, 

Gaia does not need to be provided with an input catalogue, 

but will measure systematically all accessible 

objects. Automatic object classification will thus be of 

major importance for data analysis. Concepts for coping 

with this demanding task are being developed at the 

MPIA (supported by a grant from DLR). 

MPIA is involved in the mission studies within the 

ESa Cosmic Vision program. 

Euclid has the goal of mapping the geometry of 

the dark Universe by studying the distance-redshift 

relationship and the evolution of cosmic structures. 

To this end, the shapes and redshifts of galaxies and 

galaxy clusters will be measured out to redshifts z 2, 

that is, to a look-back time of 10 billion years, thereby 

covering the entire period over which dark energy 

played a significant role in accelerating the expansion 

of the Universe. The observing strategy of Euclid will 

be based on baryonic acoustic oscillations measurements 

and weak gravitational lensing, two complementary 

methods to probe dark energy. The Euclid survey 

will produce 20 000 square degrees visible and near-in- 

Credit: MPIA

frared images of the extragalactic sky at a spatial resolution 

of 0.030 arcsec. It will also yield medium resolution 

(R 400) spectra of about a third of all galaxies 

brighter than 22 mag in the same survey area. During 

October 2011, Euclid was selected as one of two missions 

to be carried out. A possible launch date could be 

2017 or 2018. 

EChO is another ESa Cosmic Vision mission and will 

be the first dedicated mission to investigate the atmospheres 

of exoplanets. EChO will provide simultaneous 

multi-wavelength spectroscopic observations at medium 

resolution and with very long exposure times. The observatory 

will analyse the structure of the atmospheres, the 

abundances of the major molecules (oxygen and carbon) 

or magnetospheric signatures. For this purpose, EChO 

will focus on transiting expoplanets to benefit, e.g., from 

the star’s light passing through the limb of the planet's 

atmosphere. Regarding the scientific and the technical 

background, MPIA made important contributions 

for the mission proposal. In the technical preparation 

the Institute has worked closely together with Astrium 

(Friedrichshafen/Ottobrunn) and was financially supported 

by DLR. Currently, the feasibility study (Phase 

0/A) for EChO is carried out and MPIA is leading an 


European consortium to study the scientific Instrument 

of the mission – funded by DLR and supported by the 

companies Astrium, Kayser-Threde and AIM. 

Finally, Spica, the Space Infrared Telescope for 

Cosmology and Astrophysics, is another astronomy mission 

of ESa’s Cosmic Vision in which MPIA is participating 

in the study phase. The mission is planned to be 

the next space astronomy mission after HerSchel observing 

in the far infrared and to be launched probably 

in 2017. It will feature a cold 3.5 m telescope providing 

up two orders of magnitude sensitivity advantage, mostly 

for spectroscopic observations, over existing far-infrared 

facilities. Spica is led by the Japanese Space Agency 

Jaxa. Europe has proposed to participate with a Spica 

Far Infrared Instrument called Safari, the telescope mirror, 

and support of the ground segment. Currently, the 

European contribution to the observatory is in an extended 

assessment phase, keeping it in line with the status of 

the project at Jaxa. 

Fig. I.2.7 gives an overview of the major instruments 

which are already working or are about to be put into operation. 

Sensitivity is shown as a function of wavelength 

(left), and spatial resolution as a function of the size of 

the field of view (right).

18 I. General 

I.3 National and International Collaborations 

The MPIA is strategically well-placed: Heidelberg has 

become one of Germany's foremost centers of astronomical 

research. Cooperation with the High-energy 

Astrophysics Department of the MPI for Nuclear Physics 

(MPIK), the new Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical 

Studies (HITS), and with the institutes of the Center 

for Astronomy Heidelberg (ZAH), established in 2005, 

is manifold: the ZAH consists of the Landessternwarte, 

the Astronomisches Recheninstitut, and the Institut 

für Theoretische Astrophysik at the University. Also, 

the “International Max Planck Research School” for 

Astronomy and Cosmic Physics (IMPRS, see Section 

I.4) is run jointly by the Max Planck Institutes and the 

University. 

Köln 

Bonn 

Kaiserslautern 

Bochum 

Freiburg 

Darmstadt 

Mannheim 

Heidelberg 

Kiel 

Bad Wildbad 

Tübingen 

Nationally, MPIA has extensive cooperations with 

the MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching and 

the MPI for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, as well as with 

numerous other German institutes, whose locations are 

shown in Fig. I.3.1. 

The establishment of the German Center for Interferometry 

(Frontiers of Interferometry in Germany, 

or fringe, located at the MPIA, also emphasizes the 

Institute’s prominent role in Germany in this innovative 

astronomical technique. The goal is to coordinate efforts 

Fig. I.3.1: Position of the partner institutes of the MPIA in 

Germany. 

Hamburg 

Braunschweig 

Göttingen 

Jena 

Garching 

München 

Tautenburg 

Potsdam 

Dresden 

Credit: Mountain High Maps / MPIA graphic

made by German institutes in this field and to accomodate 

the interests of the German astronomical community 

in the European Interferometric Initiative. Another 

specific goal is the preparation of the next generation of 

interferometric instruments. This includes the preparation 

of second-generation instruments for VLTI, such as 

MatiSSe and gravity. 

fringe, together with other interferometric centers 

in Europe, is partaking in the establishment of the 

European Interferometry Initiative. The long-term perspective 

is to establish a European interferometric center 

for the optical and infrared wavelength region. In addition 

to MPIA, the following institutes are participating 

in fringe: 

the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam 

(AIP), the Astrophysical Institute of Jena University, the 

Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics in Freiburg, the 

MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, the MPI for 

Radio Astronomy in Bonn, the University of Hamburg, 

the I. Physical Institute of Cologne University, and the 

Universities of Kiel and Munich. 

The MPIA is participating in a number of EU- networks 

and worldwide collaborations, in part as project 

leader. These include: 

opticon: A network of all operators of major telescopes 

in Europe, financed by the European Union. 

1 Dublin 

2 Edinburgh 

3 Manchester 

4 Durham 

5 Chilton 

6 Cardiff 

7 Oxford 

8 Cambridge 

9 Hatfield 

10 London 

22 

1 

2 

3 

6 

4 

5 

9 

10 

16 17 

32 

31 

33 

34 

25 

36 

21 

20 

35 

7 

11 

8 

15 

14 

18 

13 

12 

28 29 

19 27 26 

30 

23 

24 

11 Southhampton 

12 Saclay 

13 Paris 

14 Leiden 

15 Amsterdam 

16 Dwingeloo 

17 Groningen 

18 Liège 

19 Bordeaux 

20 Madrid 

21 Toledo 

22 Lissabon 

23 Granada 

24 Calar Alto 

25 Marseille 

26 Grenoble 

27 Genf 

28 Versoix 

29 Lausanne 

30 Bern 

44 

37 38 

39 

40 

41 

42 

43 

I.3 National and international Collaborations 19 

Its main goal is to optimize use of scientific technical 

infrastructure, in order to increase scientific results and 

reduce costs. Opticon’s other main goal is to coordinate 

technology development for the next generation of 

ground-based telescopes. 

eSpri (Exoplanet Search with PriMa): This project 

aims at carrying out the first systematic astrometric 

planet search with a measurement accuracy of 

10–20 micro-arcseconds. For this purpose, we have 

built, in collaboration with eSo, the Landessternwarte 

Heidelberg, and the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, 

differential delay lines for the PriMa facility at the VLTI. 

Our consortium is also developing the astrometric data 

reduction software. 

cid: The “Chemistry In Disks” project is a joint collaboration 

with Bordeaux, Jena and iram (Grenoble). The 

major goal of Cid is the study of physical structure and 

chemical composition of protoplanetary disks at various 

evolutionary stages. We focus on a sample of nearby 

bright protoplanetary disks orbiting low-mass (T-Tauri) 

and intermediate-mass (Herbig Ae) stars. For that, we 

employ multimolecule, multi-line observations with the 

Plateau de Bure interferometer and the IRAM 30 m an- 

Fig. I.3.2: Position of MPIA’s international partner institutes. 

See also on the following page. 

31 Basel 

32 Strasbourg 

33 Zürich 

34 Mailand 

35 Genua 

36 Nizza 

37 Padua 

38 Triest 

39 Bologna 

40 Florenz 

45 

46 

47 

48 

49 

41 Rom 

42 Neapel 

43 Wien 

44 Kopenhagen 

45 Stockholm 

46 Budapest 

47 Krakau 

48 Warschau 

49 Athens 

50 Helsinki 

50 

51 

51 St. Petersburg 

52 Moskau 

53 Tel Aviv 

54 Yerevan 

53 

52 

54 

Credit: naSa “Blue Marble” / MPIA graphic

20 I. General 

Credit for both figures: naSa “Blue Marble” / MPIA graphic 

Vancouver 

Victoria 

Seattle 

Stanford 

Berkeley 

Moffett Field 

Santa Cruz 

Pasadena 

Honolulu 

Hilo 

Tucson 

Calgary 

Paranal 

La Silla 

Santiago 

Flagstaff 

Los Alamos 

Las Cruces 

Socorro Austin Houston 

Teneriffa 

Cape Town 

tenna, followed by comprehensive data analysis and theoretical 

modeling. 

SeedS: This is an imaging survey using the Subaru telescope. 

The main goal is to search for giant planets and 

protoplanetary/debris disks around 500 nearby stars of 

solar type or other more massive young stars. This is a 

collaboration between naoJ, Princeton and MPIA. 

The MPIA is part of a DFG-funded research network 

(“Forschergruppe”) on the first stages of planet formation. 

This network involves the University of Tübingen 

(chair), the MPIA (co-chair), the Institute for Geology 

and Geophysics in Heidelberg (co-chair), the Kirchhoff 

Institute for Physics in Heidelberg, the Institute for 

Theoretical Astrophysics in Heidelberg, the Institute for 

Planetology in Münster and the Institute for Geophysics 

and Extraterrestrial Physics in Braunschweig. It combines 

laboratory astrophysics with theoretical astrophysics and 

astronomical observations in order to gain a better understanding 

of how the first planetary embryos are formed 

out of the circumstellar dust surrounding a young star. The 

network funds 10 PhD students, most of which started in 

early 2007. The project is currently within it´s 2 nd funding 

period (from January 2010 until December 2012). 

Chicago 

Batavia 

Pittsburgh 

Macomb Columbus 

Baltimore 

Charlottesville 

Eriwan 

Ruston 

Gainesville 

Toronto 

Hamilton 

Lewisburg 

Rochester 

Harvard, 

Troy 

Cambridge 

Amherst 

Middletown 

New Haven 

New York 

Princeton 

Taschkent 

Kyoto 

Seoul Tokyo 

Nanjing Kaganawa 

Taiwan 

Weston 

Canberra 

SiSco (Spectroscopic and Imaging Surveys for Cosmology): 

This EU network is dedicated to the study 

of galaxy evolution with the help of sky surveys. The 

Institute has made pivotal contributions to this network 

through cadiS, coMbo-17, and the geMS surveys. 

Additional partners are: University of Durham, Institute 

for Astronomy in Edinburgh, University of Oxford, 

University of Groningen, Osservatorio Astronomico 

Capodimonte in Naples, and eSo in Garching. 

elixir, an EU network dedicated to exploit the unprecedented 

capabilities of the nirSpec instrument on 

the JWST space mission. 

SDSS, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, has revolutionized 

wide-field surveying at optical wavelengths. It is 

the most extensive imaging and spectroscopy sky survey 

to date, imaging about a quarter of the entire sky 

in five filters. The final catalogue provides positions, 

magnitudes, and colors of an estimated one hundred 

million celestial objects as well as redshifts of about 

one million galaxies and quasars. The observations are 

made with a 2.5 m telescope specially built for this purpose 

at Apache Point Observatory, New Mexico. The 

project is conducted by an international consortium of

US, Japanese and German institutes. The MPIA was 

the first of what is now twelve European partner institutes 

in SDSS and the only one to participate since the 

inception of surveying. In exchange for material and financial 

contributions to the SDSS, a team of scientists 

at the MPIA receives full access to the data. In 2005, 

the “original” SDSS was completed, and an extension, 

SDSS-II/Segue,, focusing on Milky Way structure, was 

completed in mid 2008. 

MPIA is a partner in Pan-StarrS1 (PS1) see also chapter 

IV.1, the most ambitious sky survey project since the 

SDSS, as part of the Pan-StarrS1 Science Consortium 

(PS1SC), using a dedicated 1.8 m telescope and the record-breaking 

1.4 Gigapixel Camera (GPC1) with a 

7-square-degree field of view. PS1SC is an international 

collaboration, involving the University of Hawaii, 

the MPE, Johns Hopkins University, the Harvard- 

Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics/Las Cumbres 

Observatory Global Telescope, the Universities of 

Durham, Edinburgh and Belfast, and Taiwan’s National 

Central University. It will operates the PS1 telescope 

during 2009 – 2012 to carry out multiple time-domain 

I.3 National and international Collaborations 21 

imaging surveys in its g, r, i, z, y filter set: the “3pi” 

survey of all of the sky visible from its location on 

Haleakala (Hawaii), a medium-deep supernova survey, 

as well as a dedicated survey of the Andromeda galaxy 

and a search for transiting planets. Including this planet 

search, MPIA scientists are leading four out of twelve 

key science projects within PS1SC, covering in addition 

the search for the most distant quasars and the coolest 

stars, as well as a comprehensive study of the Local 

Group’s structure. 

Within the herSchel Space Observatory project, 

MPIA is the largest Co-I institute in the PACS instrument 

consortium, which consists of partners from 6 European 

countries. herSchel was successfully launched on May 

14 th , 2009. The institute leads two herSchel guaranteed 

Time Key Programs on “The earliest phases of star formation” 

and “The Dusty Young Universe: Photometry 

and Spectroscopy of Quasars at z 2” and participates 

in nine other herSchel Open and Guaranteed Time Key 

Programs. All these observing programs are large international 

collaborations.

22 I. General 

I.4 Educational and Public Outreach and the new “Haus der Astronomie” 

Training the next generation of scientists and communicating 

astronomy to the public has a longstandig tradition 

on the Königstuhl. The “Haus der Astronomie” (HdA), 

a new center for education and public outreach, whose 

establishment had been decided in December 2008, has 

been finally erected on the Campus of the MPIA during 

2011. The new institution will amplify and strengthen 

the efforts of all Heidelberg astronomers directed to 

this goal. 

Students come from all over the world to the MPIA to 

carry out research for their diploma or doctoral thesis. 

A majority of these students are formally enrolled at the 

University of Heidelberg. In turn, a number of scientists 

at the MPIA have adjunct faculty status at the University 

Undergraduate students can get a first taste of scientific 

work at the MPIA. The Institute offers advanced 

practical courses or enables the students to participate in 

“mini research projects”. These last about two months 

and cover a wide range of questions, including the analysis 

of observational data or numerical simulations, as 

well as work on instrumentation. These practical courses 

offer the students an early, practically oriented insight 

into astrophysical research and are an excellent preparatory 

step for a later diploma or doctoral thesis. 

The International Max Planck Research School 

(IMPRS) for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics, which 

was established by the Max Planck Society and the 

University of Heidelberg, started in 2005, and offers 

PhD students from all over the world a three-years 

education under excellent conditions in experimental 

and theoretical research in the field of astronomy and 

cosmic physics. It is supported by the five astronomical 

research institutes in Heidelberg. After a successful 

evaluation in 2009, the IMPRS-HD was extended for 

another period 

The institute’s mission also includes educating and 

informing the general public about astronomical research. 

Members of the institute give talks at schools, 

education centers and planetaria. They also appear at 

press conferences or on radio and television programs, 

in particular on the occasion of astronomical events 

that attract major public attention. Numerous groups of 

visitors come to the MPIA on the Königstuhl and the 

Calar Alto Observatory. 

Our initiative for the general public, a series of eight 

“Public Lectures on Sunday Morning”, which was in 

Fig. I.4.1: The HdA was finished in autumn 2011. The main 

entrance is to the right. 

Credit: MPIA

its sixth year in 2011, always leads to a sold-out auditorium 

at the MPIA. Also, as in previous years, the one 

week long practical course which was offered to interested 

schoolchildren was immediately booked out – applicants 

came from all-over the country. And again, the 

MPIA participated in the Girls’ Day, an annual nationwide 

campaign intended to encourage schoolgirls to 

learn about professions that are still mainly male-dominated. 

At various stations throughout the MPIA, about 

40 schoolgirls got a general idea of the work at an astronomical 

institute. 

In 2011, there were a lot of other activities and 

events. A more detailed description can be found in 

chapter V. 

Finally, the monthly magazine “Sterne und 

Weltraum” (Stars and Space, SuW of the Spektrum- 

Verlag) is published at the MPIA. This journal is intended 

for the general public and offers a lively forum 

both for professional astronomers and for the large 

community of amateurs in the field. A significant fraction 

of the readers are teachers and pupils. In parallel 

to SuW, didactic material is produced monthly within 

our successful project “Science to schools!”, which 

helps teachers to treat interesting themes of current astronomical 

research during regular classes in physics 

and natural sciences. The project “Science to schools!” 

was sponsored by the Klaus Tschira Foundation from 

2005 to 2009, and is now continued in the “Haus der 

Astronomie”. The didactic material is made freely 

available through the web and is widely used in german-speaking 

countries. 

I.4 Educational and Public Outreach and the new “Haus der Astronomie” 23 

The “Haus der Astronomie” – a Center for Education 

and Public Outreach 

In December 2011, the “Haus der Astronomie”, which 

was founded in December 2008, has been finally erected 

on the campus of the MPIA. In this facility, the educational 

and public outreach activities of all astronomers 

in Heidelberg will be concentrated and developed further. 

Information for the media and the general public, 

the development of didactic material, simulations and 

visualizations, and the training of university students 

and teachers of physics, astronomy and natural sciences 

will play a major role. Furthermore, the HdA will support 

contacts and communication between scientists. The 

Klaus Tschira Foundation has financed the building and 

its technical equipment, and the Max Planck Society is 

operating the facility. In addition to these Institutions, 

the City of Heidelberg, the State of Baden-Württemberg, 

and the University of Heidelberg are contributing to the 

personnel costs, and the astro-nomers at the MPIA and 

at the University’s Center for Astronomy will also bring 

in activities related to public and educational outreach. 

During 2009, the center’s core team was assembled, 

and construction work was started on October 2009 

with a festive groundbreaking ceremony. At the end of 

2010, the basic structure of the building, including the 

planetarium dome was finished. This was celebrated in 

a topping-off ceremony on December 17 2010. And only 

one year later, on December 16 2011, we celebrated 

in the presence of Peter Gruss (President of the Max 

Planck Society), Klaus Tschira (the building's sponsor), 

Theresia Bauer (Minister for Science, Research 

and the Arts, State of Baden-Württemberg), Gabriele 

Warminski-Leitheußer (Minister for Education, Youths 

and Sports, State of Baden-Württemberg), Bernhard 

Eitel (Rector of Heidelberg University), and Eckart 

Würzner (Lord Mayor of the City of Heidelberg) the 

inauguration of the “Haus der Astronomie” (see chapter 

V for more details about the HdA).

24 II. Highlights 

II. Highlights 

II.1 Anchoring Galactic Magnetic Fields in Giant Molecular Clouds: 

A Bird’s-eye View 

Magnetic fields set the stage for the birth of new stars 

Astronomers at MPIA have measured for the first time 

the alignment of magnetic fields in gigantic clouds of 

gas and dust in a distant galaxy. The results suggest that 

such magnetic fields play a key role in channelling matter 

to form denser clouds, and thus in setting the stage 

for the birth of new stars. The work was published in the 

November 24 edition 2011 of the journal Nature. 

The relationship between galaxy-wide magnetic fields 

(B-fields) and localized molecular clouds is not well 

y [kpc] 

6.4 

6.2 

6 

5.8 

–5.6 

Galactocentric Distance [kpc] 

5.5 

5 

4.5 

4 

1.5 2 

–5.4 –5.2 

x [kpc] 

–5 –4.8 

understood. Some models of cloud formation suggest 

that the large scale galactic field is largely irrelevant at 

the small scale of individual clouds, because turbulence 

and rotation of a cloud might randomize the cloud field 

orientations (see Dobbs, C., MNRAS 391 844 (2008) 

and Fig. II.1.1 bottom). Others suggest that the galactic 

B-fields can be strong enough to impose their directions 

upon the clouds (See Fig. II.1.1 top and Shetty, R. 

& Ostriker, E. ApJ 647, 997 (2006)). 

The implication for star formation is that the ordered 

cloud B-fields in the latter scenario can regulate cloud 

fragmentation and affect star formation rate and efficien- 

2.5 

3 3.5 

Galactocentric Distance [kpc] 

–1 

–1.5 

–2 

–2.5 

log column density [g / cm 2 ] 

200 km s –1 

Fig. II.1.1: Two competing scenarios of cloud formation. Top: A 

patch from a global galaxy simulation. The solid vectors show 

the instantaneous gas velocity in the frame rotating with the 

spiral potential. The dotted vectors show the initial velocities 

(pure circular motion). The solid lines show B-field orientations. 

The gray scale stands for the relative surface density. The 

B-fields of the spiral arm are only slightly twisted in the molecular 

cloud complexes (dark elongated regions), and in turn 

the field tension is strong enough to hinder the cloud rotation. 

Bottom: A similar simulation but the well developed cloud 

rotation has produced tidal tails extending from the GMC, and 

the B-fields (vectors) follow the rotation and lost the “memory” 

of the galactic field direction. 

Credit: Dobbs, C., MNRAS 391 844 (2008)

3100 

3055 

Declination (J2000) 

50 

45 

40 

35 

30 

25 

3020 

Fig. II.1.2.: Locations of the 6 most massive GMCs (“+”s) and 

the optical spiral arms in M33. The background is an optical 

image of M33 from Thomas V. Davis. The white lines trace the 

optical arms adopted from Sandage, A. & Humphreys, R. ApJ 

236, 1 (1980) and Rogstad, D., Wright, M. & Lockhart ApJ 

204, 703 (1976). 

cy. This is because, just like the Earth B-field can channel 

the Solar wind toward the polar regions (and form aurora), 

strong B-fields can channel the gravitational contraction 

of gas and form molecular clouds. Cloud fields 

inherited from the galaxy are possible to further channel 

the gas motion within the cloud and preserve the direction 

of the galactic B-field. 

A measurement of the field direction in individual 

clouds and comparison to the spiral arms should determine 

which model is correct, but is difficult in the Milky 

Way because the arms cannot be observed due to the 

edge-on view of the Galactic disk. 

II.1 Anchoring Galactic Magnetic Fields in Giant Molecular Clouds: A Bird’s-eye view 25 

01:35:00 34:30 34:00 33:30 33:00 32:30 

Right Ascension (J2000) 

Credit: Hua-Bai Li, Thomas V. Davis 

The efficiencies of the state of the art instruments are 

not sufficient to probe the cloud B-fields from a faceon 

galaxy with the conventional B-field tracers. Here 

we report a novel strategy to tackle extragalactic cloud 

B-fields. We determine B-field directions using the polarization 

of CO emission lines, which should be either 

perpendicular or parallel to the local B-field direction 

projected on the sky (the Goldreich-Kylafis-effect, see 

Goldreich, P. & Kylafis, N., ApJ 243, 75 (1981) for details). 

Though there are other B-field tracers that do not 

have this 90 ambiguity, CO is much more abundant 

and allows current radio telescopes to perform extragalactic 

cloud observations. Our argument for using the 

Goldreich-Kylafis-effect is that the 90 ambiguity can 

still be statistically useful. An intrinsically random field 

distribution, as happens when the turbulence is super- 

Alfvenic (i.e., turbulent energy dominates B-field energy), 

will still be random with this ambiguity. On the


N 

10 

8 

6 

4 

2 

0 

gmc 1 

gmc 2 

gmc 3 

gmc 4 

gmc 5 

gmc 6 

–40 

Fig. II.1.3.: Distribution of the polarization-arm offsets. The 

offsets are from the difference between the orientations of 

CO polarization and local arms. Contributions from different 

GMCs are distinguished by the colors. The distribution can be 

fitted by a double-Gaussian function with a standard deviation 

of 20.72.6 and peaks at –1.94.7 and 91.13.7, 

other hand, an intrinsically single-peaked Gaussian-like 

field distribution, as happens when the turbulence is sub- 

Alfvenic, will either stay single-peaked, or split into two 

peaks approximately 90 apart. 

M 33 is the nearest face-on galaxy with pronounced 

optical spiral arms. We used the Submillimeter Array at 

Mauna Kea (SMA), which offers a linear spatial resolution 

of 15 parsecs at 230 GHz (the frequency of the 

CO J 2–1 transition) at the distance of M 33 (900 kpc). 

(The Goldreich-Kylafis effect has been detected by the 

SMA before from a Galactic cloud, see Beuther (also 

MPIA) et al. in ApJ 724, 113, 2010). 

We picked the six most massive clouds (Fig. II.1.2) 

from the Bima M 33 survey because of their strong CO 

line emission. The distribution of the offsets between 

the CO polarization and the local arm directions clearly 

show the trend of “double peaks” (Fig. II.1.3). 

–20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 

offset of CO polarization from local arm direction 

suggesting that the cloud B-field directions are correlated with 

the arm directions. The directions of synchrotron polarization, 

which traces the B-field from the low-density warm vicinities 

of each cloud, are also shown as the dashed lines. The fields in 

the less compressed warm media do not align with the spiral 

arms. 

The distribution can be fitted by a double-Gaussian 

function with the two peaks lie at –1.9 4.7 and 91.1 

3.7° and a standard deviation of 20.72.6. This indicates 

that the mean field directions are well-defined 

and highly correlated with the spiral arms, consistent 

with the scenario that galactic B-fields can exert tension 

forces strong enough to resist cloud rotation (Fig. 

II.1.1 top). 

The 20 dispersion of the field direction is also important, 

which implies that the cloud turbulence is sub- 

Alfvenic, based on the Chandrasekhar-Fermi criterion. 

Whether molecular clouds are sub- or super-Alfvenic is 

another long-lasting debate and is a critical assumption 

made in various theories of star formation. 

Credit: Hua-Bai Li 

Hua-Bai Li and Thomas Henning

II.2 Subaru observations of solar systems in the making 

Using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, a team of astronomers 

including MPIA scientists have shown the 

protoplanetary disks surrounding two young stars in 

unprecedented detail. This is the first time that disk 

structures comparable in size to our own solar system 

have been resolved this clearly, revealing features such 

as rings and gaps that are associated with the formation 

of giant planets. The observations are part of the 

SeedS project in which MPIA is involved: a systematic 

survey to search for planets and disks around young 

stars using HiCIAO, a state-of-the-art high-contrast camera 

designed specifically for this purpose. 

Planetary systems like our own share a humble origin 

as mere by-products of star formation. A newborn star's 

gravity gathers leftover gas and dust in a dense, flattened 

disk of matter orbiting the star. Clumps in the disk sweep 

up more and more material, until their own gravity becomes 

sufficiently strong to compress them into the dense 

bodies we know as planets. As documented in MPIA annual 

reports, among other places, recent years have seen 

substantial advances both in observations (mostly indi- 

Fig. II.2.1: Image taken with the HiCIAO planet-hunter camera 

on the SuBaru Telescope, which shows a bright arc of scattered 

light (white) from the protoplanetary disk around the young 

star LkCa 15 (center, masked out with a dark circle). The arc’s 

sharp inner edge traces the outline of a wide gap in the disk. 

The gap is decidedly lopsided – it is markedly wider on the left 

side – and has most likely been carved out of the disk by one 

or more newborn planets that orbit the star. 

rect) and in theoretical modeling of such protoplanetary 

disks. The two recent observations described in this highlight 

have added intriguing new details, revealing some 

structures that had never before been seen directly. 

The lopsided disk of LkCa 15 

One of the two studies, led by Christian Thalmann while 

on staff at MPIA, targeted the star LkCa 15, which is 

located around 450 light-years from Earth in the constellation 

Taurus. At an age of a few million years, LkCa 15 

is a young star – the Sun, after all, is a thousand times 

older. From previous observations of its infrared spectrum 

and its millimeter emissions, scientists had deduced 

the presence of a large gap in the center of the star's 

protoplanetary disk. 

The new images were taken with the HiCIAO camera 

in the near-infrared (H band, that is, around a wavelength 

of 1.6 mm). The image processing used angular differential 

imaging (ADI). This technique exploits the fact that 

the field the telescope observes and the telescope’s pupil 

Fig. II.2.2: A reconstruction of the geometry of the disk around 

LkCa 15 (dashed blue lines) superimposed on the HiCIAO 

image. The bright arc represents light from the central star 

(LkCa 15) that reflects off the surface of the disk. This kind 

of light scattering is particularly effective at grazing angles, 

which is why most of the observed light comes from the near 

side of the disk. 

Credit: MPIA (C. Thalmann) & NAOJ 

27


rotate with respect to each other during the observation. 

By comparing different images taken during an observing 

run, this information can be used to distinguish the 

star’s halo – stray light due to the star’s extreme brightness 

and its interaction with the telescope – from real 

on-sky sources as, for example, a disk surrounding a star. 

The images show starlight gleaming off the disk surface, 

clearly outlining the sharp edge of the gap for the 

first time. Most interestingly, the elliptical shape of the 

gap is not centered on the star, but appears lopsided. 

The most likely explanation for LkCa 15’s disk gap, 

and in particular its asymmetry, is that one or more 

planets, freshly born from the disk material, have swept 

up the gas and dust along their orbits. Intriguingly, the 

disk gap is sufficiently large to accommodate the orbits 

of all the planets in our own Solar System. It is therefore 

tempting to speculate that LkCa 15 might be in the process 

of forming an entire planetary system much like our 

own. Further observation could soon detect those planets. 

A detailed view of AB Aurigae 

The second observation, led by Jun Hashimoto (National 

Observatory of Japan), targeted the Herbig AE star AB 

Aur in the constellation Auriga, at a distance of 470 lightyears 

from Earth. This star is even younger, with an age 

of a mere one million years. 

The observations, polarized intensity images at a nearinfrared 

wavelength of 1.6 mm, were the first to show 

details down to length scales comparable to the size of 

Disk wall is 

shadowed by 

inner disk 

Subaru images 

show light from 

the central star 

reflects off the 

disk surface 

Our entire Solar System 

would fit into the hole 

of the outer disk ... 

50 times the diameter 

of Earth‘s orbit 

Outer dust and gas disk 

our own solar system – for comparison: At a distance of 

470 light-years, the solar system has the same apparent 

size as a 1 Euro coin viewed at a distance of more than 

10 km. The disk has a radial distance from its mother star 

between 22 and 554 the mean Earth-Sun distance (22– 

554 AU). The observations show nested rings of material 

that are tilted with respect to the disk’s equatorial plane, 

and whose material, intriguingly, is not distributed symmetrically 

around the star – irregular features including a 

bumpy double ring and a ring-like gap, that indicate the 

presence of at least one very massive planet. 

HiCIAO and the SeedS project 

Both observations where made with the HiCIAO instrument 

at the 8.2 m SuBaru Telescope located at Mauna 

Kea at Hawaii. Imaging a disk or planet close to a star is 

an enormous challenge, as it is very difficult to discern 

the light emitted by those objects in the star’s intense 

glare. HiCIAO meets this challenge by correcting for 

the distorting influence of the Earth’s atmosphere using 

Fig. II.2.3: Sketch of the three-dimensional shape of the protoplanetary 

disk around the star LkCa 15. Only the light reflected 

from the outer disk (shown in yellow) is seen on the HiCIAO 

images. The other structural features have been inferred from 

previous indirect observations of the system. The large gap between 

the inner and the outer disk has most likely been carved 

out by one or more newborn planets that orbit the star. The 

planets themselves have not been detected – yet. 

1 /6 times the diameter 

of Earth‘s orbit 

... and the inner disk 

would fit inside 

Mercury‘s orbit. 

Credit: MPIA (C. Thalmann) & NAOJ

Adaptive Optics, and by physically blocking out most of 

the star’s light using a coronagraph. 

The observations are part of the SeedS project, short 

for “Strategic Explorations of Exoplanets and Disks with 

SuBaru”: a five-year systematic search for exoplanets 

and protoplanetary disks using observations such as the 

ones described here, which are widely regarded as a key 

II.2 SuBaru observations of solar systems in the making 29 

Current Observation 1 144 AU Earlier Observation 

1 144 AU 

Fig. II.2.4: Recent near-infrared images of AB Aur taken by 

HiCIAO (top left), compared with an image taken in 2004 by 

its predecessor instrument CIAO (top right). The new images 

give a much more detailed view of the inner regions (bottom 

left; with explanations bottom right): Intricate bright and dark 

patterns indicate the presence of different rings of matter. The 

fact that their centers do not coincide with the position of the star 

and the other irregularities point to the existence of a massive giant 

planet which is sweeping up the material between the rings. 

Gap in the ring 

Inner ring 

1 144 AU 

Center of 

the outer ring 

Outer ring 

to understanding the formation of protoplanetary systems. 

SeedS involves more than 100 researchers from 

25 astronomical institutions in Asia (NAOJ and others), 

Europe (MPIA and others), and the US (Princeton 

University and others). 

The scientific publications regarding the observations 

presented here are: C. Thalmann, et al. 2010, 

»Imaging of a Transitional Disk Gap in Reflected Light: 

Indications of Planet Formation Around the Young Solar 

Analog LkCa 15« in Astrophysical Journal Letters 718, 

p. L87-L91, and J. Hashimoto, et al. 2011, “Direct 

Imaging of Fine Structures in Giant Planet-forming 

Regions of the Protoplanetary Disk Around AB Aurigae” 

in Astrophysical Journal Letters 729, p. L17. 

Christian Thalmann, Miwa Goto, Thomas Henning, 

Wolfgang Brandner, Joseph Carson, Markus Feldt 

Credit: NaOJ/J. Hashimoto


II.3 In what Galaxies do Black Holes live in the Early Universe? 

Using state-of-the-art technology and sophisticated 

data analysis tools, a team from MPIA has developed a 

new and powerful technique to directly determine the 

mass of a galaxy hosting an active supermassive central 

black hole at a distance of nearly 9 billion light-years 

from Earth. This pioneering method promises a new 

approach for studying the co-evolution of galaxies and 

their central black holes, which typically relies on mass 

determinations. 

One of the most intriguing developments in astronomy 

over the last few decades is the realization that not only 

do most galaxies contain central black holes of gigantic 

size, but also that the mass of these central black holes 

are directly related to the mass of their host galaxies. 

These scaling relations with the black hole mass have 

been found to exist with the galaxy’s stellar or dynamical 

bulge mass, total luminosity and stellar velocity dispersion. 

It has recently been realized that these correlations 

are expected as a consequence of the current standard 

model of galaxy evolution, the so-called hierarchical 

model, as astronomers from MPIA have shown (Jahnke 

& Macciò 2011, ApJ, 734, 92). In this standard model of 

galaxy formation galaxies evolve and grow by ingesting 

smaller galaxies, or through mergers with galaxies of 

comparable size. As a a consequence of this hierarchical 

formation, the individual relations between bulge and 

black hole mass are averaged out, creating a nearly universal 

ratio between the two properties in every galaxy. 

One of the most robust methods to study how galaxies 

and black holes evolve relative to each other is to trace 

these scaling relations through cosmic time. This can 

pixel 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

a 

–21.4 

log (F(Ha) / (W/m 

–21 

2 )) 

–20.6 

0.5 

10 

E 

20 30 40 50 60 

pixel 

N 

b 

0.5 

10 

L(Ha) [10 42 ] 

0.4 

0.3 

0.2 

0.1 

0 

–0.1 

620 

640 660 680 700 720 

Wavelength [nm] 

Fig. II.3.1: Spectrum around Hα for the quasar SDSS 

J090543.56+043347.3, centered on the active nucleus. From 

the combination of width (red arrow) and luminosity (integral 

above the zero level between the blue lines) of the Hα line 

the black hole mass can be inferred (Greene & Ho 2005, 

ApJ, 630, 122). The use of Hα for this purpose reduces the 

systematic uncertainties present in the prior estimates using 

the MgII line. 

Fig. II.3.2: SDSS J090543.56+043347.3: (a) Extracted emission 

line flux distribution, (b) Hα line width and (c) resulting 

velocity field, in all cases after removal of the bright nucleus, 

overlaid in contours. 

50 

Ha line width [km/s] 

110 170 

E 

20 30 40 50 60 

pixel 

N 

c 

V [km/s] 

–150 50 

0.5 

10 

E 

250 

20 30 40 50 60 

pixel 

N 

Credit: Katherine J. Inskip 

Credit: Katherine J. Inskip

pixel 

pixel 

60 

40 

20 

60 

40 

20 

0 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

a b c 

d e f 

g 

be done by measuring the black-hole-mass galaxy-mass 

correlation at different cosmic distances, corresponding 

to different look-back times. We hence need to be able 

to determine black hole and galaxy masses at high redshifts. 

II.3 In what Galaxies do Black Holes live in the Early Universe? 31 

20 40 60 20 40 60 20 40 60 

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 10 20 30 40 50 60 10 20 30 40 50 60 

pixel 

Fig. II.3.3: The extracted Hα velocity field in Fig. II.3.2c is the 

basis for a detailed model of the velocity structure in the galaxy. 

We had to separate out the peculiar motion in the galaxy associated 

with the arms of the galaxy, possibly created by a recent 

interaction with another galaxy. Flux models had to be built for 

the arm component (top row a–c) and the main galaxy (center 

–250 

h i 

V [km/s] 

50 

row d+e) for a full flux model (f). This was then used to create a 

realistic velocity model for the main galaxy component (bottom 

row). (g) shows the measured velocity field, (h) the model and 

(i) the residual velocities after the model has been subtracted. 

There are only very small velocity residuals left. The model can 

be directly converted into a dynamical mass value. 

For galaxies further away than 5 billion light-years 

(corresponding to a redshift of z 0.5), such studies 

face considerable difficulties. The only high redshift 

objects for which a galaxy’s central black hole mass can 

be measured are so called active galaxies or quasars. 

Credit: Katherine J. Inskip 

350


These are galaxies in the special phase during which 

their black holes grow by swallowing surrounding matter 

and in the process emit enormous amounts of electromagnetic 

radiation. Characteristic emission lines allow 

the measurement of the black hole mass using a standard 

method which relates the width of these emission lines to 

the mass of the central black hole (Fig.II.3.1). 

However, for these galaxies it is the galaxy’s mass 

itself that is the challenge: At such distances, standard 

methods of estimating a galaxy’s mass become exceedingly 

uncertain or fail altogether. Now we have 

for the first time succeeded in directly and simultaneously 

“weighing” both a galaxy and its central 

black hole at such a great distance using a sophisticated 

and novel method. The galaxy studied is SDSS 

J090543.56+043347.3, selected from the quasar sample 

of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and lying at a redshift 

z 1.3, corresponding to a distance of 8.8 billion lightyears 

from us. 

The key idea behind dynamical galaxy masses is the 

following: Stars and gas in a galaxy orbit its centre. The 

different orbital speeds of the gas clouds are a direct function 

of the galaxy’s mass distribution. Determine orbital 

speeds and you can determine the galaxy’s total mass. 

This task was very challenging. Mainly, we had to overcome 

two problems: For one, at such a great distance, the 

angular size of SDSS J090543.56+043347.3 amounts to 

about one arc-second – the apparent size of an ordinary 

DVD viewed from a distance of 25 kilometres. In order 

to obtain the dynamical mass of the galaxy from the motion 

of the galaxy’s gas clouds at different regions across 

the galaxy had to be resolved. This was only possible using 

the unique combination of the SiNfONi integral field 

spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) belonging 

to the European Southern Observatory (eSO) on Cerro 

Paranal in northern Chile. SiNfONi was coupled with an 

adaptive optics (AO) system with the ParSec laser guide 

star which was co-developed by MPIA, to strongly reduce 

the atmospheric distortion of celestial images. SiNfONi is 

able to produce a spectrum for each of 1600 pixels over a 

3 3 arc-second field while the AO system increased the 

spatial resolution from about 1 arc-second to the 0.35 arcseconds 

required for this project. 

The second difficulty is the fact that SDSS 

J090543.56+043347.3 is a quasar, whose central region 

emits intense light, several times brighter than the emission 

from the underlying galaxy – which poses an 

obvious problem. For the measurement of the gas velocity 

field, first the extremely intense nuclear light around 

the black hole had to be separated from the light emitted 

by the moving gas clouds in the rest of the galaxy. Only 

after this process, the analysis and modelling of the velocity 

structure of the galaxy can become possible, resulting 

in the derived dynamical mass inside the central 

5.25 1.05 kiloparsecs of the galaxy of MDYN 2.05 +1.68 

–0.74 

1011 solar masses. The data and analysis involved in 

this are shown in Figures II.3.2 and II.3.3. 

Combining this result with the mass value of the gal- 

axy’s central black hole of M BH,Hα 2.83 +1.93 

–1.13 10 8 solar 

masses, which we measured from the nuclear Hα 

line in the same dataset, we were able to compute the 

ratio of black hole to dynamical bulge mass of the galaxy. 

As it turns out, this value is nearly the same as that 

which would be expected for a present-day galaxy (Fig. 

II.3.4). Apparently, nothing major has changed between 

now and then: At least out to this distance, 9 billion 

years into the past, the correlation between galaxies 

and their black holes appears to be very close to 

their modern-day counterparts. 

When we estimate the expected star formation and 

black hole growth in SDSS J090543.56+043347.3 we 

find that both black hole and stellar mass are not expected 

to grow by more than 50 % between z 1.3 

and today – apparently, over this long period of time 

stellar and black hole mass do not change very much. 

However, what will still happen is that the orbits of the 

stars in SDSS J090543.56+043347.3 will be reshuffled 

by collisions with smaller companion galaxies from orbits 

in the stellar disk to the stellar bulge. This is supported 

by the fact that we see indications for a substantial 

gaseous disk component in the galaxy but expect 

that by z 0 it will be largely a spheroidal galaxy without 

many disk stars. 

We have now started to expand this novel analysis 

to a larger set of 15 further galaxies using a total of 80 

hours of SiNfONi time; 30 hours of guaranteed time invested 

by MPIA have already been observed, 50 fur- 

Fig. II.3.4: Local z 0 scaling relations (symbols and regression 

line) for black hole vs. dynamical host galaxy mass (Häring 

& Rix 2004, ApJ, 604, L89 with modified values by Sani et 

al. 2011, MNRAS, 413, 1479). Overplotted is our estimate of 

the dynamical galaxy mass of SDSS J090543.56+043347.3 vs. 

the black hole mass, once for an old literature value based on 

the MgII line (blue star) and vs. our new, improved black hole 

mass based on Ha. There is no discernable offset from the 

z 0 relation. 

Black Hole Mass [M ] 

10 10 

10 9 

10 8 

10 7 

108 106 Credit: Katherine J. Inskip 

109 10 10 10 

Dynamical Bulge Mass [M ] 

11 1012 1013

ther hours were awarded in a general observing programme 

running until 2012. The total sample of 16 galaxies 

at redshifts z 1 to 2.3 will enable us to make 

statements about the relative evolution of galaxies and 

their central black holes. If our conclusions from SDSS 

J090543.56+043347.3 are confirmed then massive galaxies 

from these redshifts can change predominantly by 

a redistribution of mass and even undergo a structural 

change, but without much addition of matter to the black 

hole or overall stellar mass. Over the past 9 billion years 

– for more than half of the age of our Universe! – most 

II.3 In what Galaxies do Black Holes live in the Early Universe? 33 

of these galaxies would have lived comparatively boring 

lives, subject to only very limited and slow change (The 

original publication is K. J. Inskip, K. Jahnke, H.-W. Rix 

& G. van de Ven, 2011, ApJ, 739, 90, “Resolving the 

Dynamical Mass of a z 1.3 Quasi-stellar Object Host 

Galaxy Using SiNfONi and Laser Guide Star Assisted 

Adaptive Optics”). 

Knud Jahnke, Katherine J. Inskip, 

Hans-Walter Rix and Glenn van de Ven


II.4 Starbursting Dwarf Galaxies at High Redshift 

Using the Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Camera 

3 a team of astronomers led by MPIA scientists uncovered 

a previously unknown population of dwarf galaxies 

at z ~ 2 displaying extraordinary star formation activity. 

They are doubling their stellar masses in 10 million years, 

a pace that exceeds that of the Milky Way by three 

orders of magnitude. 

Until now, the formation history of dwarf galaxies 

could only be studied through meticulously constructing 

color-magnitude diagrams of individual stars in 

nearby objects. Such case studies have been carried out 

for the past two decades and it is by now clear that the 

majority of stars living in present-day dwarf galaxies 

are old. In essence, the star formation history of dwarf 

galaxies does not appear to be markedly different from 

that of the universe as a whole: all galaxies, including 

dwarf galaxies, were forming stars at higher rates in the 

more distant past. 

Observing high-redshift galaxies is the commonly 

adopted strategy to examine the galaxy formation process 

in more detail and also in a more direct manner. 

This has been done successfully for quite some time 

now, but results have been limited almost exclusively 

to massive, luminous galaxies. Dwarf galaxies are, 

usually, too faint to detect at any interestingly high 

redshift 

CandelS: an eye opener 

This was suddenly changed by the unexpected discovery 

of an unusual yet apparently quite common type 

of object in new deep observations with the HuBBle 

Space Telescope (HST). These observations were part 

of the largest HST survey ever undertaken: CaNdelS 

(Fig.II.4.1). This international project aims at obtaining 

optical and near- infrared images over ‘large’ parts 

of the sky (about 700 square arcminutes) at exquisite 

depth (27.5 AB mag). The combination of depth, area, 

spatial resolution and wavelength coverage make 

this a gold mine for examining the origin of galaxy 

structure and morphology (the HuBBle sequence), the 

defining properties of the first galaxies that formed during 

(and presumably caused) reionization, and putting 

stronger constraints on the dynamical state of the universe 

through the discovery of Type 1a supernova at 

even larger cosmological distances than before. 

This dramatic expansion of discovery space has immediately 

resulted in a number of interesting results, the 

most unexpected revelation being the topic of this article. 

Among the tens of thousands of high-redshift gal- 

axies in the currently available images – the survey is 

about 50 % complete at the time of writing, and will be 

finished in 2013 – we noticed a number of H 25 AB 

mag objects with very strange colors (Fig. II.4.1 and 2). 

Whereas they are red in I – J ( 0.5 in AB mag, which 

is typical for a distant galaxy) they are extremely blue 

in J – H ( 0.5). 

Extreme Emission Lines 

Such extreme variations in the spectral energy distribution 

cannot be explained by any known continuum radiation 

processes, and we arrived at the conclusion that 

enormously strong emission lines must contribute considerably 

to the integrated light in the J band. The implication 

is that the equivalent width of this line (or lines 

combined) exceeds 1000 Å, which is unusual indeed. 

Spectroscopic confirmation is, of course, essential to 

justify such an extraordinary claim. Usually, 25 th magnitude 

objects are far too faint to obtain spectra for, 

but in the purported presence of bright emission lines 

(flux 10 –16 erg s -1 cm -2 ) this should, in fact, be quite 

straightforward. By chance, HST had already taken 

spectra for four of the 69 ‘extreme emission line galaxy’ 

candidates, and all four candidates display bright 

emission lines at 1.3 – 1.4 μm (Fig. II.4.3). Moreover, 

the line fluxes are consistent with the excess light observed 

in the J band: emission lines explain the odd 

broad-band colors. 

Interestingly, in all four cases the bright emission 

lines could readily be identified as the [OIII] doublet 

at restframe wavelengths λ 4969 Å and λ 5007 Å, 

flanked by Hb at 4861 Å. This puts these objects in the 

redshift range z 1.6 – 1.8, and from now on the working 

hypothesis will be that all 69 candidates we identified 

are in fact [OIII] emitters at z 1.7. However, we 

should keep in mind that some of the candidates may be 

Hα emitters at z 1, whereas other emission lines can 

be ruled out based on additional broad-band photometry 

at shorter wavelengths: none of the objects are so-called 

U or B-band dropouts, meaning that the Lyman break 

lies blueward of the U and B bands, limiting the redshift 

to z 2. This rules out the other potentially very bright 

Ly α and [OII] emission lines. 

In short, we have made a very strong case that we 

have identified a previously unknown population of 

z 1 – 2 objects with extremely bright [OIII] (or Hα) 

emission lines. The question naturally arises what could 

cause emission lines with equivalent widths in excess of 

500 Å in the rest frame. The two options are starbursts 

and active nuclei, that is, accreting black holes.

1 

Surprisingly Large Numbers of Young Stars in Surprisingly 

Small Galaxies 

7 

While we cannot completely rule out that active galactic 

nuclei are responsible, it would be strange indeed to 

have such massive black holes in such small galaxies. 

This would require an accretion mode that is so far unknown 

and does not occur in the present-day universe. 

It is also entirely unclear what the descendants of such 

objects would be. In this sense, the starburst hypoth- 

8 

2 

13 

14 

3 

1 2 3 4 5 6 

7 8 9 10 11 12 

13 14 15 16 17 18 

9 

15 

4 

10 

II.4 Starbursting Dwarf Galaxies at High Redshift 35 

16 

Fig. II.4.1: The large false-color image shows an area of about 

79 109 observed with HST/WFC3 and HST/ACS. The circles 

indicate the locations of 18 of the emission line dominated 

objects. The panels (30 30 each) zoom in on these objects. 

esis is less outlandish: interpreting the observations as 

such puts, as we will see, these objects in the realm of 

dwarf galaxies in terms of their stellar mass and number 

density. 

5 

11 

17 

12 

18 

6 

Credit: NaSa, eSa, A. van der Wel (MPIA), H. Ferguson, A.Koekemoer ( STScI), CaNdelS team


Credit: A. van der Wel 

I F814W – J F125W [mag] 

1.5 

1 

0.5 

0 

–0.5 

E(B–V) = 0,3 

continuum 

emission line 

–1.5 

Even when adopting the starburst hypothesis, it is 

immediately clear that these objects are all but normal. 

The only way to get such large line-to-continuum 

Flux ratios is to have a stellar population with an age 

of about 10 Myr. Usually, galaxy ages are measured in 

Gyrs, not Myrs. Given this age constraint, the luminosities 

imply stellar masses of around 10 8 M . Although it 

is plausible that an older population of stars exists we 

can rule out that these starbursts occur in much large, 

say, Milky Way type, galaxies. Rather, these must be 

truly low-mass galaxies, such that this population constitutes 

the first systematic detection of dwarf galaxies 

at high redshift. 

Cosmological Context 

–1 –0.5 

JF125W – HF160W [mag] 

100 Myr 

continuum 1 Myr 

Let us now consider the broader implications of the 

presence of 69 starbursting dwarf galaxies at z 1.7 

in CaNdelS. To be somewhat more precise, assuming 

a redshift range of z 1.6 – 1.8, their volume density 

is 4 10 –4 Mpc –3 . This makes them about 100 times 

rarer than present-day dwarf galaxies and they constitute 

only 0.1 % of the 10 Myr young stellar populations 

at that redshift if we consider galaxies of all 

masses. 

While this may sound unimpressive it does not 

make these starbursts cosmologically irrelevant once 

we realize that they are very short-duration events: for 

every objects we see, there must be numerous similarly 

massive objects that are not undergoing such an intense 

burst of star formation at the time of observation but 

have had or will have one at some other time. 

Let us formalize this argument and make two reasonable 

assumptions. The first assumption is that the 

observed bursts do not only occur at at z 1.7 but at 

0 

Fig. II.4.2: I – J vs. J–H color-color diagram of objects in 

CaNdelS, highlighting with large red symbols with error bars 

those objects selected as extreme emission line galaxy candidates. 

They mainly differ from the main branch of galaxy 

colors by their blue J–H colors. The blue line indicates the 

colors of the continuum radiation produced by a young population 

of stars (the ages are labeled). The red line includes the 

effect of a strong emission line on the colors. The selected 

objects have colors indicative of strong emission line contributions 

in the J filter. 

all redshifts z 1 – 4, a period of roughly 4 Gyr. We 

know that similarly strong bursts are exceedingly rare 

at z 1 but there is no reason to think that they do not 

occur over a much broader redshift range. With upcoming 

spectroscopic data from HST this assumption can be 

tested easily. 

The second assumption is that between z 1.7 and 

the present day these galaxies will not grow by an order 

of magnitude or more. That is, we will rely on the 

prediction of ΛCDM-based galaxy formation models 

that galaxies typically grow by a factor of several over 

that time span. That is, the descendants of the observed 

bursting galaxies at z 1.7 are dwarf galaxies with 

masses 10 9 M . This assumption is more difficult to test, 

and all we can do now is rely on this model prediction. 

By integrating the observed burst frequency at 

z 1.7 over 4 Gyr (z 1 – 4) we can derive the total 

number of bursts per unit cosmic volume as well as the 

total number of stars formed in this manner. By comparing 

the total number of bursts with the total number of 

dwarf galaxies in the present-day universe, it then follows 

that each present-day dwarf galaxy must have undergone 

two or three of such strong bursts over its life 

time, and, moreover, that the majority of the stars in 

present-day dwarf galaxies formed in these bursts. In 

other words, we propose that the star formation history 

of dwarf galaxies has been strongly burst-like: long periods 

of relative inactivity are interspersed with a small 

number of very strong bursts, mostly occurring at early 

times (z 1). 

Unsolved Riddles and Future Directions 

The observations and our interpretation present a host 

of new questions, as well as speculation on the effect of 

such strong bursts on the galaxies and the dark matter 

halos that host them. First, hydrodynamical simulations 

cannot reproduce such strong bursts in such low-mass 

galaxies. It appears that something fundamental is lacking 

in our description of galaxy formation. Their mere 

existence implies the presence of large reservoirs of gas, 

and it is entirely unclear how to prevent this gas reservoir 

from forming stars before the burst commences, or, 

alternatively, how to assemble a large amount of gas on 

a very short time scale.

F l [10 –21 W m –2 nm –1 ] 

15 

10 

5 

0 

10 

5 

0 

5 

0 

10 

5 

0 

1.25 

GSD18 z 1.742 

Hb [OIII] [OIII] 

UDS2 z 1.784 

UDS5 

Another fascinating aspect of the bursts is the enormous 

amount of energy, produced by stellar winds and 

supernovae, that is injected into the interstellar medium. 

All still-present gas must be in the process of being 

blown out of the star-forming regions at a high rate, 

changing the very gravitational potential of the galaxy 

as whole. The consequences of this should be quite profound. 

The dark matter profiles may be altered in the 

sense that dark matter is removed from the center, producing 

so-called cored density profiles which are observed 

in low-mass galaxies in the vicinity of the Milky 

II.4 Starbursting Dwarf Galaxies at High Redshift 37 

z 1.688 

UDS6 z 1.659 

Fig. II.4.3: HST/WFC3 grism spectra of four extreme emission 

line galaxy candidates. In all cases, a strong emission is seen 

at around 1.35 μm, implying redshifts z 1.7. The lines are 

readily identified as [OIII] by virtue of their asymmetry (the 

[OIII] line is a doublet that is marginally resolved at the low 

resolution of the grism, R 100) and the presence of faint Hb 

emission at the expected wavelength. 

1.3 

Way galaxy. It has long been argued that starbursts could 

provide the necessary feedback to alleviate the tension 

between observed rotation curves of dwarf galaxies and 

the strongly cuspy density profiles predicted by cosmological 

N-body simulations. The fact that we are now 

observing strong bursts in low-mass systems lends much 

credibility to this picture, especially because the bursts 

are all but rare. 

An even more dramatic effect of the rapid outflow of 

large amounts of gas may be that the stellar body itself 

could become unbound. Such a process would obviously 

thwart our interpretation of dwarf galaxy formation: it 

suggests that the observed bursts do not have presentday 

descendants in the form of galaxies at all. 

In summary, the newly discovered star bursts in distant 

dwarf galaxies are surprising in a number of ways, 

mostly because the level of star formation is extremely 

high for the galaxies' small masses. This provides 

a strong indication of how low-mass galaxies form, 

Credit: Arjen van der Wel 

1.35 

l [mm] 

1.4 1.45


and may solve a long-standing problem in cosmology, 

that of the shallow central slopes of low-mass dark halos. 

Furthermore, many questions are raised that warrant 

further investigations. We will search for similar 

objects over a broader redshift range to find out how 

their frequency evolves with cosmic time, search for 

less extreme counterparts to sample different evolutionary 

stages of similar objects, and examine through highresolution 

spectroscopy the metal content, dynamical 

masses, and ionization parameters of the most extreme 

bursts. What is perhaps most important is that we suddenly 

have a way to study dwarf galaxies at large cosmological 

look-back times. This new avenue will prove 

to be a valuable complement to the detailed studies that 

unravel the inner workings of nearby, present-day dwarf 

galaxies. 

Arjen van der Wel, Hans Walter Rix 

& the Candels team

III. Selected Research Areas 

III.1 Planetary population synthesis 

Planetary population synthesis is a new method that 

allows us to improve our understanding of planet formation 

and evolution by using statistical observational 

constraints provided by the extrasolar planets. They are 

now known in a sufficiently high number to treat them 

no more just as single objects, but also as a population 

characterized by a number of statistical distributions. 

With planetary population synthesis, the global effects 

of many different physical mechanisms occurring during 

planet formation and evolution can be put to the observational 

test. 

Introduction 

The number of known extrasolar planets has increased 

very rapidly in the last few years. Currently, there are 

several hundred confirmed exoplanets known, which 

were mostly found by the spectroscopic radial velocity 

technique. Additionally, there are more than two thousand 

candidates from the Kepler satellite which were detected 

with extremely precise photometric transit measurements. 

These detections have revealed an exiting diversity in 

the properties of planetary companions, which was not 

expected from the structure of our own planetary system, 

the Solar System. The detections have however not 

only revealed diversity, but also a number of interesting 

correlations and structures in the properties of the planets. 

These insights were in particular possible thanks to 

the large number of planets now known. This allows 

for the first time to look at the (extrasolar) planets no 

more as single objects only but as a population that 

is characterized by a number of statistical properties. 

Understanding these statistical properties from the point 

of view of planet formation theory is one of the most important 

goals of planetary population synthesis. 

The special interest in a statistical, population wide 

approach also comes from the fact that the knowledge 

about a single planet is often limited. For the majority of 

the extrasolar planets, still only a few orbital elements 

(semimajor axis, eccentricity,…) and a minimum mass 

are known (or a radius, but no mass in the case of the 

Kepler candidates). For a limited number of planets, 

which are typically planets around bright stars for which 

both the mass and the radius are known, more observational 

constraints can be derived like the mean density or 

the atmospheric structure, so that they are investigated 

in details. Also the Solar System provides a large body 

of precise observational constraints against which planet 

formation models must be tested. In order to benefit also 

from the large number, but individually limited data sets, 

statistical methods are necessary. This is important since 

several future surveys like the Gaia space mission or the 

Sphere survey with the VLT will yield additional, similar 

statistical data sets for comparisons. 

The fundamental assumption behind planetary population 

synthesis is that the observed statistical properties 

(like the distribution of the planetary masses or semimajor 

axes) can be explained by studying the physical 

processes like the accretion of gas and solids occurring 

during the formation phase of the planets, given the initial 

conditions. These conditions for the planet formation 

process are the properties of the protoplanetary 

disk which are seen to surround most newly born stars. 

Observations of such circumstellar disks show that they 

come, as planets, with a variety of properties in terms of 

e.g. their mass or lifetime. For an individual planetary 

system, the properties of the protoplanetary disk from 

which it formed are mostly unknown, except maybe for 

the dust-to-gas ratio in the disk, which is likely correlated 

with the stellar metallicity that can be measured spectroscopically 

today. This means that the initial conditions 

are also only known in a statistical sense, which again 

makes a statistical approach appropriate. 

Observational constraints 

Fig. III.1.1 shows two of the most important statistical 

observational constraints. Explaining the structures seen 

in the two plots is one of the declared goals of planetary 

population synthesis. The left panels shows the (minimum) 

mass M versus the semimajor axis a of the exoplanets 

together with the planets of the Solar System. 

The extreme diversity, but also the existence of certain 

structures in the a – M diagram is obvious. For exoplanets, 

the mass-distance diagram has become a representation 

of similar importance as the Hertzsprung- 

Russell diagram for stellar astrophysics. In the plot, one 

can distinguish several groups of planets. There are for 

example massive, close-in planets without equivalent in 

the Solar System. Such hot Jupiters are found around approximately 

1 % of solar like stars (Mayor et al. 2011). 

A class of extrasolar planets that has only been detected 

in the last few years thanks to the progress in the observational 

precision are low-mass planets with masses 

between 1 to 30 Earth masses. These super-Earths and 

mini-Neptunes seem to be very abundant, since roughly 

48 % of FGK stars are found to have such a companion 

with a period of up to 100 days (Mayor et al. 2011). 

39

40 III. Selected Research Areas 

Mass [M Earth ] 

10 4 

10 3 

10 2 

Jupiter 

Saturn 

Neptune 

Uranus 

Earth 

Venus 

Radial velocity 

& Transits 

Microlensing 

Direct imaging 

10 –2 10 

10 

1 

5 

0 

0,1 1 

10 102 1 10 102 10 

Semimajor axis [AU] Mass [MEarth ] 

3 104 jovian 

Jupiter 

Uranus 

Saturn 

Venus 

Earth 

Neptune 

ice 

rocky 

Fig. III.1.1: Two of the most important statistical observational 

constraints for planet formation theory. The left panel shows the 

semimajor axis – mass diagram of the extrasolar planets. The 

different colors indicate the observational detection technique. 

The right panel shows the observed mass-radius relationship 

of the extrasolar planets (red points), together with theoretical 

Since hot Jupiters are much more easily detected by 

both the radial velocity and the transit method relative 

to low-mass (respectively small) planets, their number is 

still lower in Fig. III.1.1, which is not corrected for the 

observational biases. Two statistical distributions which 

are linked to the a – M diagram are the semimajor axis 

distribution and the planetary mass function, which is 

studied below. 

The right panel shows the radius of the extrasolar 

planets and the planets of the Solar System as a function 

of mass. The most recent breakthrough in the observation 

of exoplanets is that it has become possible to not 

only detect exoplanets, but also to start characterizing 

them. In this context, the planetary mass-radius diagram 

is probably the most central representation. The importance 

of the M– R plot stems from its information content 

about the inner bulk composition of planets which 

is the first, very basic geophysical characterization of a 

planet. In the Solar System, we have three fundamental 

types of planets, namely terrestrial, gas giant and ice giant 

planets. The imprint of the bulk composition on the 

radius is indicated by theoretical lines. Two lines show 

the theoretical mass-radius relationship for solid planets 

made of silicates and iron, and of water, while the third 

line shows the M – R for giant planets consisting mostly 

of H/He. Being able to understand and reproduce in 

a model this second fundamental figure is another goal 

of planetary population synthesis. The reason for the importance 

for formation theory stems from the fact that it 

contains additional constraints on the formation process, 

which we cannot derive from the mass-distance diagram 

Radius [R Earth ] 

20 

15 

mass-radius lines for planets of different compositions. In both 

panels, the planets of the Solar System are also shown. Note 

that these figures are not corrected for the various observational 

biases, which favor for the radial velocity and the transit technique 

the detection of close-in, giant planets. 

alone. An example are the observational constraints 

coming from the M – R diagram on the extent of orbital 

migration. Efficient inward migration brings ice-dominated, 

low-density planets from the outer parts of the 

disk close to the star. These planets can be distinguished 

from planets consisting only of silicates and iron, which 

have presumably formed in situ in the inner, hotter parts 

of the disk. In future, the atmospheric composition of 

exoplanets as measured by, e.g., the planned EChO mission 

will provide additional, important constraints. 

Another important goal of population synthesis that 

goes beyond the purely planetary properties is to understand 

the correlations between planetary and host star 

properties. 

Population synthesis method 

The general framework for population synthesis calculations 

is shown in Fig. III.1.2. With this framework, 

theoretical formation models can be tested how far 

they can reproduce the statistical properties of the entire 

known population. The most important ingredient is 

the planet formation and evolution model which establishes 

the link between disk and planetary properties. It 

will be addressed below. The second central ingredients 

are sets of initial conditions. These sets are drawn in a 

Monte Carlo way from probability distributions. These 

probability distributions represent the different properties 

of protoplanetary disks and are derived as closely 

as possible from observational results regarding the 

Credit: C. Mordasini

Planet formation & evolution model 

Link disk properties ⇒ planet properties 

Number 

600 

400 

200 

0 

1995 

2000 2005 2010 

Observerd Population 

No match: improve, 

change parameters 

Fig. III.1.2: Flowchart of the population synthesis method. 

disk. At least three different fundamental properties are 

considered: The mass of gas in the disk, the aforementioned 

dust-to-gas ratio, and the lifetime of the disk. 

Additionally properties can be the outer disk radius or 

the initial radial slope of the solid surface density. 

For a given set of initial condition, the formation 

model is used to calculate the final outcome, i.e. the 

planetary system. This step is repeated many times (typically 

10 000 times), leading to a population of synthetic 

planets. Many of these synthetic planets could not 

be detected by current observational techniques for example 

because their mass is too small (cf. Fig. III.1.1). 

In order to make quantitative comparisons with the observations, 

one must therefore apply in the next step 

a synthetic observational bias. This leads to the subpopulation 

of detectable synthetic planets. This group 

is then compared in the following step with a comparison 

sample of actual exoplanets. Depending on the observational 

technique, different biases will be used. It 

is clear that the selection bias of a given observational 

survey should be known as well as possible for this 

step. This makes that large, well characterized surveys 

like e.g. the Kepler mission are of particular interest. 

For the comparison in the next step, various statistical 

methods can be used, like for example two-dimensional 

Komogoroff-Smirnofftests in the a – M plane. This tests 

whether the actual and the synthetic planets are distributed 

in a similar way. Other quantities that are tested 

are the detection frequency, or the radius distribution. It 

Draw and compute 

synthetic planet population 

Apply observational 

detection bias 

Comparison: 

Observable sub-population 

• Distribution of semi-major axis 

• Distribution of masses 

• Fraction of hot/cold Jupiters 

• Distribution of radii 

Initial Conditions: Probability distributions 

Disk gas mass 

Disk dust mass 

Disk lifetime 

III.1 Planetary population synthesis 41 

Match 

From observations of 

protoplanetary disk 

Predictions 

(going back to the full 

synthetic population) 

Model 

solution 

found 

can further be studied if correlations exist between the 

initial conditions, and the planet properties, and if similar 

correlation exist in reality. The most important observed 

correlation is the one between the stellar metallicity, 

and the frequency of giant planets. Giant planets 

are much more frequent around high metallicity stars, a 

correlation that can be reproduced with formation models 

based on the core-accretion theory. 

Depending on the results of this procedure, one can 

judge if the formation model is able to reproduce certain 

observed properties, and thus probably catches 

some important mechanisms of planet formation. In 

the ideal case, one single population should be able to 

reproduce all observational constraints coming from 

many different techniques (radial velocity, transits, direct 

imaging and microlensing). In reality, there will be 

differences between the model output and the observations. 

The reason for these differences are then be analyzed, 

so that various physical descriptions of the mechanism 

occurring during planet formation and evolution 

can be tested. This can have the consequence that given 

physical mechanisms must be added to the theoretical 

model, or modified, or dropped as being inconsistent 

with observations. This is the fundamental mechanism 

by which planet population improves our understanding 

of planet formation and evolution. 

In the case of a relatively good agreement between 

theory and observation, one can go back to the full underlying 

synthetic population and make predictions 

about planets or planetary properties that currently cannot 

be observed, like low-mass planets, or the internal 

composition. The capacity of population synthesis to al- 



low for direct falsifiability with future observations is a 

strength of the method. Besides that, the predictions are 

also useful to estimate the yield of future instruments 

and surveys. 

Planet formation models 

On the observational side, usually only the initial conditions 

(the protoplanetary disks) and the final outcomes 

(the planets) are accessible to observations. With theoretical 

formation models, it is possible to bridge this gap 

at least on the theoretical side. The global, numerical 

models of planet formation used in population synthesis 

calculations try to cover the largest possible extent 

of important mechanisms. The various mechanisms like 

accretion or migration must be treated in an interlinked 

way, since they happen on similar timescales and feed 

back on each other. Ideally, the models would start with 

a protoplanetary disk at a very early stage when the 

solids are in the form of micrometer-sized dust grains, 

and yield as an output full-blown planetary systems at 

an age of several billions of years. This means that also 

the evolution of the planets over long timescales must 

be modeled, since we essentially observe planets a long 

time after they have formed. It is clear that these glob- 

Fig. III.1.3: Theoretical planetary formation tracks which show 

how planetary seeds (initial mass 0.6 Earth masses) concurrently 

grow and migrate. The colors indicate the different types 

of orbital migration. The position of the planet at the moment 

Mass [M Earth ] 

10 4 

10 3 

10 2 

10 

1 

0,1 1 

Semimajor axis [AU] 

al models of planet formation and evolution involve 

important simplifications of the actual processes, and 

cannot describe all physical effects at the same level 

of detail as models dedicated to one single process. On 

the other hand, only combined models allow to see the 

interaction between different processes, and only they 

allow for direct comparisons with many observational 

constraints. 

The global planet formation and evolution models 

used in population synthesis calculations are based on 

the so called core-accretion paradigm which states that 

first, solid cores are formed, some of which later accrete 

massive gaseous envelopes to become giant planets 

(bottom-up process), while the remaining cores collide 

to form both ice giants and terrestrial planets. The 

models address the following processes in a number of 

coupled computational modules: 

1. A structure and evolution model for a gaseous protoplanetary 

disk. The gaseous disk model yields the 

ambient properties in which the planets form. The 

ambient pressure and temperature serve as outer 

boundary conditions for the calculation of the structure 

of the gaseous envelope of the planets. The 

structure of the disk is also very important for the 

orbital migration of the protoplanets, since the di- 

in time that is shown (4.9 Myrs) is indicated by black symbols. 

Some planets have reached the inner border of the computational 

domain at 0.1 AU. 

10 

t 4.9 Myr 


ection and migration rate depends on the radial 

slopes of the temperature and the gas surface density. 

A good compromise for the numerical description 

of the disks (which are in reality very complex, 

3D-structures driven by magneto-hydrodynamical 

processes) is provided by α-models, which describe 

the disk as a rotating, viscous fluid which has an axisymmetric 

structure. 

2. A structure and evolution model for disk of solids. 

This model yields the size, dynamical state and surface 

density of the solid content of the disk. The 

solids are initially in the form of dust. This dust 

can grow in mass to form kilometer-sized planetesimals, 

but also get destroyed again in collisions. 

Additionally, they drift through the disk. These quantities 

are used to calculate the accretion rate of solids 

of the forming protoplanets. 

3. An internal structure and evolution model of the 

planet. This model calculates the internal, 1-D radial 

structure of the interior of the planet. Both the solid 

part and the gaseous envelope of the planet are considered. 

The solid core is assumed to be differentiated 

and consist of layers of iron, silicates, and if the 

planet accreted outside of the snow-line, ices. For the 

gaseous envelope, only primordial H/He envelopes 

have been considered to date. During the formation 

phase, the model calculates the amount of gas a core 

can bind gravitationally. Low mass cores can only 

bind tenuous atmospheres, while cores more massive 

than roughly 10 Earth masses can trigger rapid, 

runaway gas accretion, so that a giant planet forms. 

After the formation phase, at constant mass, the temporal 

evolution i.e. the contraction and cooling is calculated, 

which yield radius and intrinsic luminosity 

of a planet. 

4. The last module addresses the various interactions 

occurring during the formation process. These interaction 

and feedbacks are in large parts responsible 

for the complexity of the planet formation process. 

Various interactions have to be modeled: 

a) the interaction of the planet and the disk of solids 

(planetesimals). The growing protoplanets not 

only accrete planetesimals, but also influence their 

dynamical state in terms of eccentricity and inclinations. 

b) the interaction of the planets and the gaseous disk. 

Due to gravitational interactions, the gaseous disk exerts 

torques onto the planets, which causes them to 

undergo radial migration. This orbital migration is 

important in shaping the architectures of planetary 

systems. 

c) the interaction of the solid and the gaseous disk. 

The drag felt by planetesimals causes the smaller bodies 

to drift inwards. The temperature structure of the 

gaseous disk also determines where in the disk which 

solids can condensate, which in the end influences the 

composition of the planets. 


d) the interaction among planets. When several protoplanets 

form in vicinity, they influence each other via 

gravitational interactions. This can pump the eccentricity, 

lead to scattering events and even ejections of 

planets out of a planetary system. Migrating planets 

can get caught into mean-motion resonances, which 

can for example cause the outward migration of giant 

planets. 

e) the interaction between the planets and the star. 

Planets at small orbital distances are subject to intense 

stellar irradiation. This irradiation modifies the internal 

structure of the planets, which affects their evolution. 

The intense irradiation can also cause planets to 

loose parts of their gaseous envelope. 

f) the interaction between the star and the gaseous 

disk. The temperature structure of the gaseous disk is 

strongly influenced by the stellar radiation. The hard 

radiation by the star drives the internal photoevaporation 

of the disk, which is important for the lifetime of 

the disks. Close to the star, the magnetic field of the 

star can lead to the formation of a magnetospheric 

cavity, which can halt migrating planets. 

For the different processes, already relatively well established 

physical descriptions are employed if possible. 

Some simplifications are necessary (e.g. for computational 

time restrictions), so that the global models rely 

on the results of models and theoretical studies which focus 

on one single aspect. In order to validate the models, 

dedicated simulations are made which focus on relatively 

well known individual planetary systems, in particular 

the Solar System. But also some extrasolar systems 

are studied individually, like for example the Kepler-11 

system with at least six extrasolar planets, for which both 

the masses and the radii are known. 

The global formation models should output as many 

observable quantities as possible, since in this case, one 

can use combined constraints from many techniques. 

The outputs should be: the mass, the orbital distance and 

the eccentricity (for comparison with radial velocity and 

microlensing results), the radius (which is a proxy for 

the bulk composition) for the comparisons with transit 

observations and the intrinsic luminosity for comparison 

with discoveries made with direct imaging. 

An exemplary output from the global formation model 

used in the population synthesis calculations is shown 

in Fig. III.1.3. It shows formation tracks in the mass-distance 

plane. Planetary embryos are inserted at a given 

starting semimajor axis into protoplanetary disk of varied 

properties with an initial mass of 0.6 Earth masses. 

They then grow by accreting planetesimals and gas, and 

concurrently migrate due to the interaction with the gas 

disk. The distribution of the final positions of the planets 

(at the moment the protoplanetary disk goes away) 

is eventually compared with the observed mass-distance 

distribution (Fig. III.1.1). One can see that the outcome 

of the formation process is of a high diversity, despite


Number of planets 

100 

50 

0 

10 

Msin i [MEarth ] 

the fact that always exactly the same formation model is 

used. This is a basic outcome similar to the observational 

result. In Figure III.1.3, one can for example find tracks 

that lead to the formation of hot Jupiters. Most embryos 

however remain at low masses, since they cannot accrete 

a sufficient amount of planetesimals to start rapid gas accretion 

and become a giant planet. 

Comparison with observations 

100 

Fig. III.1.4: Comparison of the observed and the synthetic 

planetary mass distribution. The left panel shows the distribution 

of planetary masses as found with high precision radial 

velocity observations (Mayor et al. 2011). The blue line gives 

the raw count, while the red line corrects for the observational 

bias against the detection of low-mass planets. The right panel 

Among the many outputs that can be compared with observations, 

one of the most fundamental results of population 

synthesis is a prediction for the distribution of 

planetary masses. It is obvious that the planetary mass 

function has many important implications, including the 

question about the frequency of habitable extrasolar planets. 

In the left panel of Fig. III.1.4, the planetary mass 

function is shown as derived recently from high precision 

radial velocity observations of FGK dwarfs (Mayor 

et al. 2011). It makes clear that below a mass of approximately 

30 Earth masses, there is a strong increase in the 

frequency. Very low-mass planets of a few Earth masses 

are very frequent. The right panel shows the predicted 

mass function from population synthesis calculations of 

planets around a 1 M 0 star. Also in the theoretical curve, 

there is a strong change in the frequency at a similar mass 

as in the observations. This is explained by the fact that 

in this mass domain, planets start to accrete nebular gas 

in a rapid, runaway process. They then quickly grow to 

masses of M 100 M Earth . It is unlikely that the proto- 

Normalized Fraction 

0.08 

0.06 

0.04 

0.02 

0 

1 10 

10 2 

M sin i [M Earth ] 

10 3 10 4 

shows the planetary mass function as found in a population 

synthesis calculation. The black line gives the full underlying 

population, while the blue, red, and green lines are the detectable 

synthetic planets at a low, high, and very high radial velocity 

precision. 

planetary disk disappears exactly during the short time 

during which the planet is transformed from a Neptunian 

into a Jovian planet. This makes that planets with intermediate 

masses 30 M Earth are less frequent (“planetary 

desert”, cf. Ida & Lin 2004). The “dryness” of the desert 

is directly given by the rate at which planets can accrete 

gas, while the mass where the frequency drops represents 

the mass where runaway gas accretion starts. We thus see 

how the comparison of synthetic and actual mass function 

constrains the theory of planet formation. We further 

note that model and observation agree in the result that 

low-mass planets are very frequent. 

A typical example how planet population synthesis 

can be used to study the global effects of a given physical 

mechanism is shown in Fig. III.1.5. The plot compares 

the observed distribution of radii of planets inside 

of 0.27 AU as found by the Kepler satellite (Howard et 

al. 2011) with the radius distribution in three different 

population synthesis calculations. The three calculations 

are identical except for the value of f κ . This parameter 

describes the reduction factor of the opacity due to grains 

relative to the interstellar value. A value of f κ 1 means 

that the full interstellar opacity is used, while f κ 0 

means that we are dealing with a grain-free gas where 

only molecular and atomic opacities contribute. These 

opacities are used when calculating the internal structure 

of the planets. There, the strength of the opacity is important 

for the rate at which planets can accrete primordial 

H/He envelopes. At low opacities, the liberated gravitational 

potential energy of the accreted gas can be easily 

radiated away, allowing the envelope to contract, so 


Number per star a 0.27 AU 

0.12 

0.1 

0.08 

0.06 

0.04 

0.02 

0 

Fig. III.1.5: Tests of the impact of the opacity due to grains in the 

protoplanetary gas envelope on the planetary radius distribution 

at 5 Gyrs. In all panels, the blue line with error bars shows 

the distribution of radii as found by the Kepler satellite. The 

red line shows the synthetic distribution for a full, reduced, and 

vanishing grain opacity (left to right). 

that new gas can be accreted. The opacity is thought to 

be reduced in protoplanetary atmospheres, since grains 

grow and then settle into the deeper parts of the envelope 

where they are vaporized. 

Concentrating on the radius bin in Fig. III.1.5 that 

contains the giant planets at about 1 Jovian radius, 

( 11 Earth radii), we see that with full grain opacities, 

there are too few synthetic planets relative to the observations. 

With vanishing grain opacities, the efficiency of 

giant planet formation is on the contrary too high in the 

model relative to the data. This general effect is of course 

expected, but only with population synthesis it can be 

quantified, and directly compared with observations. A 

relatively good agreement with the observations is found 

with a f κ 0.003 (middle panel). The comparison shown 

here thus indicates that grain growth is effcient, so that 

the opacities are much smaller than in interstellar space, 

but that grains still contribute to a certain degree. The 

plots also demonstrate that the opacity also has an important 

effect on the frequency of planets with small radii, 

corresponding to low-mass planets. This is because with 

a different opacity, the mass growth history of an embryo 

is different, so that the planet has at a given moment in 

time a different mass in the three simulations. The mass 

in turn influences the rate of orbital migration, and the 

migration regime the planet is in. This makes that in the 

three populations different types of planets migrate close 

to the star, resulting in different radius distributions also 

at small radii. 

In summary, the comparisons with the observed 

po-pulation shows that the mass distribution of extrasolar 

planets (at least for masses 10M Earth ) can be 

approximately reproduced with the synthetic popula- 

10 

R [R Earth ] 

10 

tions. Also the observed positive correlation of stellar 

metallicity and the frequency of giant planets can be 

reproduced at least in a quantitative way. More important 

differences exist for the distribution of semimajor 

axes. This indicates that the physical processes that 

govern the accretion of mass are currently better understood 

than the processes that control the distribution of 

orbital distances. Such differences are not a surprise, 

since many of the processes that influence e.g. the orbital 

migration are still only understood in a very rudimentary 

way, and the description of them in the models 

are insecure. 

Summary and outlook 


Planetary population synthesis is a new method that allows 

to improve our understanding of planet formation 

and evolution by using statistical observational constraints 

provided by the extrasolar planets which are now 

known in a suffcient number to treat them as a population. 

With it, the global effects of many different physical 

mechanisms occurring during planet formation and 

evolution can be put to the observational test. 

The first group of extrasolar planets which was known 

in suffcient numbers were giant planets detected by the 

radial velocity method. Population synthesis calculations 

therefore initially concentrated on studying the mass and 

semimajor axis distribution of this type of planets. After 

this first phase of extrasolar planet detections, recent observational 

results now start to provide a first physical 

characterization of planets outside of our Solar System. 

Important results are the observational determination 

of the planetary mass-radius relationship (Fig. III.1.1) 

and the atmospheric structures of transiting exoplanets. 

Another class of new constraints comes from the direct 

imaging method, which yields the intrinsic luminosities 

of young giant planets. 

This new observational data provides important new 

impulses to planet formation and evolution theory, since 

10 



R [R Earth ] 

15 

10 

5 

0 

Kepler–18d 

Kepler–9b 

Kepler–9c 

Kepler–11e 

Uranus 

Kepler–11d 

Neptune 

Uranus 

Neptune 

Kepler–11f 

Kepler–10c 

Kepler–11c 

Fig. III.1.6: Mass-radius diagram of synthetic planets with a 

primordial H/He envelope at an age of 5 Gyrs together with all 

planets in- and outside of the Solar System with a known mass 

and radius, and a semimajor axis of at least 0.1 AU (as in the 

model). The colors indicate the fraction of heavy elements in 

it adds constraints that go beyond the position of a planet 

in the mass-distance plot. Fig. III.1.6 shows a comparison 

of the observed mass-radius relationship of actual 

and synthetic planets as found in a recent population 

synthesis calculation. These calculations do not only 

model the formation of the planets, but also their evolution 

once the protoplanetary disk has disappeared. The 

global shape of the planetary mass-radius relation can 

be understood from the core accretion paradigm, and the 

basic properties of matter as expressed in the equations 

of state: Low-mass planets can only bind tenuous H/He 

envelopes, since their Kelvin-Helmholtz timescale for 

envelope contraction during the formation phase is long 

compared to the typical lifetime of a protoplanetary disk. 

Therefore, the top left corner in the M – R plane remains 

empty, as no low-mass, gas-dominated planets come into 

existence. Also the bottom right corner remains empty. 

This is due to the fact that massive cores necessarily 

cause rapid runaway gas accretion, so that their composition 

is dominated by envelope gas. No massive, solid 

dominated planets come into existence that would populate 

the bottom right corner. One notes that the synthetic 

and most actual planets populate the same location in the 

mass-radius plane. 

10 

CoRoT–9b 

Saturn 

10 2 

M [M Earth ] 

Jupiter 

HD 17156b 

HD 80606b 

CoRoT–10b 

KOI–423b 

10 3 10 4 

Credit: C. Mordasini 

the synthetic planets. The black symbols (bottom) for example 

correspond to solid-dominated low-mass planets which contain 

at most 1 % of H/He, while the most massive planets (orange, 

top) consist of at least 99 % H/He. 

From the position of a planet in the mass-radius relationship, 

it is possible to deduce (within some limits due 

to degeneracies) the bulk composition of a planet. This 

is due to the fact that for a given total mass, planets with 

a higher fraction of solid elements (iron, silicates, and 

possibly ices) relative to H/He have a smaller radius. 

The plot shows that depending on the mass range, there 

are many different associated radii, reflecting a large diversity 

in potential interior compositions. These different 

compositions are in turn due to the different formation 

histories. It is for example found that planets at large 

distances typically contain a higher fraction of solid elements, 

since the mass of planetesimals available to accrete 

(the isolation mass) increases for currently accepted 

disk models with distance. 

The interior structure of a planet also varies depending 

on the place where it has accreted matter. Planets that 

accrete mainly outside of the ice line will contain large 

amounts of ices. This leaves traces in the bulk composition, 

and possibly also in the atmospheric composition. 

Future global models of planet formation and evolution 

should therefore include detailed descriptions for the 

(chemical) composition of planets, and consider for example 

also other envelope types than just primordial H/

He envelopes. They will also be much more detailed in 

the description of many other effects occurring during 

planet formation, like e.g. the interactions of many planets 

that are forming concurrently, or the effects of atmospheric 

mass loss due to stellar irradiation. When used in 

planetary population synthesis calculations, these models 

will yield many testable predictions for all major observational 

techniques. This is important in a time where 

many surveys both from space and from the ground are 

expected to yield large amounts of additional data on 


both the global statistics and the physical characteristics 

of extrasolar planets. Seeking for the theoretical models 

which best explain these combined data sets will be a 

fruitful approach towards a better understanding of planet 

formation and evolution. 

Christoph Mordasini, Kai-Martin Dittkrist, 

Sheng Jin, Paul Molliere, 

Hubert Klahr


III.2 Formation of star-forming structures in the interstellar medium 

New stars are born in the cold and dense molecular 

clouds that are present “everywhere” in the Universe. 

How these molecular clouds are formed and how they 

evolve are key questions in the current efforts to establish 

global laws that regulate the star formation process. 

The fundamental physical processes that are responsible 

for the evolution of molecular clouds can be studied 

through accurate measurements of how the material in 

them is distributed. Here we review our research on 

this topic. 

Molecular clouds of the interstellar medium (ISM) provide 

the environments where new stars in the Universe 

can be born. There is an intricate, two-way connection 

between the physical structure of molecular clouds and 

star formation inside them. On the one hand, star formation 

is very concretely driven by the molecular cloud 

structure: how much and how rapidly a cloud can form 

stars depends crucially on how exactly the material in it 

Fig. III.2.1: Dust extinction map of the Ophiuchus star-forming 

region. The dust extinction can be used as a tracer of the gas 

column density in molecular clouds, and hence, as a tracer of 

their mass distributions. In Kainulainen et al. (2009, A&A, 

508, L35) and Kainulainen et al. (2011, A&A, 530, A64), we 

derived extinction maps for 23 nearby molecular clouds and 

studied with the maps the probability distributions of column 

densities in them. Based on our findings in these works, we 

proposed a new evolutionary scheme for molecular clouds 

in which the pressure from the diffuse medium surrounding 

denser clumps in the clouds plays a significant role in the cloud 

evolution. 

Galactic latitude 

20 

16 

12 

10 

5 0 

Galactic longitude 

is organized. However on the other hand, the star-formation 

process itself is a great sculptor of molecular clouds. 

Once started in the cloud, active star formation will efficiently 

restructure the cloud material with jets and 

outflows from young stars, radiation pressure from massive 

stars, and powerful shock waves from dying stars. 

These processes rapidly erase the structural characteristics 

of the clouds that were prevalent before the star formation 

started in them. 

How exactly the molecular clouds in the ISM come to 

be and what are the physics driving their formation and 

evolution are fundamental open questions in the field 

of ISM- and star formation-research today. One way to 

study these processes is borne out by the fact that different 

physical mechanisms cause the material in the clouds 

to be organized in different ways. Therefore, accurate 

measurements of the clouds mass distribution lead to information 

on what mechanisms are responsible for shaping 

the clouds. 

What regulates the structure-and star formation in molecular 

clouds? 

We know today that the molecular clouds are formed and 

shaped primarily by the interplay of three forces: the turbulent 

energy in the ISM, gravitational forces, and the 

support of magnetic fields within them. Schematically, 

the pathway of gas in galaxies towards star formation 

begins from large-scale instabilities, e.g. from atomic 

gas flows colliding at supersonic velocities, resulting 

in shocks, and further, to strong density fluctuations in 

7 deg = 15 pc 

355 350 

Credit: J. Kainulainen

the post-shock gas. Some of these density fluctuations 

contain enough material so that the (still atomic) gas in 

them becomes well-shielded from any outside sources 

of radiation. This enables the formation and survival of 

molecules, thereby giving birth to molecular clouds. 

Statistical arguments suggest that stars begin to form 

in molecular clouds relatively rapidly after their formation. 

Yet in this short time, the clouds evolve from a diffuse, 

barely molecular state to a state of clearly higher 

density and average central concentration. The most important 

consequence of this evolution and gas compression 

is that some density fluctuations in the cloud are 

massive enough to become locally gravitationally supercritical. 

These extreme density enhancements, commonly 

referred to as dense cores, undergo a gravitational collapse 

and ignite the actual star-forming process. 

The analytic and numerical theories of how star formation 

proceeds in molecular clouds aim at explaining 

how the interplay of turbulence, gravity, and magnetic 

fields can produce dense cores in the clouds. What is currently 

not well-known in these theories is how strong the 

impact the different forces have on the molecular cloud 

structure at different stages of the clouds evolution. As a 

result of this lack of knowledge, some fundamental questions 

remain open: How efficiently molecular clouds 

convert their gas into dense cores? At what rate this conversion 

takes places? What keeps the clouds from collapsing 

rapidly under their own gravitation? These questions 

are of crucial importance, as they ultimately set the 

star formation efficiencies and -rates of the clouds and of 

galaxies. The questions are also closely linked to understanding 

the origin of statistical properties of stars such 

as their initial mass function (IMF). 

From the observational point-of-view, constraining 

the roles of different cloud-shaping processes translates 

into determining the mass distribution, the kinetic energy 

content, temperature, and the magnetic field strength 

of cloud structures across entire molecular cloud entities. 

These data can be, in some cases, used directly to assess 

the strengths of processes acting in the clouds. However 

more often, the data must be used indirectly by comparing 

them to predictions resulting from numerical and/or 

analytical theories. In particular, such studies should be 

performed for young clouds that only show little or no 

star-forming activity at all. This is the only way to reach 

the maternal cloud structure that still bears the imprints 

of the processes that acted during the formation of the 

cloud. The scientists at MPIA are actively studying this 

defining stage of molecular cloud evolution. 

Probing the clouds density structure with the extinction 

of starlight 

One powerful tool to study how the material is distributed 

in molecular clouds is to measure the extinction of 

background starlight by dust towards them. This tech- 

III.2 Formation of star-forming structures in the interstellar medium 49 

nique, developed primarily during the past decade, also 

with the help of MPIA scientists, is based on observations 

of a myriad of stars that shine through molecular 

clouds at near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. When the 

light from the stars travels through the molecular cloud, 

the dust that is mixed with the gas in the cloud absorbs 

and reflects away part of the light. This extinction of 

starlight is wavelength dependent, causing the light that 

travels through the cloud to redden. The amount of reddening 

depends linearly on the amount of intervening 

dust, and can therefore be used as a measure of total 

mass along the line-of-sight to the star that emitted 

the light. Thus, observing the reddening towards tens of 

thousands of stars behind a molecular cloud complex can 

be converted into a map describing its mass distribution. 

This NIR dust extinction mapping technique has 

some profound advantages compared to other commonly 

used techniques to measure mass distributions. 

For one, the technique is applicable over a relatively 

wide column density range that extends from diffuse, 

partly atomic material (N(H 2 ) 1 10 21 cm −2 ) 

in the clouds to the column densities of dense cores 

(N(H 2 ) 50 10 21 cm −2 ). It also does not depend on the 

temperature of gas or dust in the cloud, which is a major 

advantage compared to measurements of column densities 

via dust continuum emission, e.g., with the herschel 

satellite. Finally, the technique is based on photometric 

data of stars in the NIR, which type of data is relatively 

straightforward to gather and analyze with the current 

observational techniques. 

Figure III.2.1 shows as an example the dust extinction 

map derived for the Ophiuchus star-forming cloud 

by Kainulainen et al. (2009, A&A, 508, L35). The data 

have an angular resolution of 2, which at the distance 

of Ophiuchus is about 0.07 pc. The data show particularly 

well the diffuse structures surrounding the sites of 

star formation in the complex, thus allowing a view of 

the structures that envelope the dense cores inside where 

stars in the cloud are forming. This technique to trace the 

mass in molecular clouds has been exploited in several 

works by MPIA scientists, including studies of the fragmentation 

of filamentary molecular clouds (Schmalzl 

et al. 2010, ApJ, 725, 1327; Beuther et al. 2011, A&A, 

533, A17), properties of young star populations inside 

molecular clouds, (Sicilia-Aguilar et al. 2011, ApJ, 736, 

137), and the temperature structure of isolated molecular 

cloud cores (Stutz et al. 2010, 518, L87; Nielbock et 

al. submitted). 

What does the clouds density structure tell about the 

physical processes shaping it? 

As described earlier, density fluctuations in newlyformed 

molecular clouds act as seeds of dense cores that 

can further evolve towards gravitational collapse and 

star formation. The occurrence of these fluctuations can


N / N peak 

Log (N / N peak ) 

1 

0.1 

0.01 

0.001 

0 

–1 

–2 

–3 

Taurus 

Av [mag] 

1 10 

0 

–4 

0 5 

1 

ln (A v / A v ) 

10 

A v [mag] 

be described efficiently with the help of the mass distribution 

data derived using the dust extinction mapping 

technique. This topic has been pursued actively in MPIA 

recently. The frequency at which density fluctuations occur 

in a molecular cloud can be expressed through the 

so-called probability density function (PDF, hereafter) 

of volume densities in the cloud. This function describes 

the probability of a volume dV to have a density between 

[ρ, ρ dρ]. The PDF function forms a cornerstone for 

many analytic star formation theories, in which its role 

is to describe the basic statistics of the density field. In 

these theories, the function is directly linked to the formation 

rate of self-gravitating dense cores, and hence, to 

the rate at which new stars form. 

Theoretical and numerical works predict that the volume 

density PDF takes a log-normal shape in isothermal, 

turbulent media not significantly affected by the 

self-gravity of gas or magnetic fields. However, in the 

presence of strong gravitational forces, non-isothermal 

equation of state, or strong magnetic field support, deviations 

(usually an excess) to this shape can develop, 

especially at the high-density side of the PDF. Since the 

functional form of the PDF is directly linked to the abil- 

2 

star-forming clouds 

quiescent clouds 

15 20 

N / N peak 

1 

0.1 

0.01 

0.001 

Lupus V 

Av [mag] 

1 10 

0 

1 

ln (A v / A v ) 

Fig. III.2.2: Top: Column density PDFs for the Taurus and Lupus 

V molecular clouds. Taurus is an active star forming cloud, 

but Lupus V shows very little signs of star formation. Left: 

Cumulative mass distributions of 23 nearby molecular clouds. 

The star-forming clouds are shown with blue curves and nonstar-forming 

clouds with red curves. The figure shows that the 

star-forming clouds contain greatly more material at high column 

densities compared to the non-star-forming clouds. 

ity of the media to form dense cores, it is crucially important 

to constrain the PDF through observational data. 

However, because of the observational restrictions such 

works have been rare in the past. 

Observations are always performed in the two-dimensional 

plane of the sky and they can only recover 

column densities, not directly three-dimensional volume 

densities. However importantly, some properties 

of the volume density PDFs can be derived through observations 

of their column density PDFs. For example, 

a log-normal shape of the volume density PDF should 

remain invariant in transformation to column densities. 

Similarly, under certain conditions, it is possible to derive 

the shape parameters of the volume density PDF, 

i.e., mean and dispersion, from the column density PDF. 

In other words, by measuring accurately the column density 

PDFs in molecular clouds it is possible to present 

constraints to both processes that regulate structure formation 

in molecular clouds and the theories that use the 

function as an input in predicting star-forming rates and 

-efficiencies in the clouds. 

What do the column density PDFs in molecular 

clouds then look like? The MPIA scientists performed 

recently the first systematic study of the column density 

PDFs in molecular clouds (Kainulainen et al. 2009, 

A&A, 508, L35; Kainulainen et al. 2011, A&A, 530, 

A64). This study presented mass distribution data for 23 

nearby molecular clouds, derived using the NIR dust extinction 

mapping technique. Most importantly, the work 

showed that the PDFs of star-forming and non-star-forming 

clouds are fundamentally different from each others, 

so that only non-star-forming clouds have column density 

PDFs that are consistent with a log-normal shape. 

2 


Credit: J. Kainulainen 

Star-forming clouds deviate from this shape by having a 

significantly higher relative amount of high-column density 

fluctuations. The result is illustrated in Fig. III.2.2, 

which shows the column density PDFs for a typical starforming 

(Taurus) and a quiescent (Lupus V) cloud. In the 

context of turbulent molecular clouds, the result suggests 

that only the low-column density regions in the clouds 

are dominantly shaped by turbulent motions, while higher-column 

density regions are affected more crucially 

by some other process. Interestingly, the PDFs of active 

star-forming clouds have all rather similar PDFs (similar 

to that of Taurus in Fig. III.2.2). This suggests that there 

exists some fundamental state that the cloud structures 

have to reach before significant star formation can occur. 

The difference between the PDFs of quiescent and 

star-forming clouds also means that star-forming clouds 

contain higher relative amount of high-column density 

material than quiescent clouds. This result is illustrated 

in the lower left panel of Fig. III.2.2, which shows 

the cumulative mass functions of a sample of molecular 

clouds. The cumulative mass functions describe what 

fraction of the clouds mass is at column densities higher 

than the value at x-axis. The star-forming clouds that are 

shown with blue curves in Fig. III.2.2 harbour a clearly 

higher fraction of material at high column densities than 

quiescent clouds that are shown with red curves. 

An immediate question arising from the observed 

PDFs is: What physics exactly cause the deviation from 

the log-normal shape in the PDFs on star-forming clouds? 

As described earlier, a log-normal column density PDF 

Fig. III.2.3: Virial parameters of clumps that represent structures 

in the “tail” part of the column density PDFs as a function of 

the clumps’ mass. Virial parameter of α 1 reflects equipartition 

between gravitational and kinetic energies of the structure. 

The relation shows that the structures are not significantly supported 

by their self-gravity, and it also suggests that external 

pressure might play a significant role in supporting them. 

log a 

2 

1.5 

1 

0.5 

0 

0.5 

a = 1 

1 1.5 

2 

log (M /M s ) 

13 CO: a M –0.640.13 

2.5 3 3.5 


is expected for turbulent, isothermal media, with possible 

deviations caused by various other processes. An 

intuitive option would be to relate the deviation to selfgravitating 

structures forming in the cloud. However, 

the deviation from the log-normal form seems to occur 

at column densities clearly lower (A V 2 – 5 mag) than 

traditionally connected to self-gravitating dense cores. 

This question was further looked into by Kainulainen et 

al. (2011, A&A, 530, A64), and interestingly, it seems 

that self-gravity does not provide significant support for 

structures above the threshold of A V 2 − 5 mag. This 

is illustrated in Fig. III.2.3 which shows the virial parameters 

of structures above the threshold. Virial parameters 

are clearly higher than unity, which indicates they 

are not gravitationally bound. Instead of self-gravity, the 

structures above that column density can be significantly 

supported against dispersal by the external pressure that 

is imposed to them by the massive, but more diffuse, 

cloud material surrounding them. This inwards pressure 

can roughly match the internal thermal pressure of the 

structures, making them more long-lived, or even quasistable. 

With this mechanism, structures formed in a turbulent, 

atomic flow could survive for the time required 

for molecule formation, cooling, and hence decreased 

thermal support. This can be followed by further accretion 

of material, structure formation, and eventually star 

formation to take place. 

Summarizing the above, star-forming clouds seem 

to contain pressure-confined structures that also leave 

their imprint to the column density PDFs. Non-starforming 

clouds do not contain such pressure-confined 

structures. This leads to a picture in which the formation 

of pressure-confined structures introduces a pre-requisite 

for star formation. This picture emphasizes the role 

of the pressure from the large-scale, diffuse molecular 

cloud for the stability of structures forming in the cloud. 

Subsequent studies on the dynamic structure of molecular 

clouds that cover the regime of both the dense cores 

and diffuse material surrounding them are needed to affirm 

the global nature of this picture. Such studies are 

currently in progress at MPIA. 

From low-mass to high-mass star-forming regions 

The results discussed above are best suited to describe 

structure formation in relatively low-mass clouds that 

form low-mass stars, much like that of our own Sun. It 

is an imminent question whether the same results hold 

when the birth-places of high-mass stars or star-clusters 

are considered. 

In the case of massive stars, the need to reach the quiescent 

stage of cloud evolution to study the natal cloud 

structure is even more pressing than in the case of lowmass 

clouds, because of the more violent nature of the 

high-mass star formation. The best candidates for the future 

high-mass star formation are the dense and massive


6 pc 1 1.2 pc 

Fig. III.2.4: Infrared dark cloud G11.10-0.10, also known as 

“The Snake”. The top image shows a three-color-composite 

made out of 8 µm, 24 µm, and 70 µm band data from the 

spitzer/GliMpse MipsGal surveys (credit: www.alienearths. 

com/glimpse). Bottom Left: Dust extinction map of the cloud 

cores inside Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs, hereafter). 

These objects, discovered only relatively recently, harbor 

dense cores whose sizes and densities match those 

of the “hot cores” that harbor very young massive stars, 

yet they seem to be cold and contain no point sources. 

Consequently, it seems clear that at least some fraction 

of the IRDCs will be able to form massive stars in the 

future, and thus they provide a great opportunity to study 

the molecular cloud structure that priors the formation of 

massive stars and star clusters. 

However, the IRDCs are typically located at distances 

greater than a few kiloparsecs – that is 20 times farther 

away than nearby, low-mass molecular clouds. This 

makes characterizing their physics observationally very 

challenging, and indeed, information about the structure 

of IRDC complexes and the cores inside them is still to 

a large degree lacking. Scientists at MPIA have been active 

in both using state-of-the-art observing facilities to 

determine physical conditions in IRDCs (e.g., Beuther et 

al. 2010, A&A, 518, L78; Henning et al. 2010, A&A, 

518, L95; Ragan et al. 2011, ApJ, 736, 163; Ragan et 

al., submitted) and in developing new techniques to ob- 

5 0.1 pc 

derived using a new technique that combines near-infrared 

and mid-infrared data. Bottom Right: A zoom-in to the center 

region of the map, showing the multitude of structures at the 

size-scale of the dense cores in the cloud (i.e., 0.1 pc). 

serve them (Kainulainen et al. 2011, A&A, 536, A48; 

Kainulainen & Tan, submitted). 

In particular, knowledge on the relation of the IRDCs 

with their lower-density surroundings is virtually nonexistent. 

This makes it hard to examine whether the diffuse 

cloud material in IRDCs imposes similar external 

pressure to the cores within them as it does in the case of 

low-mass clouds. 

To approach this problem, Kainulainen et al. (2011, 

A&A, 536, A48) and Kainulainen & Tan (submitted) 

recently developed a new dust extinction mapping technique 

that provides a very potential tool for measuring 

mass distributions in IRDCs. This technique refines the 

NIR dust extinction mapping scheme described earlier 

to suit IRDCs and combines the resulting data with 

mid-infrared (8 µm, Mir) data from the spitzer satellite. 

At Mir wavelengths, the IRDCs manifest themselves as 

dark “shadows” against the bright Mir background radiation 

emitted by the Galactic plane. An example of this 

is shown in Fig. III.2.4, which shows a three-color (falsecolor) 

composite picture made out of 8 µm, 24 µm, and 

70 µm data of the spitzer satellite. The figure shows a 


dM (A v ) 

1 

0.1 

0.01 

p (ln (A v / mag)) (normalized) 

1 

0.1 

0.01 

0.001 

0.0001 

2 

California 

exp (–0.49 A v ) 

A B C D F G H I J 

exp (–0.12 Av ) 

10 

A B C D F G H I J 

filamentary IRDC called “The Snake”. The shadowing 

is caused by dust particles in the cloud that absorb the 

background radiation. From the amount of this absorption 

it is possible to estimate the mass of intervening 

dust, and hence, the mass distribution of the cloud. 

Kainulainen & Tan (submitted) presented a scheme 

for combining these two types of data, Nir extinction 

mapping with background stars and Mir extinction mapping 

with surface brightness data, into mass distribution 

data with unprecedented high sensitivity and spatial 

Av [mag] 

10 100 

2.5 

Orion B 

exp (–0.22 A v ) 

Orion A 

exp (–0.18 A v ) 

15 

Av [mag] 

20 25 

3 3.5 

ln (A v / mag) 


4 4.5 5 

Fig. III.2.5.: Top: Column density PDFs of ten IRDCs (colored 

lines) and the nearby Ophiuchus star-forming cloud (black 

dashed line). The shapes of the PDFs of the IRDCs are, on 

average, compatible with a log-normal function (shown with 

a dotted black line). Left: The cumulative forms of the PDFs 

for the IRDCs (colored lines) and for three nearby molecular 

clouds (black dotted lines). The IRDCs contain somewhat 

more high-column density material than nearby clouds, which 

might reflect their location at smaller Galacto-centric radii, and 

hence, higher pressures. 

resolution. The bottom panels of Figure III.2.4 show as 

an example the mass distribution map derived for “The 

Snake”. The data reaches the resolution of 2, which 

at the distance of “The Snake” corresponds to about 

0.04 Pc. 

The high-dynamic-range data resulting from the new 

technique makes it possible not only to examine the 

column density PDFs in potential high-mass star-forming 

sites, but also to examine the PDFs of molecular 

clouds over a greatly wider dynamic range than the data 

discussed in the context of low-mass clouds (see Fig. 

II.2.2). Figure III.2.5 shows the column density PDFs 

of 10 IRDCs and that of Ophiuchus, which is a typical 

nearby star-forming cloud. The PDFs of IRDCs are 

quite similar to that of Ophiuchus (they extend to higher 

column densities because the dynamic range of their data 

is wider). This, first of all, suggests that star-formation 

may have already started in the IRDCs. Indeed, some 

of the IRDCs included in Fig. III.2.5 show some typical 

star-forming signs in the near-and mid-infrared, such 

as bubbles and reflection nebulae. However, finding out 

exactly how many young stars are currently forming in 



Fig. III.2.6.: Relation between the non-thermal sonic Mach number 

(ℳ s ) and the standard deviation of the column density PDF 

in IRDCs (blue diamonds) and in nearby molecular clouds (red 

diamonds). The sonic Mach number is a measure of turbulent 

energy in the clouds and the standard deviation of column 

density a measure of the magnitude of density fluctuations in 

it. The correlation coefficient between these two parameters 

describes how efficiently turbulence is inducing density fluctuations 

in the cloud. 

the IRDCs is difficult because of their distance. It would 

be possible to build a census of low-mass star formation 

in IRDCs using X-ray observations, and MPIA scientists 

are involved in programs aiming at this. 

Figure III.2.5 (bottom panel) shows the cumulative 

PDFs for the same IRDCs. The panel also shows cumulative 

PDFs of three nearby clouds: Orion A, Orion B, 

and the California cloud. The figure shows that IRDCs 

contain a relatively high amount of high-column density 

material, even more than the most active nearby clouds 

(Orion A). This may indicate that also star-forming rates 

in the IRDCs will be significantly higher than in nearby 

clouds. 

The similarity of the PDFs of IRDCs with star-forming 

low-mass clouds suggests that the pressure-confined 

structures that were earlier hypothesized to be a 

pre- requisite for star formation have already formed in 

IRDCs. If so, it would indeed appear that the requirement 

for pressure-confined structures can form a paradigm 

that covers the entire mass-spectrum of star formation. 

However, confirming this requires further studies 

of the kinematic structure in IRDCs that could connect 

pressure to the shapes of the column density PDFs. 

These studies will become possible once the combined 

Nir Mir mass distribution mapping technique will be 

applied to a large set of IRDCs. 

Another interesting application of the high-dynamicrange 

column density data is using them to determine 

the total column density variance in molecular clouds. 

As described earlier, the density fluctuations in molecular 

clouds are induced by the turbulent motions in the 

clouds. The magnitude of these fluctuations, or in other 

words the total density variance, σ(ρ), is expected to depend 

on the total turbulent energy: ℳ s b σ(ρ). In 

this relation, ℳ s stands for the non-thermal sonic Mach 

number, which is a measure of the non-thermal kinetic 

(assumably, turbulent) energy in the cloud. The coefficient 

b is a constant that describes the strength of the 

coupling of the two parameters. The relation is particularly 

important, because the star formation theories that 

use the density PDF as a measure of density statistics use 

this to scale the density fluctuations based on the turbulent 

energy content in the cloud. 

Figure III.2.6 shows tentatively the first direct measurement 

of the ℳ s b σ(ρ) relation in molecular 

clouds, performed by Kainulainen & Tan (submitted). 

The total density variance for the plot was measured us- 

sln N / N 

2.5 

2 

1.5 

1 

0.5 

Region: A v 7 mag box 

ℳ s from a Gaussian fit 

a 1 = 0.0520.016 

a 2 = 0.2200.21 

J 

0 

0 10 

ing the high-dynamic-range dust extinction maps. The 

result indicates the correlation coefficient b 0.23 (3– σ 

interval [0.02, 0.81]). While the detection is tentative, 

the work demonstrates the feasibility of the technique 

to probe the relation when applied for a larger sample 

of IRDCs. 

In the future: improving the link between the 

observations and numerical modeling 

I 

B 

A 

D 

IRDCs 

nearby clouds 

Brunt et al. (2010) 

Padoan et al. (1997) 

The dust extinction mapping techniques developed and 

used by scientists in MPIA offer highly-capable observational 

tools for constraining current models of star 

formation through accurate measurements of the mass 

distribution in molecular clouds. The structural characteristics 

derived from those data can be connected to 

predictions given by numerical simulations, and from 

therein, they can constrain the physics of the molecular 

cloud evolution. The current times are particularly interesting 

in this respect, because the state-of-the-art simulations 

are now starting to reach the level in which they 

can include all physical processes that are believed to 

play a role in shaping the ISM. Consequently, it will be 

of great interest and urgency to the community to link 

these simulations with observational data in a physically 

meaningful way. The particular questions to consider 

under this topic are: What structural parameters are the 

most meaningful probes of the underlying physical processes? 

What are the requirements of different observational 

techniques when connecting them with simulations? 

What is the framework, or a set of practices, that 

can be commonly used in transforming simulated structural 

parameters to an observational plane? Establishing 

this framework is the first step in the work required to 

take the advantage of the most recent numerical and observational 

studies of the ISM structure. 

In the context of the paradigm of pressure confinement 

in molecular clouds, an impending question is 

20 

ℳ s 

G 

F 

C 

30 40 


whether the external pressure imposed to cloud structures 

results from turbulent pressure in the diffuse medium, 

or from gravitation-induced global contraction of the 

cloud. This question is not trivial to approach, because it 

is not clear how to observationally distinguish turbulent 

motions from global collapsing motions. Again, close 

interaction between numerical and observational communities 

are needed to develop tools that can approach 

the question. 

Given the above considerations, one important nearfuture 

goal of the MPIA scientists working on the ISM 

structure is to improve the interfacing between the observational 

work done at MPIA and the work of key 

numerical communities. This is being done by building 

and reinforcing collaborations with research groups 

performing numerical simulations and through projects 

that specifically not only provide predictions for various 


physical parameters, but in fact make a direct connection 

between those parameters and observed quantities. 

Such work, together with the recent advances in the numerical 

and observational domains, can open a new era 

in our understanding of what controls star formation in 

the ISM. 

Jouni Kainulainen, Henrik Beuther, 

Thomas Henning 

In collaboration with: 

Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, Heidelberg, 

Ecole Normale Suprieure de Lyon/France, 

University of Vienna, University of Florida, 

California Institute of Technology, 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 

MPI für Radioastronomie, Bonn


III.3 Dynamics of Galaxies: inferring their mass distribution and formation history 

What is the distribution of luminous and dark matter 

in galaxies? How much of the formation history of galaxies 

has been preserved in their internal dynamical 

structure? Is the mass of a central black hole correlated 

with the mass of the host galaxy? Is the concordance 

cosmological model in agreement with these findings 

on the scales of galaxies? These key questions regarding 

galaxy formation in a cosmological context can be 

answered by studying the dynamics of galaxies. Here 

we present our research in this area. 

Kinematic tracers 

The motion or kinematics of astronomical objects is sensitive 

to the underlying gravitational potential, which 

is related, through Poisson’s equation, to the density 

of all matter, including any possible dark components. 

Consider, for example, gas moving in a circular orbit at 

radius R in the equatorial plane of a galaxy. The mass 

of the galaxy enclosed within this radius M ( R) determines 

the circular velocity V c (R) of the gas, because 

G M ( R)/R V c 2 , with G Newton’s constant of gravity. 

This means that if we can measure the gas velocity 

over a range of radii, we can infer the distribution of the 

galaxy’s total mass, i.e., including any possible contribution 

from unseen components. 

This is illustrated in Fig. III.3.1 for the elliptical galaxy 

NGC 2974. The top panel shows the projected stellar 

distribution, while the middle panel shows the velocity 

field of gas in the outer and inner parts. Red/blue 

indicates gas moving away/toward us along our lineof-sight, 

while green indicates gas that is moving in the 

plane of the sky. Taking out these projection effects, the 

red circles with error bars in the bottom panel show the 

Fig. III.3.1: Dark matter in the elliptical galaxy NGC 2974. Top: 

Digital Sky Survey optical image showing the projected stellar 

distribution. Middle: Gas velocity map of the outer parts 

via atomic hydrogen HI gas obtained with the VLA radiointerferometer, 

and of the inner parts via ionized [OIII] gas 

obtained with the sauroN integral-field spectrograph. Red/blue 

indicates gas moving away/toward along our line-of-sight, 

while green indicates gas that is moving in the plane of the sky. 

Bottom: The resulting circular velocity curve of red circles with 

error bars clearly shows that the gas and stars alone cannot explain 

the corresponding total mass distribution. Adding a dark 

matter halo which is consistent with cosmological simulations 

can explain the observations as indicated by the upper black 

solid line. (Extracted from Weijmans, Krajnović, van de Ven et 

al. 2008, MNRAS, 383, 1343). 

Declination (J2000) 

y 

V c [km/s] 

–340 

–42 

–44 

150 

100 

50 

0 

–50 

–100 

–150 

400 

300 

200 

100 

9h42m45s 40s 35s 30 

Right Ascension (J2000) 

s 25s 20s –100 

–50 

Sauron V [OIII] 

0 

0 

0 20 40 60 

radius 

x 

50 

n [km/s] 

300 

200 

100 

0 

–100 

–200 

–300 

100 150 

halo 

stars 

gas 

Credit: Weijmans, Krajnović, van de Ven 

80 100 120

y 

30 

20 

10 

0 

–10 

–20 

–30 

30 

20 

10 

0 

–10 

–20 

Vobs [km/s] sobs [km/s] 

–193 193 0 210 

V rms, obs [km/s] 

–30 

–30 –20 –10 0 10 20 30 –30 

x 

–20 –10 0 10 20 30 

Fig. III.3.2: Dark matter content in nearby galaxies. Top: Oblate 

axisymmetric dynamical model of NGC 488. Maps of the observed 

line-of-sight mean velocity Vobs and velocity dispersion 

σobs are combined into the second velocity moment VRMS 

V 2 σ2 , which is then fitted by a solution of the Jeans equa- 

tions based on the de-projected stellar light distribution multiplied 

with a constant mass-to-light ratio (M/L) DYN . Right: The 

resulting total mass-to-light ratios (M/L) DYN are compared 

with stellar mass-to-light ratio (M/L) POP estimated based on 

fitting stellar population models to multi-band photometry. The 

(M/L) DYN for the circles/triangles are based on sauroN/califa 

stellar kinematics. The coloring and symbol size represent galaxy 

type and luminosity as indicated in the legend. The dashed 

line indicates the increase in (M/L) POP when going from a 

Chabrier to Salpeter initial mass function, reflecting the effect 

of increasing the relative fraction of low-mass stars. 

circular velocity of the gas as function of radius from 

the center of the galaxy, tracing the total mass distribution. 

The contribution of the gas to the total mass distribution 

as indicated by the lower curve is minimal. As 

can be readily seen from the first panel, the distribution 

of the stars drops with radius, so that – in the framework 

of Newtonian dynamics – we need a dark matter halo 

to explain why the observed circular velocity curve remains 

flat. 

Inferring the total mass distribution directly from the 

observed mean velocity only works for tracers on circu- 

III.3 Dynamics of Galaxies: inferring their mass distribution and formation history 57 

Vrms, mod [km/s] 

0 229 0 229 

(M/L) DYN 

12 

10 

8 

6 

4 

2 

0 

0 

E 

S0 

Sab 

Sb 

Sbc 

Sc 

Scd 

Sd 

Salpeter 

Chabrier 

r-band 

1 2 

(M/L) POP 

lar orbits, like cold gas. Cold gas can be detected through 

CO and HI emission at radio wavelengths, but (1) is typically 

not present at all radii in galaxies and sometimes 

not at all, (2) settles in a plane (equatorial and/or polar) 

and, hence, is insensitive to the mass distribution perpendicular 

to it, and (3) is dissipative and, therefore, easily 

disturbed by perturbations in the plane from e.g. a bar 

or spiral arm. Stars, on the other hand, are present in all 

galaxy types, distributed in all three dimensions, and as 

Credit: Glenn van de Ven 

(00.5 – 10.0) 10 10 L 

(10.0 – 20.0) 10 10 L 

(20.0 – 40.0) 10 10 L 

Error bar 

3 4 

Credit: Glenn van de Ven


they are collision-less much less sensitive to perturbations. 

The kinematics of stars are now routinely measured: 

along the line of sight via the Doppler shifts in absorption 

features in spectra, and in the sky-plane via the 

proper motion of stars that are close enough. 

Stars, however, are not cold tracers as they generally 

move on orbits that are neither circular nor confined to 

a single plane. This means that in order to recover the 

mass distribution we need to know their velocity dispersion 

in addition to their mean velocity, i.e., their random 

motion as well as their ordered motion. Whereas 

the ordered motion is always around the short or long 

axis, the random motion can be different in all three directions, 

which is also referred to as velocity anisotropy. 

Ordered motion around the intermediate axis is unstable, 

but in a triaxial system a mix of ordered motion 

around short and long axis is possible. Moreover, we 

need to know the ordered and random motion throughout 

the galaxy to recover the intrinsic 3D mass distribution. 

Unfortunately, except for the Milky Way (see below 

“Dynamics in the Solar Neighborhood”), we observe 

every galaxy in projection, and except for the nearest 

stellar systems (see below “Lighting up the dark in the 

Local Group”), we only have access to the line-of-sight 

stellar kinematics. This means the recovery of the mass 

distribution is not only degenerate with the 3D shape 

but also with the velocity anisotropy. The mass-shape 

degeneracy can be reduced, or even be broken, by constraints 

on the symmetry and/or viewing direction of 

the galaxy. For example, the case that the stellar rotation 

and photometry are aligned is consistent with oblate axisymmetry, 

and moreover, if we can infer the inclination 

from the presence of a dust disk, the 3D oblate shape 

is well constrained. The mass-anisotropy degeneracy 

can be reduced by observing moments of the line-ofsight 

velocity distribution (LOSVD) beyond the mean 

velocity V and velocity dispersion σ like the skewness 

and kurtosis. In practice, we use the higher-order moments 

of a Gauss-Hermite distribution (h 3 , h 4 , …) because 

they are less sensitive to the difficult-to-measure 

wings of the LOSVD. 

It is evident that to reliably infer the total mass distribution, 

one needs high-quality imaging and kinematics 

fitted with sophisticated dynamical models. We are 

in particular using integral-field spectrographs – delivering 

spectra in two dimensions across galaxies – to 

obtain maps of stellar and gas kinematics, as shown in 

the Figures III.3.1 and III.3.2. At the same time, we are 

developing dynamical modeling tools that allow us to 

infer both the 3D mass distribution as well as the internal 

dynamical structure of galaxies. In what follows, 

we give a brief description of the results obtained so far 

on external galaxies, the Milky Way, and supermassive 

black holes in the centers of galaxies. 

Dark matter in nearby galaxies 

One can infer the fraction of dark matter in nearby galaxies 

by comparing the total mass-to-light ratio (M/L) DYN , 

derived through detailed dynamical modeling of the galaxy 

under study, to the total baryonic mass-to-light ratio 

(M/L) BAR , as derived from the properties of the stellar 

populations and gas in it. 

To construct a dynamical model of a galaxy, we start 

by expanding its surface brightness image into a sum 

of two-dimensional Gaussians. In this way, seeing effects 

are easily taking into account and the de-projection 

for a given viewing direction – the inclination in the 

case of axisymmetry – is analytical. Another advantage 

is that, after multiplying each luminous Gaussian with 

a mass-to-light ratio, the resulting intrinsic mass density 

yields the gravitational potential after a straightforward 

single numerical integral. Whereas the contribution of 

a dark matter halo to the gravitational potential can be 

achieved by including additional Gaussians, the (preliminary) 

results shown in Fig. III.3.2 are under the assumption 

that mass follows light. In this case, each luminous 

Gaussian is multiplied with the same mass-to-light ratio 

(M/L) DYN – still allowing for a constant dark matter fraction 

– to arrive at the total gravitational potential. Even 

though a central black hole is not resolved here (but see 

below “Super-massive black holes”), we do add a central 

round Gaussian with mass predicted from the (cor) 

relation between black-hole mass and host galaxy velocity 

dispersion. 

Next, we use a solution of the Jeans equations in 

axisymmetric geometry to turn the multi-Gaussian luminosity 

density and total gravitational potential into a 

prediction for the line-of-sight second velocity moment 

V RMS 

V 2 σ 2 . As shown in the top panel of Fig. 

III.3.2 for the galaxy NGC 488, combining the observed 

line-of-sight mean velocity V obs and velocity dispersion 

σ obs yields the observed second velocity moment V RMS, obs 

which can be compared with the predicted V RMS, mod to 

infer the best-fit model parameters: inclination, velocity 

anisotropy in the meridional plane, and total massto-light 

ratio. 

The bottom panel of Fig. III.3.2 shows the total massto-light 

ratio (M/L) DYN for a range of galaxy types from 

spheroid-dominated ellipticals (red) through disk-dominated 

spirals (purple), based on fitting stellar kinematic 

maps obtained with either the sauroN (triangles) or 

PPAK (circles) integral-field unit – the latter as part of 

the califa survey (Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field 

Area survey: http://www.caha.es/CALIFA/) to obtain 

integral-field spectroscopic data of 600 nearby galaxies. 

The horizontal axis shows the mass-to-light ratio of the 

stars (M/L) POP , based on fitting stellar population models 

to multi-band photometry of each galaxy, assuming a 

Chabrier initial mass function (IMF). The notable scat-

[a / Fe] 

0.4 

0.3 

0.2 

0.1 

0 

III 25% II 22% 

3% 

I 50% 

ter above the diagonal solid one-to-one line is indicative 

of a significant dark matter fraction in the inner parts of 

the explored sample of galaxies. Combining the stars and 

gas to obtain (M/L) BAR can bring the spiral galaxies up to 

20 % closer to the diagonal line, and adopting a Salpeter 

IMF as more appropriate for elliptical galaxies increases 

their (M/L) POP as indicated by the dashed line. Finally, 

we are improving the dynamical model fits by including 

a dark matter halo, but several galaxies will remain 

with (M/L) DYN (M/L) BAR . Hence, significant amounts 

of dark matter seem to be present in the inner parts of 

galaxies, unless their distribution of stars is dominated 

by either dwarf stars (bottom-heavy IMF) and/or dark 

remnants (top-heavy IMF). 

Dynamics in the Solar Neighborhood 

In contrast to the study of nearby galaxies, the stars in 

the Milky Way are resolved; thus we can estimate their 

distances in addition to their sky positions, and we can 

measure their proper motions in the plane of the sky 

in addition to their line-of-sight velocities – often confusingly 

called radial velocities. This means we have access 

to all six phase space coordinates for at least a subset 

of the stars. For example, we use G-type dwarf stars 

from the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding 

and Exploration (seGue DR7) survey, leading to a sample 

of 13000 stellar tracers with galactocentric radius 

7 R 9 kpc and height above the Galactic plane 

0.5 |z| 2.5 kpc. Taking into account the selection of 

spectroscopically-targeted stars from the color-selected 

photometric sample, the left panel of Fig. III.3.3 shows 

the number density of G dwarfs as function of their [α/ 

Fe] abundance – a proxy for age – and [Fe/H] metallicity. 

III 13% II 17% 

4% I 66% 

Total (100%) Circular (65%) Eccentric (23%) 

–1 

III 53% II 31% 

2% I 13% 

–0.6 –0.2 –1 –0.6 –0.2 –1 –0.6 –0.2 1.2 

[Fe/H] [Fe/H] 

[Fe/H] 

Fig. III.3.3: The number density of SDSS/seGue G-dwarf stars 

in the Solar Neighborhood as function of their [α/Fe] abundance 

and [Fe/H] metallicity. Left: The number density of 

all G dwarfs shows a clear bi-modality that naturally inspires 

a separation into α-young stars and α-old stars. Since all six 

phase-space coordinates are measured, the orbits of all stars 

can be computed in a Milky Way gravitational potential model. 


600 

500 

400 

300 

200 

100 

Middle: Nearly all of the α-young stars are on near-circular 

orbits as expected for thin-disk stars, but also a significant 

fraction of the α-old stars, consistent with outward radial migration. 

Right: The remaining α-old stars on eccentric orbits, 

including nearly all old metal-poor stars, are difficult to explain 

with radial migration alone, but might have formed through 

early-on gas-rich mergers. 

Given the stars’ current position and space motion, 

we numerically integrate their orbits in a gravitational 

potential Φ(R, z) of the Milky Way that includes a disk, 

bulge and dark matter halo. As a measure of the orbital 

eccentricity, we compute L z /L c the ratio of the conserved 

z-component of the orbital angular momentum 

to the maximum angular momentum when the orbit is 

circular. Even if at their birth radii the stars move on 

circular orbits with L z /L c 1, the current distribution 

in L z /L c at the Solar Neighborhood is expected to extend 

toward values below unity, both because of stars 

scattering to more eccentric orbits, as well as due to 

measurement errors, mainly in their distance and proper 

motions. We choose L z /L c 0.85 for stars being on 

(near-)circular orbits, and L z /L c 0.80 for stars being 

on eccentric orbits, although the results are robust 

against the precise limits adopted. 

The middle panel of Fig. III.3.3 shows that nearly 

all of the α-young stars are on circular orbits as expected 

for thin-disk stars, but a significant fraction of 

the α-old stars also follow circular orbits. The latter is 

consistent with radial migration in which stars, due to 

interaction at the co-rotation radius of non-axisymmetric 

(transient) structures such as spiral arms and bars, are 

efficiently moved in radius away from their birth radii 

while remaining on near-circular orbits. Indeed, other 

properties of the stars on circular orbits, such as the 

vertical scale height, the average rotational velocity 

and vertical velocity dispersion, show a smooth change 

with [α/Fe] as expected from in-situ formation of the 

thick disk through radial migration. 

On the other hand, the α-old stars on eccentric orbits, 

including nearly all old metal-poor stars, are difficult 

to explain with radial migration alone. Their average 

properties show no significant trends with nei- 

0 

Star Count 



ther [α/Fe] nor [Fe/H], and are very different from the 

α-old stars on near-circular orbits: going from stars on 

near-circular to those on eccentric orbits, the vertical 

scale height nearly doubles, and around [Fe/H] –0.6 

the average rotational velocity halves while the vertical 

velocity dispersion doubles. These differences 

might, however, be naturally explained if the stars on 

eccentric orbits formed through a gas-rich merger at 

high redshift. It is expected that the disk from which 

the stars form is not smooth and thin, but clumpy with 

already a significant dispersion. Together with further 

blurring over the long time since the merger, it might 

well be that if any correlation with [α/Fe] nor [Fe/H] 

existed, it is washed out by now. Even more so, an early-on 

merger origin from an already hotter disk might 

help explain the apparent jump between the average 

orbital properties of G dwarfs on near-circular and eccentric 

orbits. 

Aside from understanding the origin of the Milky 

Way disk(s), we are also using these G dwarfs as kinematic 

tracers to infer the amount of dark matter in the 

Solar Neighborhood, which in turn is a crucial ingredient 

for experiments designed to detect dark matter particles. 

This requires a precision determination of the 

local gravitational potential Φ(R, z), yielding the total 

mass density from which the accurately measured luminous 

density is subtracted to recover the dark matter 

density. The simplest way is to solve the vertical 

Jeans equation d (νzσ2 z )/dz –νz dF (R0 , z)/dz for a 

measured vertical density νz and vertical velocity dispersion 

σz for a tracer (sub)population around the Solar 

radius R0 . 

However, after carefully measuring νz and σz for 

sub-samples of G dwarfs with similar [α/Fe] and 

[Fe/H], we find that the best-fit vertical Jeans solutions 

do not yield a consistent underlying Galactic potential; 

the α-young stars require a significant local dark matter 

density, while the α-old can be fitted without dark 

matter. We expect that this is, at least partly, because 

the underlying assumption that vertical and radial motions 

can be decoupled breaks down; indeed, whereas 

this assumption requires that the velocity cross term 

νR νz vanishes, initial challenging measurements 

show that it is non-zero and varying with height with 

an indication that the variation is stronger with increasing 

[α / Fe]. 

To overcome this assumption on the velocity anisotropy, 

we are looking into solutions of the axisymmetric 

Jeans equations along curvilinear coordinates that 

naturally allow this cross term to vary with height. We 

also aim to fit Schwarzschild models that do not make 

any assumption about the velocity anisotropy by numerically 

integrating in an arbitrary gravitational potential 

a representative set of orbits and weighting them 

such that observed stellar positions and motions are 

fitted simultaneously; the weighted orbital kinematics 

yield the velocity anisotropy. 

Super-massive black holes 

In the last two decades, observational evidence has 

mounted that Supermassive Black Holes (SMBH), defined 

as black holes with mass, M , above 10 6 M 0 , 

lurk at the centres of most, if not all, massive galaxies. 

Measuring M directly is difficult and, with the current 

observational means, usually achievable only in nearby 

(d 100 Mpc) galaxies. It requires spectroscopic data, 

typically with sub-arcsecond angular resolution, as 

well as careful dynamical modelling of the stars (or gas) 

surrounding the SMBH. Yet, the number of galaxies with 

directly measured M has grown considerably, reaching 

70 as of 2012. 

From this sample, it was found that the M are suprisingly 

tightly correlated with several of their host galaxy 

(bulge) properties, most prominently the stellar velocity 

dispersion, σ, and luminosity, L. A SMBH comprises a 

small fraction (on average approximately 1/500) of its 

host mass, and accordingly wields significant gravitational 

influence only in a tiny region of its host. Hence, 

the correlations, also termed “Black Hole scaling relations”, 

are not explained trivially. Instead, they are 

thought to reflect a co-evolution of SMBHs and their 

host galaxies, with the responsible astrophysical mechanisms 

currently being subject of investigation. Apart 

from their significance towards understanding the formation 

of galaxies, as well as the origin and growth of 

SMBHs, the scaling relations are nowadays widely used 

to determine the M distribution and space density, including 

evolution on cosmological timescales. Here, the 

empirical scaling relations serve to predict M in a large 

number of galaxies, or in galaxies too distant for a direct 

measurement. Moreover, secondary (indirect) M estimators, 

such as reverberation mapping (for active galaxies) 

and the broadline-width method (quasars), are calibrated 

by means of the locally-defined scaling relations. 

Given the importance of the SMBH scaling relations 

in current astrophysics, it is worth noting that their characterisation 

is far from secure. The uncertainties pertain, 

amongst others, to the universality with respect to host 

morphology, the validity range and functional form at the 

extreme mass ends, to consistency between scaling relations, 

as well as the precision of and especially systematic 

errors in the measured M and host galaxy properties. 

Tackling the last of these mentioned, we currently work 

with a new high-resolution, deep near-infrared data set, 

obtained by the WIRCam imager on the Canada-France- 

Hawaii Telescope and designed to improve the determination 

of bulge luminosity, L bul , of SMBH host galaxies 

with directly measured M . Near-infrared luminosity is 

of special interest as it serves as a proxy for stellar mass, 

and is hardly affected by the presence of dust. We use 

these superior data to model bulges by careful and comprehensive 

image decomposition. Simultaneously, we 

establish the correlation of M with total host luminosity, 

L tot . Our results imply that the M – L bul correlation

Fig. III.3.4: hubble Space Telescope image of the compact lenticular 

galaxy NGC 1277, the host of an “übermassive” black 

hole. The image size is 19 8 kpc. The galaxy has a half-light 

radius of 1 kpc, is strongly flattened, and is disky. North is up 

and East is to the left. 

power-law index is decidedly below unity, in contrast 

to early (and widely adopted) studies. We find it likely 

to be not as “fundamental” as previously thought, while 

L tot poses an equivalently strong predictor of M . 

Our group also is strongly involved in expanding our 

knowledge of the SMBH scaling relation with respect to 

the highest SMBH masses. This part of the scaling relations 

is of special interest not only because it is hitherto 

sparsely sampled. There is also doubt in the scientifc 

community concerning the validity of the power law established 

for the intermediate-mass range of SMBHs. We 

here specifically investigate compact galaxies with unusually 

high velocity dispersion, and conducted a dedicated 

spectroscopic survey on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope 

in order to find such galaxies and single out objects 

most promising to allow the measurement of M . We 

subsequently acquired integral-field spectroscopic data 

of the resulting sample, using PPAK on the Calar Alto 

3.5 m telescope. We were able to detect a SMBH with a 

mass far exceeding the prediction of current scaling relations, 

constituting 14 % (instead of 0.2 %) of the 

host (bulge) mass. This peculiar galaxy is shown in Fig. 

III.3.4. Its “übermassive” SMBH may be interpreted as 

a statistical outlier of the currently adopted scaling relations, 

but nevertheless demands a corresponding formation 

scenario. Whether the latter is feasible within the 

hitherto proposed galaxy-SMBH co-evolution models is 

currently unclear. As a consequence, there may be more 

than one principal SMBH formation channel and the established 

scaling relations may thus not be universal. 

What next? Lighting up the dark in the Local Group 

For objects in the Local Group – that is our own Milky 

Way, sister galaxy Andromeda (M 31) and their globular 

clusters and dwarf galaxy satellites – we are in the very 


Credit: Glenn van de Ven 

fortunate position of being able to measure photometric 

and spectroscopic quantities for individual stars, often to 

very high precision, thanks to both their proximity and 

the advances in modern observing techniques. These data 

include not only line-of-sight velocities, but motions 

in the plane of the sky (proper motions) and metal abundances. 

Having the full 3D velocity information means 

we can directly calculate the velocity anisotropy, and 

thus break the shape-mass-anisotropy degeneracy (see 

Fig. III.3.5). Furthermore, by studying separately the dynamics 

of chemically different stellar populations, we 

can recover the formation history of these objects. 

The hubble Space Telescope (HST) has delivered 

photometric and proper motion data of exceptional accuracy 

and also ground-based facilities provide remarkable 

data-sets of line-of-sight velocities and metal abundances, 

as well as proper motions. Large-scale surveys may 

lack the sensitivity of the HST but are a vital tool due to 

the sheer number of stars that they have observed; surveys 

such as hipparcos, SDSS, and the RAdial Velocity 

Experiment (rave) have provided a wealth of information 

over large regions of the sky, which have been used 

to good effect in studies of the Milky Way. For studying 

the smaller denizens of the Local Group, there have also 

been a number of focused observing efforts; for example 

thousands of line-of-sight velocities have been published 

for four of the Milky Way’s classical dwarfs: cariNa, 

forNax, sculptor and sextaNs. And the future is bright: 

there are a number of surveys coming online over the 

next few years that will expand the data sets that are currently 

available. In particular, Gaia will provide distances, 

velocities, metallicities and even age estimates of 

unprecedented accuracy over the whole sky. 

We must ensure we have tools in place both to analyse 

the existing data and to fully exploit the upcoming 

data. To this end, we are extending existing dynamical 

modeling techniques to include proper motions as well 

as line-of-sight velocities, and to directly fit discrete 

data using maximum likelihood methods. Apart from 

the loss of information when binning discrete data, the 

likelihood method can also be extended easily to incorporate 

further information. For example: typically, and 

unavoidably in case of binning, contaminants (e.g. a


q 

0.9 

0.86 

0.82 

0.9 

0.86 

0.82 

a) 

c) 

–0.3 

–0.2 –0.1 0 

Fig. III.3.5: Posterior distribution for median projected axis ratio 

(shape) versus velocity anisotropy at the end of an MCMC 

run for Centauri with the points coloured according to their 

likelihood (red high, blue low). a): likelihood for x proper 

motions only, b) likelihood for y proper motions only, c) likelihood 

for line-of-sight velocities only, d) total likelihood. The 

foreground or background population) are removed via 

a series of cuts before proceeding with the modeling; 

this is a tricky process – make the cuts too conservative 

and true members will be excised as well as the 

contaminants, make the cuts too generous and contaminants 

will still remain. A better approach is to include 

all stars in a model, both likely members and suspected 

contaminants, and allow for the presence of a contaminant 

population in the likelihood calculations. As our 

models have many parameters a simple grid search is 

not feasible, so we turn to Markov-Chain Monte Carlo 

(MCMC) methods in order to sample the large parameter 

space efficiently. 

One prime example that highlights what we are currently 

able to achieve is the Galactic globular cluster 

w Centauri. Located only 5 kpc from the Sun, it is large 

and bright and has been observed many times with many 

different instruments, over a long time baseline. As a result, 

there are line-of-sight velocities and metal abundances 

available for thousands of stars, and proper motions 

measurements available for hundreds of thousands 

0.1 

ln L x 

ln L z 

b) 

d) 

ln L y 

ln L total 

0.2 –0.3 

b 

–0.2 –0.1 0 0.1 0.2 

degeneracy between shape and anisotropy is seen in the scatter 

of the points. It is clear from the first three panels that the 

individual velocities do not converge on the correct answer; 

however their combination (as shown in panel d) does break 

the degeneracy and converges nicely. 

of stars. w Centauri is an interesting object to study as 

it demonstrates many qualities in common with globular 

clusters, such as an apparent absence of dark matter, 

and also many qualities in common with dwarf spheroidal 

galaxies, such as a complex star formation history. 

There is also an ongoing debate concerning the presence 

(or absence) of an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) 

at its center. High-quality data and sophisticated modeling 

techniques should enable us to finally answer some 

of the questions that linger over the nature of this curious 

object and how it has formed and evolved. The result 

of one MCMC model run for w Centauri is shown in 

Fig. III.3.5 for two of our parameters: the median deprojected 

axis ratio (q, a proxy for shape) and velocity anisotropy 

(b). These plots demonstrate the shape-anisotropy 

degeneracy that exists, and that proper motions and 

line-of-sight velocities must be used together in order to 

break the degeneracy. 

A second object to which we are applying our modeling 

tools is the prototypical core collapsed Galactic 

globular cluster M 15. A longstanding debate is wheth- 


er the increase in the mass-to-light ratio (M/L) toward 

the center is purely due to stellar remnants that arrived 

at the center as a result of mass segregation, or if there 

is also an IMBH present. Since with our discrete likelihood 

fitting method we do not lose spatial information 

as in the case of binning, we can measure the dark central 

mass to higher accuracy than before. Our resulting 

density profile for M 15 is in excellent agreement with 

predictions from stellar cluster simulations, without the 

presence of an IMBH. 

This is a promising start. However, in these preliminary 

models we have not yet chemical information 

and we have used simplified contamination models. 


Nevertheless, these results demonstrate that we have 

the machinery in place to handle both current and upcoming 

datasets in the Local Group, now we can work 

on further developing the maximum likelihood techniques 

and incorporating more information to truly exploit 

the data. 

Glenn van de Ven, Laura Watkins, 

Remco van den Bosch, Mariya Lyubenova, 

Akin Yildirim, Alex Büdenbender, Ronald Läsker, 

Vesselina Kalinova, Chao Liu, Mark den Brok


III.4 The Interstellar Medium of Nearby Galaxies 

The temperature and corresponding phase transitions of 

the interstellar medium (ISM) play key roles in the formation 

of stars, and thus galaxy evolution. Yet the heating 

and cooling of the ISM and associated transitions 

between phases are still not fundamentally understood. 

This section describes some of our ongoing multiwavelength 

work at MPIA to understand these processes and 

the fundamental connections between the stars and ISM 

of galaxies. 

To understand galaxies we must first understand the 

physical processes that regulate their evolution: the cooling 

and corresponding phase transitions in the interstellar 

medium (ISM), the formation of stars from the cold 

ISM, and the return of radiant and mechanical energy 

from those stars, heating the ISM. Together, the structure 

and composition of the ISM are tracers of, and direct results 

from, the formation of and the feedback from stars. 

The ISM is generally considered to be in three phases; 

ionized, atomic and, molecular, each with a range of densities 

and temperatures. Throughout these phases exists 

interstellar dust, thought to be composed mostly of carbonaceous 

grains and silicates, and ranging from micronsized 

grains to large molecules, such as polycyclic aromatic 

hydrocarbons (PAHs). This ISM has a still poorly 

understood structure, consisting of diffuse gas, clumpy 

clouds, and large scale features such as spiral arms. 

The heating in the ISM is dominated by young, massive 

stars, with large UV fluxes that ionize interstellar 

gas, eject photoelectrons from dust grains, and heat the 

same dust grains to high temperatures. These stars also 

have a large mechanical energy input into the ISM due to 

their strong winds during their lifetimes, and the supernova 

at the end of their lives. ISM cooling is dominated 

by recombination and forbidden lines within ionized regions, 

and far-infrared continuum and line emission (e.g. 

from HI and CO) in neutral gas and in the cold molecular 

clouds from which stars form. It is this emission that allows 

us to trace the ISM structure and its phases. 

The processes that shape the ISM occur on varying 

scales; the galactic scale spiral density waves observable 

at both optical and infrared wavelengths, the large scale 

outflows driven by starbursts and supernovae, the small 

scale molecular clouds that form stars, and the individual 

HII regions and the photo-dissociation regions that surround 

them. While observations of individual interstellar 

clouds and star-forming regions within the Milky Way 

provide the highest spatial resolution, studying the various 

scales of energy and heating balance within our own 

Galaxy proves difficult as line-of-sight reddening in the 

optical and UV, uncertain distances, and background/ 

foreground confusion lead to enormous complications. 

Observations of external galaxies avoid these problems 

and in addition allow one to explore a significantly 

wider range of physical properties, such as metallicity, 

ISM densities, and star formation rates (SFR). In particular, 

nearby galaxies provide a vital bridge between 

in-depth, resolved studies in our Galaxy and the globally 

integrated measurements of distant galaxies. In nearby 

galaxies it is possible to explore the ways and the scales 

over which different stellar populations affect the surrounding 

ISM in different regions of galaxies (i.e. spiral 

arms and inter arm regions, bulge, and disk, etc.) and at 

different metallicities, as well as large ranges in gas and 

dust column densities. 

Nearby Galaxies at all Wavelengths 

MPIA has conducted several multiwavelength surveys 

of nearby galaxies, and is part of several more through 

collaborations. These multiwavelength surveys enable 

the delineation of both the stars and multi-phase ISM in 

these galaxies. We detail a fraction of these below that 

are ongoing. 

• The Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31) is the nearest 

massive spiral galaxy to our own, and thus provides the 

best spatial resolution while still giving an integrated 

galaxy view. We have recently obtained herschel Space 

Observatory images from 70 – 500 µm of Andromeda 

(see Fig. III.4.1) and in association with existing multiwavelength 

observations, this allows us to directly connect 

the dust with stars and all phases of gas. By including 

a MPIA-involved heritage hubble survey of M 31 

that resolves individual stars (phat; Dalcanton et al., 

2012) we can directly determine ISM heating input from 

stars to dust. 

• The Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51) is an interacting 

grand-design spiral galaxy that is face-on (i 23), extremely 

gas rich, with a high current rate of star formation. 

With the Plateau de Bure Interferometer Arcsecond 

Whirlpool Survey (paws) we have mapped 12 CO(1−0) 

in the central 11 8 kpc of M 51, detecting molecular 

clouds down to 40 pc scales and masses down to 10 5 

M 0 , typical values for Galactic GMCs. In association 

with an existing multiwavelength dataset, this allows us to 

directly connect the molecular gas clouds with dust, stars, 

star-formation (i.e. HII regions) and atomic (HI) gas. 

• The SingS/KingfiSh/ThingS/heracleS sample 

MPIA is part of and has contributed to the largest multiwavelength, 

resolved sample of galaxies with the combination 

of the Infrared siNGs (spitzer; Kennicutt et al., 

2003) and KiNGfish (herschel; Kennicutt et al., 2011) 

surveys and the HI thiNGs (Walter et al., 2008) and iraM

2.3 kpc 

Fig. III.4.1: A herschel far-infrared image of the Andromeda 

galaxy showing 70 µm (blue), 100 µm (green), and 250 µm 

(red). The bluer colors indicate hotter dust. 

CO heracles (Leroy et al., 2009) large surveys. Along 

with ancillary Galex-, optical- and radio data these surveys 

provide resolved ultraviolet to radio imaging of 

50 nearby galaxies, and the ISM gas traced via HI and 

CO line emission and spectral maps of other optical to 

far-IR emission lines. These data provide the best opportunity 

to link resolved galaxy ISM and stellar properties 

with the global galaxy type and environment. In the following 

we highlight some of our recent findings from 

these projects. 

Dust heating: Andromeda’s Hot Dust 

The dust in the ISM of galaxies is strongly associated 

with the gas, with the total dust column being a function 

of the gas column. However, the IR emission from dust 

in galaxies is also dependent upon the dust temperature, 

which is determined by the interstellar radiation field. 

As dust opacity is strongly biased to the UV, massive 

stars tend to dominate the heating of dust. Due to this, 

IR emission, either alone or in association with another 

tracer such as Hα or UV emission, is used as a measure 

of the current star formation rate (SFR). 

The center of Andromeda presents a difficulty in this 

standard paradigm of dust IR emission. As seen in Figure 

III.4.1, the center is particularly bright in IR, with the blue 

colors indicating warm (30 K) dust. Yet high resolution 

imaging (e.g. from hubble; Rosenfeld et al., in prep.) 

reveal no massive stars and no ongoing star formation. 

However, the heating mechanism of the dust is revealed by 

the steep radial profile in dust temperatures at the center, 

determined from simple fits to the herschel far-IR bands 

in each pixel with emissivity modified-blackbodies, shown 

in Figure III.4.2 (from Groves et al., 2012). This dust temperature 

distribution is overlaid with a scaled version of 

III.4 The Interstellar Medium of Nearby Galaxies 65 

the expected dust temperature from heating by the diffuse 

radiation field arising from the old stellar population of the 

bulge of M 31, with the profiles showing a close match. 

This match indicates that it is the bulge stars that are 

heating the dust, with the high density of stars in this 

region providing a sufficiently strong radiation field to 

heat the dust to warm temperatures. This is significant 

for two reasons; it demonstrates that warm dust emission 

is not always associated with young, massive stars, and 

that, given the very red optical spectra of the bulge, optical 

light, not UV, can dominate the heating of the dust. 

Given the “early-type” nature of Andromeda’s bulge, 

such heating may also be occurring in other early-type 

galaxies that also show warm dust emission. 

Fig. III.4.2: The distribution of dust temperatures within the inner 

2 kpc (530) of M 31. The colors show the number density 

of the 23 pc pixels dust temperature (T d ) and distance from 

the center, as labeled by the color bar. Overlaid is a curve 

showing a scaled version of the expected dust heating given the 

bulge radiation field from old stars. 

T dust [K] 

40 

35 

30 

25 

20 

aT d, bulge 

15 

0 0.5 

0 26 

1 

Radius [kpc] 

#pixels 

N 

E 

53 80 107 134 

1.5 2 

Credit: Groves et al. (2012) 

Credit: Groves et al. (2012)


Tracing “hidden”ʼ gas: the gas to dust ratio 

While tracing atomic gas is relatively simple through 

observations of the HI hyperfine line at 21 cm, observing 

cool, molecular H 2 is difficult due to its lack of a 

dipole moment. The standard method is to observe the 

CO (submm) emission lines and convert to the total H 2 

through a conversion factor, α CO . This factor is determined 

in the Galaxy using dynamical methods yet remains 

relatively uncertain because of possible variations 

due to abundance effects, or “hidden”, CO-absent, molecular 

gas. However, as dust and gas are closely coupled, 

it is possible to use the total dust mass to trace the total 

gas mass and constrain α CO . Using a technique based 

on Leroy et al. (2011), and data from the KiNGfish and 

heracles surveys, we constrained α CO and the dustto-gas 

mass ratio (DGR) on kpc scales across the 

disks of 26 galaxies (Sandstrom et al., 2012). We ob- 

Fig. III.4.3: Left: Solutions for DGR (top) and α CO (bottom) 

plotted versus oxygen abundance based on the Pilyugin & 

Thuan (2005) calibration. The gray points show all of the individual 

solutions. The green points show the highest-confidence 

solutions. The weighted mean and standard deviation of all of 

the solutions in 0.1 dex bins are shown with red symbols. The 

log(a CO / (M pc–2 / (K km s –1 ))) log(DGR) 

–1 

–1.5 

–2 

–2.5 

2 

1.5 

1 

0.5 

0 

–0.5 

–1 

Weighted Mean 

Da Co 0.2 

All Solutions 

Weighted Mean 

Da Co 0.2 

All Solutions 

7.8 8 

8.2 

8.4 8.6 8.8 

12 log(O/H) 

serve several trends in α CO , based on our nearby galaxy 

sample. Galaxy centers frequently show low values of 

α CO , in some cases nearly an order of magnitude below 

the typically assumed local Milky Way value of α CO 

4.35 M 0 pc –2 (K km s −1 ) −1 . Using uniformly determined 

metallicities from H II region spectra, we find a 

general trend of decreasing α CO with increasing metallicity, 

while for DGR we measure a clear, positive, linear 

trend with metallicity (Fig. III.4.3). However, large 

galaxy-to-galaxy offsets in the relationship between metallicity 

and α CO suggest that metallicity may not be the 

primary driver of variations in α CO in the central, higher 

metallicity regions of galaxies. Due to the strong radial 

gradients in many quantities, it is difficult to isolate 

which physical process is the driver of α CO variations, 

but in general regions with intense UV fields, high starformation 

rate surface densities and/or high stellar mass 

surface densities show low α CO . 

shaded yellow region shows the approximate range of α CO values 

determined in the Milky Way. Right: The dust mass surface 

density in NGC 6946 (top) showing both the apertures and region 

over which the values were determined, and the resulting 

α CO for the same galaxy (bottom), revealing significantly lower 

values in the central region. 

Log(S D ) (M e pc –2 ) 

–1 –0.8 –0.5 –2 0 0.2 0.5 

NGC 6946 

3.2 kpc 

3 

–1 –0.5 

3.2 kpc 

3 

Log(a CO ) 

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 

Credit: E. Schinnerer

SFR Surface Density [M yr –1 kpc –2 ] 

1 

0.1 

0.01 

0.001 

0.0001 

0.1 

SFR vs H, 

0.1 Gyr 

0.1 Gyr 

10 Gyr SFR vs HH2 

1 10 10 2 10 3 0.1 1 10 

Gas Surface Density [M pc –2 ] 

Fig. III.4.4: The star formation relation for different types of 

gas: (left) atomic gas seen in HI, (middle) total neutral gas 

(HIH 2 ), and (right) only molecular gas (H 2 ). We use sensitive 

molecular CO gas data from heracles and a novel technique 

to stack spectra that allows us to measure faint CO emission 

with high significance in regions dominated by atomic gas 

(HI). While the SFR is not correlated to HI, it does correlate 

with H 2 and total gas column. However, the scaling is uniform 

for all regimes only for H 2 . 

Star-Formation Relations: Connecting stars and gas 

While stars form out of molecular gas – a process that is 

confirmed by observations of Giant Molecular Clouds in 

the Galaxy and supported by the strong correlation of gas 

and SFR in nearby galaxies (see e.g. Bigiel et al., 2008) – 

there has been a long standing debate of the role atomic 

gas has on star formation on large scales. The lack of a 

clear correlation of HI and SFR in the inner parts of galaxy 

disks offers circumstantial evidence that star formation 

remains coupled to the molecular, rather than the total 

gas even where the ISM is mostly atomic. However, 

the exact relationship remained largely unexplored in the 

HI dominated regime, until the thiNGs and heracles surveys 

revealed the most sensitive view of the entire starforming 

disks of nearby galaxies to date. Using the HI 

and CO data from these surveys we applied a novel technique 

to stack CO spectra and thus measure extremely 

faint emission (Schruba et al. 2011). Using HI velocities 

to shift the CO to a common velocity and then stacking 

and radially average, significantly increases the signal-to 

noise and allows to detect CO down to Σ H2 1M 0 pc –2 , 

or one order of magnitude deeper than previous studies. 

Combining the far-UV and 24 µm emission from 

the siNGs survey to measure the SFR, we compared the 

role of different phases in the ISM to star formation 

(Fig. III.4.4). We found that while HI and SFR are only 

weakly correlated, H 2 and total gas column show strong 

correlations with SFR. However, only the H 2 –SFR relation 

can be parametrized by a unique (linear) function 

0.1 Gyr 


0.1 Gyr 

10 Gyr SFR vs H2 

0.1 Gyr 

10 2 10 3 0.1 1 10 10 2 10 3 

that is valid in both the H 2 and HI dominated regime. 

Thus, star formation in molecular clouds appears to be 

independent of environment (e.g., the local gas density), 

however, the formation of molecular gas out of the atomic 

gas shows systematic variations across galaxies and 

a strong dependence on galactic environment. 

Clouds and Clumps: Tracing the molecular ISM 

structure in the Whirlpool galaxy. 

0.1 Gyr 

10 Gyr 

The assembly of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) out of 

the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) and subsequent 

onset of star formation is an active area of astrophysical 

research. In normal galaxies, these GMCs are often 

described as the basic unit of structure in the molecular 

ISM, with typical GMC masses of 10 4 to 10 6 M 0 

and sizes of 10 to 50 pc observed. Most Galactic star 

formation activity appears to occur within GMCs, but 

our knowledge of the processes that regulate the physical 

and chemical properties of GMCs is far from being 

complete. 

To date, wide-field CO observations that can resolve 

individual GMCs have been restricted to the Local 

Group, mostly surveying low mass galaxies where atomic 

gas dominates the interstellar medium (for a review, 

see Fukui & Kawamura 2010). This is a major shortcoming 

since massive disk galaxies dominate the mass and 

light budget of star-forming galaxies and host most of 

the star formation in the present-day universe. With paws 

we resolve this issue, exploring a massive, molecular gas 

dominated galaxy at high physical resolution. In Figure 

III.4.5, we present the map of CO integrated intensity 

within M 51 obtained by paws. For comparison, the 

other panels of this figure show CO integrated intensity 

maps of M 33 (Rosolowksy 2007) and the LMC (Wong 

et al 2011), after smoothing the three datasets to the same 

resolution and extrapolating them onto the same pixel 

grid. Unlike the CO emission in the low-mass galaxies, 

it is obvious that much of the emission in M 51 arises in 



M51 

Fig. III.4.5: Maps of CO integrated intensity in M 51 (Schinnerer 

et al, in preparation), M 33 (Rosolowsky et al. 2007), and the 

LMC (Wong et al. 2011) after matching the spatial and spectral 

resolution of the data-cubes and interpolating them onto a 

pixel grid with the same physical dimensions. For all panels, 

the telescope beam is shown as the small red circle in the bot- 

bright kiloparsec-sized structures that bear little resemblance 

to the discrete isolated clouds that are present in 

the low-mass galaxies. Bright CO emission is also clearly 

detected between the spiral arms, both in cloud-like 

structures and as thin filaments that appear to span the 

inter-arm region. 

Assuming that CO integrated intensity is a reliable 

tracer of molecular gas column density, our observations 

indicate that regions of high gas column density develop 

within M 51’s spiral arms and in a central region that we 

identify as the “molecular ring”, a zone where molecular 

gas accumulates due to the action of opposing torques 

from the nuclear stellar bar and first spiral arm pattern. 

Gas in the inter-arm, by contrast, achieves lower maximum 

column densities and the probability density function 

(PDF) of line intensity tends towards a characteristic 

lognormal shape, suggesting that the gas density distribution 

in the inter-arm region is determined by physical 

processes occurring on relatively small scales. Overall, 

1.3 kpc 

0.6 

LMC 0.84kpc M33 1.5 kpc 

60 

6 

150 

tom left corner, and the image scale by the bar and text in the 

top right. The maps are presented using a square-root intensity 

scale with the limits of the color stretch the same to highlight 

the significant difference in CO brightness between M 51 and 

the other galaxies. 

our results confirm the standard argument that lognormal 

PDFs in galactic disks emerge via the central limit theorem 

from the combined action of independent physical 

processes that modify the gas density distribution locally. 

What was less expected from numerical models is that 

galactic structure (i.e. M 51’s stellar spiral arms and bar) 

clearly plays an important role in organizing the density 

distribution of the molecular ISM on 50 pc scales. 

Using the paws data and a novel finding method, we 

have identified over 1500 GMCs within the inner disk 

of M 51. This is the largest GMC catalogue that has ever 

been constructed for any galaxy including the Milky Way. 

We have studied the physical properties of GMCs located 

in different dynamical environments within M 51, and 

compared the properties of GMCs in M 51 to the GMC 

populations of M 33 and the LMC. Contrary to previous 

comparative studies that analyzed modest, observationally 

heterogeneous samples of GMCs (e.g. Bolatto et al 

2008), we find clear evidence for environmental effects 

I CO [K km s –1 ] 

100 

50 

0 


Credit: E. Schinnerer 

on GMC properties: clouds in M 51 are brighter, and 

they have higher mass surface densities and larger velocity 

dispersions relative to GMCs of comparable size 

and mass in low-mass galaxies. These trends are also 

observed within M 51 (Fig. III.4.6): GMCs in the spiral 

arms and central region of M 51 tend to have higher CO 

masses than GMCs located between the arms. One possible 

explanation for the difference in CO brightness is that 

the neutral ISM in the low-mass galaxies and inter-arm 

region has a lower dust abundance and/or more clumpy 

structure, enhancing the selective photodissociation of 

CO molecules and reducing the filling factor of CO emission 

on 50 pc scales. We are currently investigating 

the physical processes, e.g. galactic rotation, spiral arm 

streaming and feedback from star formation activity, that 

potentially contribute to our measurement of a GMC’s 

velocity dispersion within different M 51 environments. 

ISM kinematics influence the formation of stars 

Gas kinematics on the scales of Giant Molecular Clouds 

(GMCs) are essential for probing the framework that 

links the large-scale organization of interstellar gas to 

cloud formation and subsequent star formation. The 

M 51 paws observations permit the first such study in 

a galaxy outside the Local Group, in an environment 

which is dynamically rich and characterized by strong 

non-circular gas flows. To interpret these motions we 

combine the paws data with a profile of present-day spiral 

arm torques newly derived from the stellar mass distribution 

mapped with spitzer / irac 3.6 µm and 4.5 µm 

images (Meidt et al. 2012). The observed gas motions 

suggest a strong response to torquing by the stellar spiral 

pattern, and dynamically distinct zones exhibit different 

GMC properties as well as distinct patterns of 

star formation. 

log (n (M M) / kpc 2 ) 

2 

1 

0 

–1 

–2 

Inter-arm (25 kpc 2 ) 

Spiral Arms (16 kpc 2 ) 

Central region (4 kpc 2 ) 

Full sample (47 kpc 2 ) 

5 

5.5 6 

log (M lum / M ) 

6.5 7 


By comparing gas inflow and star formation rates 

throughout the disk, we assemble a view of the spatialdependence 

of gas depletion times for the current gas 

reservoir (Fig. III.4.7). We find that the lowest azimuthally 

averaged star formation efficiencies (highest depletion 

times) coincide with zones of elevated radial gas 

inflow. We interpret this as the dependence of GMC stabilization 

on dynamical environment via the Bernoulli 

principle, which raises the stable cloud mass in the presence 

of strong spiral streaming. We find that this picture 

can reproduce the observed pattern of star formation efficiency 

where conventional sources of GMC stabilization, 

such as shear and turbulence, fail. High streaming 

motions along the spiral arm can reduce the cloud 

surface pressure by an order of magnitude compared to 

virialized clouds, with the outcome that there are fewer 

clouds unstable to collapse per free-fall time along particular 

segments of the spiral arm. Such dynamical effects 

contribute to the observed scatter in the standard ‘cloud 

equilibrium’ relations and star formation laws. 

Magnetic fields in nearby galaxies 

Understanding the role of magnetic fields in the appearance 

and evolution of galaxies is an important concern 

in modern astrophysics. Magnetic fields can significantly 

shape the ISM, and the pressure provided by 

magnetic fields and turbulent motions can be greater 

than the thermal pressure provided by the different gaseous 

phases (e.g., Tabatabaei et al. 2008). Radio synchrotron 

emission, and its polarization and Faraday rotation, 

are powerful tools in the study of the strength 

and structure of magnetic fields in galaxies. Polarized 

emission traces ordered magnetic fields, which can follow 

a large-scale spiral pattern in grand-design, barred 

and flocculent galaxies. Unpolarized emission traces 

random magnetic fields which are strongest in spiral 

arms and in central starburst regions. Our recent studies, 

based on the nearby late type spiral galaxy and 

KiNGfish target NGC 6946, show a power-law correlation 

between star formation rate surface density and 

the random magnetic field strength (Tabatabaei et al., 

subm). This is observational evidence of generation 

Fig. III.4.6: Cumulative number surface density for M 51’s 

Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) with masses greater than M’, 

as identified within the paws field of view. The full sample 

of 1507 GMCs (dark-blue squares) has been divided in three 

main regions: central (red), spiral arm (light blue) and interarm 

regions (green). The three regions encompass dynamically 

distinct environments (see Meidt et al. 2012). The mass functions 

show a clear change in both the slope and density between 

different galactic environments. The vertical dashed line indicates 

the completeness limit of the catalog set (3.6 10 5 M 0 ). 

The surface area of each region over which the mass spectra is 

determined as labeled.


Credit: E. Schinnerer 

G (R) (|G|) 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

–10 

–20 

0 

Azimuthally-averaged torques 

Molecular gas depletion time 

20 40 60 80 

R 

100 120 140 

Fig. III.4.7: Azimuthally-averaged torques (black and white) 

and molecular gas depletion time (or inverse star formation efficiency; 

blue) calculated in radial bins in M 51. Each crossing 

from negative to positive torque corresponds to the location of 

the co-rotation resonance (CR) of the structure: inside CR material 

moves inward and outside material is ‘pushed’ outward. 

The longest gas depletion times coincide with radial inflow, 

which can be mapped to the largest non-circular streaming 

velocities along the arm. 

and/or amplification of the random magnetic field by 

the turbulent gas motions induced by star formation. 

The ordered magnetic field has, however, no correlation 

with star formation rate in NGC 6946. The origin 

of the ordered magnetic field is believed to be linked to 

a mean field dynamo effect that depends on galactic differential 

rotation (Fletcher et al. 2011). 

6 

4 

2 

0 

–2 

t dep [Gyr] 

The ISM in detail: The future of nearby galaxy studies 

The future of ISM studies in nearby galaxies at MPIA 

is very bright, with a wealth of optical, infrared and 

sub-mm data becoming available. Using the PPaK / 

pMas instrument at Calar Alto, we have obtained integral 

field spectroscopy of a sample of the KiNGfish 

galaxies. Using these we are tracing the excitation and 

attenuation of the ionized ISM in the galaxies, which 

we can directly compare to the dust distribution from 

KiNGfish, and the excitation of the molecular gas from 

heracles and new herschel-spire spectra currently being 

obtained and reduced. In the far-IR we have recently 

obtained herschel-pacs spectral maps of the [CII] 

158 µm emission line, one of the dominant coolants of 

the diffuse ISM, for selected regions in M 31. Along 

with the resolved stars from phat and the high resolution 

dust maps from herschel, the direct input, heating 

and cooling of the diffuse ISM can now be determined. 

Finally, with alMa now fully starting its science operation, 

and the NoeMa extension to the iraM Plateau de 

Bure Interferometer, the molecular ISM of nearby galaxies 

can be observed at even higher resolution and higher 

sensitivity, resolving molecular clouds into individual 

clumps and cores down to the scales at which star formation 

is occurring. In addition, these new instruments 

will for the first time allow for the extensive study of the 

molecular gas composition using chemical tracers, i.e. 

different molecules and ions, for the dense, shocked, and 

ionized molecular gas in galaxies. 

Eva Schinnerer, Brent Groves, Fabian Walter, 

Oliver Krause, Andreas Schruba, Karin Sandstrom, 

Annie Hughes, Dario Colombo, Sharon Meidt, 

Fatemeh Tabatabaei, Hendrik Linz

IV. Instrumental Developments and Projects 

Here we report on further activities mainly belonging 

to our instrumentation projects and related technical 

developments. Since the number of ongoing projects is 

rather large, we are only presenting a selection of our 

current activities. Since this selection varies over the 

years, we encourage the reader to have also a look into 

other Annual Reports of MPIA. 

IV.1 The Pan-StarrS1 surveys and 

some early results 

The Pan-StarrS1 project is the first of a new generation 

of imaging survey telescopes of “extremely 

large” figure of merit and powerful data processing 

pipeline. Pan-StarrS stands for the PANoramic Survey 

Telescope And Rapid Response System, and its first 

unit out of four planned is called Pan-StarrS1 (or 

PS1 for short) and is located on Haleakala in Hawaii. 

MPIA and its other partner institutes of the MPG and 

elsewhere founded in 2006 the PS1 Science Consortium 

to support the telescope operations and conduct the PS1 

surveys; and to organise the scientific work. As a major 

contributor, MPIA enjoys full access rights and leads 

several scientific areas called “key projects”. In addition, 

the institute may offer access rights to six German 

scientists. We used this opportunity to strengthen our 

scientific ties to university colleagues. During the commissioning 

phase, MPIA contributed to the characterisation 

of the telescope performances. After almost a 

year of further system optimisation and partial scientific 

operations, the telescope and camera were deemed 

ready for regular survey operations, which started in 

April 2010. 

An extremely large camera 

The PS1 project features a fast, 1.8-m telescope, with 

an average overhead of 13 seconds between two exposures; 

the largest-ever built camera with 1.4-Gigapixel, 

7-square degrees field of view, and sensitivity between 

0.35 and 1.02 μm; and a dedicated pipeline capable of 

reducing the night’s observations and delivering catalogues 

before tea time. The pipeline also produces advanced 

data products such as stacked images, which are 

the sum of all the images observed over a given sky area, 

and differential imaging, which in contrast one subtracts 

the most recent image to a template of the field, in order 

to easily detect variable sources, or new astronomical objects 

such as supernovae. 

The large field of view of the camera, six times the 

Full Moon in diameter, and 35 times in solid angle, allows 

to cover the whole sky visible from Haleakala with 

about 4300 telescope pointings. After 1.5 years of regular 

survey operations, PS1 has covered a few times the 

sky North of DEC –30 (3π-steradian survey) in five 

optical bands. This is twice the area covered by the Sloan 

Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), a PS1 precursor and one of 

most successful astronomical projects ever, over its decade 

of imaging operations. 

The photometric calibration is on-going, either against 

SDSS photometry or using PS1 overlapping observations 

with “übercalibration”. Proper motions calculated 

using 2MASS as the first epoch have a typical accuracy 

of 10 mas/yr. 

In addition, shallower imaging is obtained in parallel 

to the CPG1 observations, at low spatial resolution. 

Fig. IV.1.1: NGC 894 in gri colours, in the Medium Deep Field 01. 

Credit: N. Metcalfe et al. 

71

72 IV. Instrumental Developments and Projects 

Credit: Morganson et al., arXiv:1109.6241 

Flux [10 –21 W / (m 2 nm)] 

0.9 

0.6 

0.3 

0 

0.9 

0.6 

0.3 

0 

0.9 

0.6 

0.3 

0 

MMT spectrum 

CAHA spectrum 

PS1 total efficiency 

700 

i z y 

800 900 1000 

Observed Wavelength [nm] 

Fig. IV.1.2: The spectra of the first PS1 high-redshift quasar 

obtained by MMT and Calar Alto as well as the PS1 iP1, zP1, 

yP1 filter curves. 

These data will fill the V 10–15 mag gap between the 

Hipparcos photometry of bright stars, the deep photometry 

of PS1 and SDSS. This range is crucial for the detailed 

study of the closest cool stars and is only available 

with large uncertainties from the plate surveys. 

Other surveys of interest to us are the Medium Deep 

Survey, which monitors daily up to four pointings, and 

cover 70 square degrees, and the PanPlanets survey dedicated 

to the search over transiting exoplanets, particularly 

around M-type dwarfs. 

Published results cover the Solar system and near- 

Earth asteroids up to the most distant quasars, with a 

z 6.0 quasar discovered at MPIA. As the first deep, 

wide, high-accuracy optical survey, PS1 is a unique 

resource for the community. Prior to its full data release 

expected 2015, it has established Memoranda of 

Understanding with several large projects with other 

wavelength coverage or spectral resolutions, which 

greatly benefit from the PS1 catalogue. High-schools in 

Heidelberg and world-wide have access to the images to 

search for asteroids, and have successfully done so. 

Early Results obtained at MPIA 

MPIA has concentrated its efforts in four main areas: 

very-low mass stars and brown dwarfs of the solar 

neighbourhood, exoplanets, the structure of the Milky 

Way, and Quasars. 

Our search for cool brown dwarfs of the solar neighbourhood 

firstly involved cross-matching with 2MASS 

and selecting red y-J candidates. As SDSS before, PS1 

has the right wavelength sensitivity to detect the early 

T-type dwarfs. Over 40 new T-type dwarfs have been 

discovered (Deacon et al., 2011, AJ 142, 77). A crossmatch 

with WISE is underway. Proper motions based 

on 2MASS and PS1 data also revealed new brown 

dwarf companions to Hipparcos stars (Deacon et al., 

arXiv:1109.6319), providing new benchmark objects to 

calibrate the brown dwarf models. 

We take advantage of the wide sky coverage of PS1 

to study the nearby 625-Myr-old Hyades cluster. We 

can select cluster candidates to large cluster radii (30 

pc) to study the cluster evaporation, especially close to 

the stellar/brown dwarf boundary (Goldman et al., submitted 

to A&A). We confirm previous indications of 

mass segregation with a larger significance and the lack 

of low-mass members at the cluster centre. The PS1 

survey also offers an unprecedented look at the structure 

of our Galaxy, with deep, uniform optical data in 

five bands covering the whole Galactic plane in addition 

to the Northern Galactic Cap. The MPIA leads the 

PS1 science collaboration’s study of the Galaxy. Our 

research in this area includes: a search for new dwarf 

galaxies, the characterisation of the structure of the 

Monoceros stream, and mapping the Galaxy’ dust. 

Regarding our quasar work, we first use the deep z– 

and y–band imaging to select for optical dropout highredshift 

candidates. We found the first PS1 high-redshift 

quasar (Morganson et al., arXiv:1109.6241: The 

First High-redshift Quasar from Pan-StarrS) at redshift 

6 (see Figure IV.1.2); the prospect to discover z 7 

QSOs is promising. 

B. Goldman, E. Bañados, N. Deacon, 

T. Henning, N. Martin, E. Morganson, 

H.-W. Rix, B. Venemans, F. Walter 

In collaboration with partner institutes of the 

PS1 Science Consortium,in particular the 

Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii; 

as well as the ZAH of the University of Heidelberg 

through the SFB 881 “The Milky Way”

IV.2 argoS: Laser guided Ground Layer Adaptive Optics for the LBT 

argoS, the Advanced Rayleigh Ground layer adaptive 

Optics System for the LBT goals on the improvement of 

the image quality for both Luci instruments by a factor 

of 2–3 in full width half maximum, which increases the 

spectroscopic efficiency by a factor of 4–9. All this will 

be provided for the full 4 arcmin field of view of both 

Luci instruments and their multi-object capability by the 

means of 6 green Rayleigh laser guide stars. As argoS 

only corrects for the turbulence in the lower atmosphere 

(the so called ground layer) the full diffraction limit will 

not be reached. However, from the beginning argoS incooperated 

an on-axis diffraction limited upgrade with 

a Sodium laser into the design. 

MPIA is one of the three bigger partners in the argos 

consortium. In this role MPIA is responsible for the overall 

software and control, the calibration unit and the procurement 

of the dichroics, which separate the laser light 

to the wavefront sensor. 

Fig. IV.2.1: The swing arms in their shipping containment 

starting the long way from MPIA to the LBT at Mt. Graham, 

Arizona. 

In the last year the swing arm, which holds the calibration 

unit, was assembled at MPIA and shipped to the 

LBT. The swing arm is built out of carbon fiber, a new 

material, which will be also very important for building 

new large scale telescopes to light weight their structure. 

In August the swing arm was then installed at the 

telescope. 

The green laser light of the artificial guide stars has 

to be directed to the wavefront sensor. While the infrared 

light, used for science, should still reach the Luci 

instruments. This is done by the means of a so called 

dichroic, which transmits light of certain wavelengths, 

in our case the near infrared, and reflects light of other 

wavelengths, in our case the green light of the laser 

guide star. Such dichroics are often used in optical instruments 

but the size and shape, which was needed for 

argos was much bigger and more challenging as usual. 

During this year, the two dichroics needed for the right 

and left side of argos have been delivered to MPIA. 

They have been tested for transmission and reflection. 

The result of the measurements shows that they comply 

with all specifications and even surpass some of them. 

With this positive result one of the most critical components 

of argos are ready in time. At the end of next 

Credit: W. Gässler 

73




Fig. IV.2.2: The swing arms mounted on the LBT. They are retracted 

in their park position at the inner windbrace. 

Fig. IV.2.3: The dichroic in its test mount. The reflection and 

transmission of the unit was measured and verified. 

year the laser system will be installed at the telescope 

followed by the wavefront sensor in summer of the year 

after. Finally, in 2014, argos is supposed to be handed 

over to the user community. 

Involved at MPIA: 

Wolfgang Gässler (Co-I), Thomas Blümchen, 

Jose Borelli, Martin Kulas, 

Michael Lehmitz, Diethard Peter. 

Partners (local representatives only): 

Wolfgang Gässler (MPIA), 

Sebastian Rabien (MPE), 

Simone Esposito (INAF-OAA), 

Michael Loyd-Hardt (UA), 

Andreas Quirrenbach (LSW), 

Jesper Storm (AIP), 

Richard Green (LBTO), 

Udo Beckmann (MPIfR)

IV.3 MatiSSe – Interferometric Imaging in the Mid-Infrared 

MatiSSe – the Multi Aperture Mid-Infrared SpectroScopic 

Experiment – is one of two second generation instruments 

which had been selected by eSo for the VLTI at 

Paranal. Thus MatiSSe is in a sense the successor of 

Midi, the Mid-Infrared Interferometric Instrument, which 

has been built at MPIA and which is working on Paranal 

since 2003. 

Matisse will combine the beams of up to four of the 8 m 

UTs (Unit Telescopes) or of up to four of the 1.8 m ATs 

(Auxiliary Telescopes) and thus will be able to measure 

in “closure phase mode”, i.e. it offers an efficient capability 

for image reconstruction with a spatial resolution 

of up to 7 milliarcsec. The instrument will work at three 

wavelength bands: L (3.2 – 3.9 μm), M (4.5 – 5 μm), and 

N (8 – 13 μm), where the L and M band observations are 

performed simultaneously to the N band. 

With the three different spectroscopic resolutions in 

the range of R 30 – 1500 it will provide the basis for 

a fundamental analysis of the composition of gas and 

dust grains in various astrophysical environments. Key 

science programs for the ATs cover for example the formation 

and evolution of planetary systems, the birth of 

massive stars as well as the observation of the highcontrast 

environment of hot and evolved stars. With the 

UTs selected astrophysical programs such as the study 

of Active Galactic Nuclei and Extrasolar Planets shall 

be possible. 

Matisse is developed and built by a collaboration 

of the Observatoire de la Cote d’Azure, the MPIA, the 

MPI for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and two institutions 

(astron/Dwingeloo and Leiden University) from the 

Netherlands. In this consortium MPIA is responsible for 

the cryogenics system, the entire control electronics, and 

the instrument control software. 

After the successful Preliminary Design Review 

(PDR) in December 2010 the year 2011 was dominated 

by the preparations for the first part of the Final Design 

Fig. IV.3.1: Pulse tube cooler PTC 410 from Cryomech. The two 

copper plates mark the two stages. 

Fig. IV.3.2: Head of Pulse tube cooler with damping system on 

test set-up. 

Review (FDR) in September 2011, where the cryogenic system and the design of the optics were reviewed by 

eso. For the development of the cryostats several tests 

Table. IV.3.1: The characteristic parameters of Matisse. 

Number of beams/ 

telescopes 

4 (2 or 3 possible) 

Field of view 2 arcsec 

Spectral resolution L/M N 

Low 20 R 40 20 R 40 

Medium 200 R 400 200 R 400 

High 750 R 1250 

Spatial resolution 0.007 arcsec 0.02 arcsec 

had to be performed. By using an auxiliary cryostat we 

specified the characteristics of the selected Pulse Tube 

Cooler PT410 from Cryomech (Fig. IV.3.1). With using 

such a device the induced vibrations are typically factors 

of 10–50 lower than with normal Closed Cycle Coolers 

of similar cooling power. 

Besides the vibrations inside and outside of the test 

cryostat we also tested for the minimum temperatures to 

be reached with this kind of cooler at its first and second 

stage and for the temperature variations caused by the 

cooler when connected to a dummy cold optical bench 

(first stage) and a dummy detector (second stage). Here 

the copper braid used for this connection had to be opti- 

Credit: U. Graser 

Credit: U. Graser 

75


Cryostat for: L/M-Band (3 – 5 mm) N-Band (8 – 13 mm) 

Cooler Pulse Tube Cooler (Cryomech PT 410) 

Detector Hawai II RG 5 mm Raytheon Aquarius 

Pixel / pixel size 2K3 2K/18mm 1K3 1 K / 30 mm 

Cryostat: Size (h 3 w 3 l) / weight: 205 3 98 3 68 cm / 1500 kg 

Temperature Detector / Optics 40K/40K 8K/40K 

Temperature stability 0.1 K 

Adjustable support (range / accuracy) 5 mm (in h, x, y) / 0.2 mm 

Cool-down time < 3.5 days 

Accessibility of cold optics / detector Accessible without dismounting the cryostat 

Detector displacement from vibrations < 2 mm < 3.5 mm 

Table IV.3.2: The main requirements for the two cryostats. 

mized between the contradicting properties of a sufficient 

cooling on the one hand and an efficient vibration 

damping on the other side. 

In addition to these tests we had to perform several calculations, 

e.g. a Finite Element Analysis for the characterization 

of damage-prevention against Paranal-typical 

earth-quakes or the temperature distribution of the optics 

during cool-down. Also a thorough hazard analysis 

for the cryostat operation had to be delivered to eso. 

Table IV.3.2 shows the main requirements for the two 

cryostats. 

In parallel we continued in finalizing the design of 

the control electronics for the upcoming second part of 

the FDR in April 2012. Because of the limited space 

in the labs on Paranal a major effort had to flow into 

a compact design of the electronics. The control of 

70 motors and of a lot of additional devices had to be 

packed into 3 cabinets. 

Thomas Henning, Uwe Graser, 

Werner Laun, Michael Lehmitz, 

Marcus Mellein, Udo Neumann, 

Vianak Naranjo

IV.4 The eucLid Dark Energy mission 

eucLid is a cosmology satellite mission in the framework 

of eSa's Cosmic Vision programme. It will characterize 

the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy by measuring 

the clustering of matter and the expansion history 

of the Universe since redshift 2. The task of designing 

and building the Euclid instruments is coordinated by a 

consortium of 13 European countries, bringing together 

scientists and engineers from more than 100 individual 

institutions. eucLid will launch in 2020 to the Earth-Sun 

L2 point from where 15 000 square degrees of extragalactic 

sky will be observed over a six year mission 

duration. 

Eighty years ago we seemed to know a lot about the 

Universe. Galaxies were identified as “island universes” 

similar to our own Milky Way, made up of stars and 

gas and dust. All constituents of mass seemed to have 

been found – until in the 1930s the outer rotation curves 

of galaxies proved to be incompatible with the mass of 

visible matter given the laws of gravitation. With the 

addition of similar discrepancies in galaxy clusters it 

became clear that a heretofore unrecognized and invisible 

component – coined “Dark Matter” – must contain 

5 times more mass than the visible “Baryonic” 

matter that makes up stars and galaxies. 

70 years later, by the end of the 1990s, another discrepancy 

was noticed. The expansion history of the 

Universe did not obey the law of gravitation yet again. 

Contrary to expectations, the expansion of the Universe 

was observed to be accelerating, requiring an additional 

ingredient, termed "Dark Energy", in the massenergy 

content of the universe. This discovery was 

awarded with the Nobel-Prize in physics in 2011. Dark 

Energy must provide a mass density, to accommodate a 

near-euclidian flat space as identified by the cobe and 

WMAP missions, but at the same time deliver a repulsive 

effect. 

eucLid: a quest for bringing light into darkness 

esa’s eucLid mission is designed to investigate the nature 

of Dark Energy, and Dark Matter, with the aim to 

pin down its equation of state parameters. These differ 

between various proposals for the nature of Dark 

Energy and can at the same time test predictions made 

by modified models of gravitation. eucLid will utilize 

Weak Gravitational Lensing measurements to map the 

Dark Matter density in 3D-space and at the same time 

measure the expansion history of the Universe from 

z 2 to today. This combination will allow scientists to 

determine the equation of state parameters by a factor 

of 30 better than any current or planned measurements 

for the next two decades. 

eucLid's diagnostic require mapping of 15 000 square 

degrees of extragalactic sky with (1) high resolution 

imaging, (2) near-infrared spectroscopy, and (3) near- 

infrared photometry. While the former will be implemented 

in the VIS visual imager, MPIA’s involvement 

lies mainly with the latter two, realized in the NISP (Near 

Infrared Spectro-Photometer) instrument. We are directly 

responsible for two hardware contributions, the NIR 

filters as well as a calibration light source to support the 

instrumental calibrations in flight. MPIA also fills the 

position of instrument scientist and image simulator for 

the photometry channel and is hence centrally involved 

in the planning and definition aspects of the mission. 

The mission was officially selected for the 2 nd M-class 

launch slot in esa’s Cosmic Vision Programme in late 

Fig. IV.4.1: An early concept of the Euclid telescope. A 1.2 mdiameter 

off-axis mirror will feed the two instruments VIS 

and NISP, mounted to the lower side of the optical bench. 

The light-path will be deliberately simple to allow a very high 

image quality for the VIS imager (from the eucLid Red Book, 

esa, 2011). 

Secondary 

Mirror 

Structure 

Ultra Stable 

Support 

Truss 

Optical 

Bench 

Secondary Mirror 

and Focus System 

Primary 

Mirror 

Credit: A. Anselmi, Thales Alenia Space Italia 

77


Credit: MPIA 

2011 and is awaiting its final adoption in mid 2012, with 

the implementation phase scheduled to start immediately 

thereafter. Overall, Germany is mostly involved with 

NISP – the optical assembly is provided by the MPE – 

and the German eucLid national data center with contributions 

by the Universities in Bonn, LMU Munich, MPE 

and MPIA. Part of the institute's involvement is being 

funded through the DLR. This includes four positions for 

instrument scientist, image simulations, calibrations, and 

hardware, as well as in-house contributions concentrated 

on the science side. 

MPIA hardware contributions: Near infrared filters and 

calibration source 

While we are not responsible for mechanisms, the NIR 

filters provide specific challenges with a diameter of 

140mm, necessitated by the 0.730.7-wide field of 

view of eucLid. These diameters are larger by a factor 

of three compared to any of the WFC3/IR filters on HST 

and by a factor of two compared to JWST’s NIRcam. 

Aside from the mere material challenge of a pound of 

glass being homogeneously coated to very high accuracy, 

the three filter bandpasses (Y, J, H) have rather stringent 

requirements on throughput, out-of-band-blocking, 

and shape. 

Fig. IV.4.2: Current mechano-optical design of the Near Infrared 

Spectrophotometer (NISP) onboard eucLid. MPIA’s contribution 

lies in the supervision of the scientific performance of 

NISP, the internal Calibration Source, needed to calibrate the 

instrument's detectors, as well as the three infrared science 

filters for NISP. 

The NISP calibration source is being designed to 

provide the photometric accuracy levels required by the 

mission. An overall 1.5 % accuracy for all positions and 

epochs of the survey is the basis for the photometric redshifts 

to be computed for all of the faint galaxies to be 

used in the weak lensing diagnostic. This leaves little 

margin for the characterization of the detector array (16 

Hawaii 2RG chips). The calibration source therefore has 

to provide flat-field and non-linearity characteristics of 

the arrays in flight and monitor their radiation-induced 

degradation with increasing mission duration. 

The demands of the filter and calibration source design 

combined with the overall development of the mission 

will make for very interesting years ahead of us. 

Legacy science: A place to participate 

Scientifically, eucLid offers endless opportunities beyond 

the core cosmology science. 15 000 square degrees 

of imaging data of a 5000–9000 Å band at 0.1 

sampling, complemented with somewhat undersampled 

NIR photometry at 0.3 pixel scale, as well as slit-less 

spectroscopy will provide data input to topics ranging 

from AGN and galaxy evolution to Milky Way science, 

and from supernovae to planet searches. eucLid’s extensive 

Science Working Groups are starting to plan projects 

and opportunities in these legacy science areas, to 

exploit imaging data of billions of objects and spectroscopy 

of several tens of millions. 

Knud Jahnke, Rory Holmes, Gregor Seidel, 

Felix Hormuth, Stefanie Wachter

IV.5 Special Developments in the Technical Departments 

trac: A versatile Teamwork Platform used in 

Instrumentation Development 

The accessibility, organization and presentation of all 

project related information is a key to efficient collaboration 

within development teams. The value of a structured 

information platform increases with the number 

of team members and the duration of the projects. It 

provides a common pool of knowledge to the various 

disciplines within the development team. And it helps 

the Systems Engineering to manage the interdependencies 

and to monitor the progress in the different areas 

and phases of the development. A wide range of commercial 

groupware solutions promise help by supplying 

collaboration tools, such as centralized file exchange, 

document management, task management, discussion 

forums and wikis. 

Fig. IV.5.1: : The wiki start page for LINC-NIRVANA's Trac 

Credit: MPIA 

79


Credit: MPIA 

trac at a glance 

trac (http://trac.edgewall.org) is a free and open source 

groupware alternative. Mainly developed as web-based 

management tool for software projects, it supports software 

development teams with tools that are specific to 

their needs, such as software configuration management 

/ version control or a code browser. Although made 

to help software developers, its minimalist approach allows 

adapting trac to a wide range of projects, including 

instrumentation development. 

At MPIA several software and instrumentation projects 

now make use of trac and of many of its features: 

• The wiki. It is the main access point for the team 

members. A simple interface allows them to create 

and edit wiki pages. The team can gather con- 

Fig. IV.5.2: Each subsystem of Linc-nirvana has a wiki page 

with all related information, including meeting minutes, documents, 

notes and tickets. 

tent; the pages can be structured and formatted in a 

comfortably readable way. Pictures and other types 

of media can be embedded, as well as content from 

other trac modules like the ticket system or the 

blog plugin. Files can be attached and referenced 

within the wiki page. 

• The ticket system. It allows following up issues that 

are identified in the course of the project. For software 

projects tickets are often used to describe bugs 

and their solutions. But tickets can also be used to organize 

the workflow and dependencies when developing 

hardware. Tickets can be associated with project 

milestones and with entities such as systems or

components. The owner of the ticket is in charge of 

the underlying task. Additional information, such as 

due dates or dependencies on other tickets can be reflected. 

All information is kept in a database. A simple 

interface allows to query and filter the tickets and, 

by that, to monitor the progress of the project or to 

identify open issues for upcoming milestones. 

• The version control system. Each trac project is associated 

with a subversion repository. For software 

development projects it is the place to store the code, 

but it can also be used to archive and control versions 

of documents. 

• Seamless interaction. Within trac it is very simple 

to introduce references to tickets, wiki pages, files in 

the repository, blog entries etc. All content within 

trac is also searchable. 

• Expandability. trac capabilities can easily be expanded 

by adding plugins. There is an active community 

developing a wide variety of plugins, such as the 

blogging system, user account management or Latex 

support in wiki pages. trac and its plugins are developed 

in the Python programming language; with 

reasonable effort it is possible to develop custom solutions 

needed for a project. 

trac and Linc-nirvana 

Linc-nirvana introduced trac in 2010 and uses it since 

with great success. More than 70 team members and reviewers 

from inside and outside of MPIA have access to 

Linc-nirvana’s trac. 

The project uses tickets to organize and follow up 

most development activities. Each team member involved 

in an activity gets informed by email about updates. 

The tickets increase the efficiency of status meetings 

– they help to stay focused and provide all important 

information on its subject in a commonly accessible 

1 Push-Pull 

2 Push-Pulls 

4 Push-Pulls 

8 Push-Pulls 

IV.4 Special Developments in the Technical Departments 81 

place. The tickets have demonstrated to be very helpful 

when collaborating with partners in different institutes. 

All project related documentation is archived in trac 

and is easily accessible in various places on the wiki, 

depending on their context. So are meeting minutes and 

notes, which are stored as blog posts. 

Thomas Bertram, Florian Briegel 

Interaction Matrix Calibration for Adaptive Optics: 

What is the best method? 

For an adaptive optics (AO) system it is necessary to 

characterize how the deformable mirror (DM) interacts 

with the complete optical system up to the wavefront 

sensor. This procedure, commonly referred to as “calibrating 

the interaction matrix” (a matrix which is then inverted 

to produce the matrix for reconstructing the wavefront) 

is a process which is a key to achieve an optimal 

control of the DM. Members of the technical department 

at MPIA, working together with graduate student Xianyu 

Zhang and colleagues from INAF, have determined an 

optimal method for performing this calibration. These 

results appear in the article “Calibrating the interaction 

matrix for the Linc-nirvana high layer wavefont sensor” 

which was recently published in the journal Optics 

Express. 

Traditionally, interaction matrices have been calibrated 

by commanding the DM to a sequence of well-defined 

shapes, and, at each step in the sequence, taking 

a measurement of the light pattern seen by the sensor. 

But this process is affected by various sources of noise. 

Fig. IV.5.3: See text for details 

4 Frames 

3 Frames 

2 Frames 

200 

150 

100 

50 

0 

1 Frame 

Credit: MPIA


More recently, engineers and astronomers have determined 

that measurement noise can be reduced using 

standard statistical techniques. By alternating between 

each shape and its negative, and taking multiple measurements 

of each state, these data can be combined to 

get a more accurate value. This technique is called the 

“push-pull” method. 

For example, one of the fundamental shapes that is 

applied in the sequence is “pure focus.” This is a parabolic 

shape that appears somewhat like the shape of a 

cereal bowl. With the push-pull method, both the rightside-up 

cereal bowl and the upside-down cereal bowl 

shape are measured, and these shapes are measured several 

times each. All data is then combined to produce a 

single measurement. 

But if there is time to take only 8 measurements per 

mode, which is better: To take 4 positives in sequence 

and then 4 negatives; or to alternate, positive-then-negative, 

4 times? Or is a compromise best: 2 positives and 

2 negatives repeated twice? 

Prior to this study, engineers and astronomers based 

this decision on intuition. But from the study performed 

at MPIA, it has been determined that it is the second option 

listed above, alternating positive and then negative, 

one frame at a time, which gives the best result. This is 

shown in Figure IV.5.3 taken from the publication. The 

purple column on the far right of the figure is shorter 

than the blue column on the far left (and also shorter 

than the orange and green columns in between). Since 

a smaller value indicates a more well-determined interaction 

matrix in this figure, it is clear that 8 push-pulls, 

with one frame per dwell, is the preferred method. 

Albert Conrad, Thomas Bertram, 

Florian Briegel, Frank Kittmann, 

Daniel Meschke, Fulvio De Bonis, 

Jürgen Berwein

V People and Events 

V.1 Looking back at 2011 

Exactly three years after the foundation we could celebrate 

the inauguration of the Haus der Astronomie (literally: 

House of Astronomy (HdA)) on December 16, 2011 with 

a number of prominent guests on the campus of the MPIA. 

Within the special chapter V.2 of this annual report we 

present details about this very important event and show 

with many illustrations particularly some highlights 

from the emergence of the building. Of course, we also 

report about organizational developments and the mission 

of the HdA. But the year 2011 had to offer many other 

remarkable events as the following section will show. 

Academic life and conferences 

One of the first special events throughout the year was 

a meeting titled Astronomy meets Business which took 

place on January 27 in the MPIA lecture hall and which 

was also attended by colleagues from the other astronomical 

institutes in Heidelberg. 

Fig. V.1.1: Members of the Board of Trustees and the institute 

management during a tour through the new HdA building in 

November 2011. From left to rigth: Oliver Krause (MPIA), 

Stephan Plenz (Heidelberger Druck), Markus Pössel (HdA/ 

Following a suggestion by the students and postdocs, 

MPIA had invited a number of representatives from industry, 

the Federal Ministry of Education and Research 

(BMBF), and the German Center for Aerospace (DLR). 

The aim of this event was to discuss the chances for 

astrophysicists to pursue a professional career outside 

scientific institutions. Also aimed on the opportunities 

for scientists was the Naturejobs Conference on May 9 

at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) 

in Heidelberg. MPIA supported this conference with a 

booth and a presentation. 

Part of the academic life at MPIA was again an 

Internal Symposium on May 25. The all-day event with 

scientific presentations by students and postdocs from 

the different departments provided a wonderful opportunity 

to get an overview about the manifold research 

projects at the Institute. In 2011, also the new Visitor 

Colloquium was launched – a platform for high quality 

talks given by special scientific visitors of the Institute. 

Furthermore, we introduced welcome events for new 

students and postdocs at the Institute and (for about three 

MPIA), Thomas Henning (MPIA), Renate Fischer (MWK), 

Klaus Tschira (KTS), Lisa Kaltenegger (MPIA), Matthias Voss 

(MPIA), Klaus Jäger (MPIA), Susanne Mellinghoff (MPG), 

Reinhold Ewald (ESA), Roland Gredel (MPIA) 

Credit: D.Anders 

83

84 V. People and Events 

times a year) a new, so-called, Faculty Meeting. In this 

meeting MPIA senior scientists and research group leaders 

are invited to discuss scientific and organizational 

matters with the institute management. Due to its special 

composition, the Faculty Meeting complements the 

existing committees such as the Institute- or the Scientific 

Advisory Board Meeting. 

Like every year, MPIA scientists organized local and 

external conferences or participated significantly in the 

organization and management of other meetings. This included 

two workshops at Ringberg Castle (Baroclinic Instability 

and Proto – Planetary Accretion Discs, June 14– 

18, as well as Transport Processes and Accretion in Young 

Stellar Objects, February 7–11) and, as in recent years, 

the IMPRS Summer School at the Max Planck House Heidelberg 

(August 1–5) which was combined with a trip to 

MPIA. This time, the workshop was about Characterizing 

Exoplanets – from Formation to Atmospheres. 

MPIA was also heavily involved in the fall meeting of 

the German Astronomical Society (AG) through organizational 

and financial support, but also through scientific 

presentations and Splinter Meetings, teacher training, 

and a special meeting for Public Outreach in Astronomy. 

The conference entitled Surveys and Simulations – The 

Real and the Virtual Universe was held at Heidelberg 

University between September 19 and 23. In the numerous 

PR activities surrounding the conference also for the 

first time the HdA was involved since the new and nearly 

finished building was presented to numerous visitors of 

the conference in several organized guided tours. 

Public outreach and special guests at MPIA 

Again this year employees of MPIA/HdA where very 

active in order to present astrophysics to a broader public 

(see also Chapter V.2). 


A “fast-sell” since 2006 is the Astronomy Lecture Series 

on Sunday Morning and once again more than 1000 

people attended the 8 popular presentations on Königstuhl 

in early summer 2011. 

A total of 15 MPIA scientists also participated in the 

70 presentations of the lecture series (Uni)versum für 

Alle in the Peterkirche Heidelberg. The lectures which 

took place almost daily at noon between April and July 

were organized by the Center for Astronomy of Heidelberg 

University (ZAH). 

It has long been an important issue for MPIA to inspire 

young people for physics and astronomy and this 

was also one reason for the institute management to 

stand up for the HdA. Thus, also in 2011, the Institute 

and the HdA team organized a local program during 

the Girls’ Day (April 14), provided (together with ZAH 

institutes) a one-week internship for pupils from high 

school (October 24 – 28), supported in July and August 

the International Science School of Heidelberg with internships, 

contributed to Explore Science in Mannheim 

(May 19 – 21) organized by the Klaus Tschira Foundation 

(KTS), and supported a ceremony at MPIA held by 

the Lord Mayor of Heidelberg, Eckart Würzner, to award 

17 schools from Heidelberg and their successful energy 

teams (April 19). 

Even before the official opening the HdA building has 

been shown to visitors at various events during the last 

quarter of the year. Besides the above mentioned tours 

during the AG meeting, this was the case at the Max- 

Planck-Day (November 11), at an information day for 

partners and friends of the HdA (November 25), during 

the visit of the MPIA Board of Trustees (November 29, 

Fig. V.1.2: Great interest to get hold of the new book about 

MPIAs history after the presentation of “Im Himmel über 

Heidelberg” in the lecture hall.

Fig. V.1.3: The author, Dietrich Lemke (left), in conversation 

with Immo Appenzeller, the former director of MPIA’s neighbour 

institute on Königstuhl, the Landessternwarte. 

see Fig.V.1.1), and when the German-Japan Round Table 

(organized by KTS) came up to the Königstuhl (December 

1). 

And on November 15, we had the first event in the 

HdA’s Klaus Tschira Auditorium. We celebrated with 

a special scientific symposium including international 

guests the retirement of Jakob Staude, the long-time head 

of public outreach at MPIA and chief editor of Sterne und 

Weltraum. Even the editorial office of this astronomy 

magazine (published by Spektrum) which has been produced 

for decades at MPIA moved into the new building 

together with the MPIA graphics department and, of 

course, the HdA-team already on September 26. 

If someone wants to learn more about the institute – 

from its beginnings in the 1960s until the construction 

of the HdA – one now has a new opportunity: since 2011 

we have released an intriguing book authored by MPIA 

scientist Dietrich Lemke entitled Im Himmel über Heidelberg. 

The book was presented at a ceremony held in 

the MPIA lecture hall on May 23 (see Fig.V.1.2 and 3). 

Other developments at the Institute 

What has been described in the previous chapters I to IV 

represents only a relatively small part of the total scientific 

or technical activities done at MPIA in 2011. Since 

we vary the topics described in the annual reports over 

the years to avoid excessive lengths we recommend to 

look at several annual reports for a more complete picture. 

This explains that some of the currently very important 

topics for MPIA are only marginally mentioned in 

Chapter I to IV or even be missing. Therefore, we would 

like to mention here for example, that the technical departments 

in collaboration with colleagues at Calar Alto 

successfully managed to solve a very difficult problem at 

the mount of the 3.5 m telescope at the beginning of the 

year and therefore secured the continued operation of the 

telescope. This was of particular importance since the 

new agreement between the Max Planck Society and its 

Spanish counterpart, the CSIC, entered into force. This 

agreement regulates the continued operation of Caha until 

2018. 

The year 2011 was also another successful year in the 

use of hersChel – both from a scientific as well as from a 

technical perspective, because the currently largest space 

telescope with instrumental contributions from MPIA 

worked flawlessly and provided excellent data for MPIA 

scientists which are involved in several key projects. 

It is also remarkable that we already successfully completed 

the work on the instruments Miri and NirspeC for 

the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) which is expected 

for launch in 2018. And finally, we should also 

mention that we have started further initiatives to improve 

the long-term project planning and project management 

(for example through a special course about Scientific 

Project Management kindly held by Michael Perryman 

in February 2011). 

Bereavement 

V.1 Looking back at 2011 85 


Besides all these positive events, there was unfortunately 

cause for mourning. On May 7, suddenly and 

unexpectedly died Crystal Brasseur. Before she became 

a PhD student in the Galaxy and Cosmology department 

of MPIA, she completed her M.Sc. degree in 

Astronomy in 2009 at the University of Victoria. We 

will keep her in our thoughts. 

Klaus Jäger, Thomas Henning, 

Markus Pössel, Axel M. Quetz, 

Hans-Walter Rix, Mathias Voss


Credit: D. Gouliermis 

V.2 Haus der Astronomie – Centre for Astronomy Education and Outreach 

2011 was a crucial year for the Haus der Astronomie 

(HdA). Where we had spent the last two years establishing 

the HdA as an institution, this December saw the 

official opening of our spectacular, galaxy-shaped building. 

Thus, our mission this year was to hit the ground 

running: As soon as possible after the opening, we wanted 

to make the best use possible of the building and 

the new opportunity it represented. That meant having 

almost all of the center’s planned outreach activities already 

in place by the end of the year. 

We started into 2011 with an experienced team: Markus 

Pössel as the HdA’s Managing Scientist (funded by 

Max Planck Society) had been with the center since 

2009. Olaf Fischer (funded by the City of Heidelberg’s 

Foundation for Youth and Science), our resident specialist 

for high-school astronomy, had moved to the 

HdA in late 2009. Carolin Liefke (funded by the Klaus 

Tschira Foundation and Baden-Württemberg’s Ministry 

of Science and Research), whose focus areas include 

student research and university teaching for future 

physics teachers, has been with us since spring 

2010. Cecilia Scorza, who specializes in middle school 

astronomy education, joined us in 2009; since early 

2011, she works at HdA as a project scientist funded by 

the Special Research Programme SFB 881 “The Milky 

Way System”. Jakob Staude, one of the driving forces 

behind the HdA project as a whole, remains our mentor-in-residence. 

In May, we were joined by Natalie 

Fischer, who became the National Project Manager for 

the EU-UNAWE project, which aims to bring astronomy 

to young, disadvantaged children; also for EU-UN- 

AWE, the developmental psychologist, Anita Mancino, 

joined our team in September. Also in September, two 

teachers (Gymnasium and Realschule), on loan from 

Baden-Württemberg’s Ministry of Education, joined 

our team: Alexander Ludwig and Tobias Schultz will 

spend 50% of their time in the HdA, where, among 

other tasks, they will be involved in holding highschool 

student workshops. Intern Marcel Frommelt 

and student assistants Stephan Fraß and Sophia Haude 

completed our roster. 

Our threefold mission is unchanged: To communicate 

the fascination of astronomy to the general public, 

to support astronomy education, and to foster the exchange 

of knowledge between scientists. 

Fig. V.2.1: The Haus der Astronomy at dusk (30 November 

2011).

Whereas scientific exchange in its usual incarnation, 

as meetings and conferences, is contingent on the use 

of our new building and will come into its own starting 

in 2012, our outreach and educational activities in 2011 

were many and manifold. 

In the area of outreach, we continue to combine „classic“ 

astronomical PR, online outreach and public events. 

In particular, we continued our work as German node of 

the eso Science Outreach Network, where our contributions 

include German translations of all eso press releases 

(Liefke / Pössel) and, this year, support of the Open 

Day at eso headquarters in Garching (Liefke). As far as 

public events go, our highlight was once more the Klaus 

Tschira Foundation’s five-day family science festival 

“Explore Science” in May (with a total of 55 000 visitors), 

where we presented hands-on stations about basic 

astronomy and spectroscopy. 

Additional events included information booths, complete 

with sidewalk astronomy activities, at both the 

“Lange Nacht der Museen” (literally the “Long Night 

of the Museums”) at the Planetarium Mannheim and at 

Heidelberg University’s “Uni-Meile”, the street fair celebrating 

the university’s 625 th anniversary. HdA staff also 

gave more than a dozen public talks, including six that 

were part of the lunchtime lecture series on basic astron- 

Fig. V.2.2a: Two neigbouring buildings: the main MPIA building 

and, still under construction, the HdA building. (2 March 

2011) 

V.2 Haus der Astronomie – Centre for Astronomy Education and Outreach 87 

omy organized by J. Wambsganss of Heidelberg University’s 

Center for Astronomy. 

Our visualization efforts also took off this year as, 

with the help of scientists from MPIA, from Heidelberg 

University and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical 

Studies (Volker Springel, Andreas Bauer, Hubert Klahr, 

Mario Flock, Kees Dullemond, Ralf Klessen), we produced 

a set of brief movies for use in our fulldome projection 

system. Even the background music was composed 

and produced by ourselves in the free time KLaus 

Jäger). The movies were premiered at the HdA’s official 

opening, and have been used in our work ever since. 

On the education side, “Wissenschaft in die Schulen!” 

(literally “Science into the schools!”, abbreviated WIS) 

in cooperation with the popular astronomy magazine 

Sterne und Weltraum remains our flagship project. HdA 

senior staff member Olaf Fischer, in charge of WIS- 

Astronomy, and his team of (mostly external) authors 

created 24 sets of curricular materials – two per months 

– for teachers to use in bringing cutting-edge astronomy 

into their classrooms. Each set is directly linked to 

an article or news item in a current issue of Sterne und 

Weltraum. The HdA’s activities for WIS-Astronomy are 

kindly supported by the Reiff Foundation for Amateur 

Astronomy. 

The development of hands-on experiments remains 

another mainstay of our work. This year saw the production 

of 15 infrared kits (C. Scorza and M. Frommelt) 

funded by he Baden-Württemberg Stiftung and the development 

and production (N. Fischer and C. Scorza 

Credit: M. Pössel/HdA


Fig. V.2.2c: Inside, the building’s 

basic structure is now clearly 

defined. (22 March 2011) 

Credit: M. Pössel/HdA 



Fig. V.2.2b: Installing façade 

elements. (20 April 2011) 

Fig. V.2.2d: Scaffolding in the 

Klaus Tschira auditorium in 

preparation for the installation 

of the planetarium dome (20 

April 2011)

Fig. V.2.3a: Inside, the offices are taking shape. (9 September 


in cooperation with Astronomieschule e.V.) of the EU- 

UNAWE astronomy kit “An adventure in astronomy – a 

trip through the universe for elementary students”, again 

funded by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung. C. Scorza 

and A. Ludwig also developed hands-on material for the 

interplanetary probe Mars Express for esa’s European 

Space Operations Center in Darmstadt. 

Our activities in training teachers – and aspiring 

teachers – span the whole spectrum from initial teacher 

education to in-service training. Teacher education at 

Fig. V.2.3b: Ready for work: the new HdA offices. (18 October 



the University of Heidelberg featured two seminars 

(“ Astronomy in the headlines” and “The Milky Way”, 

C. Liefke and O. Fischer), while N. Fischer held a lecture 

on “Basic Astronomy in School” at Heidelberg’s 

University of Education (Pädagogische Hochschule). 

Olaf Fischer and Cecilia Scorza (co-)advised on a total 

of three “Staatsexamensarbeiten”, the research-oriented 

thesis aspiring teachers need to write as a requirement 

for their degree. 

In-service teacher training took place • locally, e.g. 

teacher training on the occasion of the Annual Meeting 

of the Astronomische Gesellschaft in Heidelberg (O. 

Fischer, C. Liefke), four teacher training sessions for the 

UNAWE elementary school kit (N. Fischer), training 

for kindergarten teachers in cooperation with Forscherstation 

Heidelberg (N. Fischer), • regionally, including 

Credit: M. Pössel/HdA Credit: M. Pössel/HdA


Fig. V.2.4a: Model telescopes 

and astronomical images: The 

exhibition in the HdA foyer. 

(21 December 2011) 

Fig. V.2.4c: The UNAWE room 

is ready to receive our youngest 

visitors. (28 October 2011) 




Fig. V.2.4b: Astronomical 

images along the ramp. (18 

October 2011)


Fig. V.2.5: HdA staff member Natalie Fischer at the joint presentation 

of Haus der Astronomie and Astronomieschule e.V. 

at Explore Science, the Klaus Tschira Foundation’s festival of 

science in Mannheim (20 May 2011) 

the interdisciplinary teacher training “Let’s go to Mars” 

for teachers from Baden-Württemberg (O. Fischer, C. 

Scorza, M. Pössel, T. Schultz, A. Ludwig); participation 

in teacher training activities in Biberach, Stuttgart, 

Marbach (all C. Scorza and O. Fischer), Heilbronn (C. 

Scorza), and • nationally: National Astronomy Teacher 

Training in Jena (C. Liefke), E-HOU Teacher Training 

at the Stockert Radio Telescope, teacher training in Sonneberg 

/ Thuringia (both O. Fischer and C. Scorza). 

We also reached out directly to pupils and preschool 

children: In a total of 15 workshops at the HdA 


for various age groups with a total of 530 participants, 

making use of the brand-new building (C. Scorza, T. 

Schultz, N. Fischer, A. Mancino), an astronomy course 

for the Hector-Kinderakademie (N. Fischer), courses 

at the Deutsche Schülerakademie Rostock (O. Fischer) 

and at the Science Academy Baden-Württemberg in 

Adelsheim (O. Fischer, C. Scorza) and an event for pupils 

on the 11th of November, namely Max Planck Day 

(O. Fischer, C. Liefke, M. Pössel, C. Scorza). Outreach 

to younger children is in the context of our international 

collaboration as German node of the EU-funded part 

of the global “Universe Awareness” project (EU-UN- 

AWE; C. Scorza, N. Fischer, A. Mancino). The goal of 

UNAWE is to use the beauty and grandeur of the Universe 

to inspire young children, encourage them to develop 

an interest in science and technology, and introduce 

them to ideas of global citizenship and tolerance. 

We are very pleased that Theresia Bauer, Baden-Württemberg’s 

minister for science, research and the arts, 

has agreed to act as patron to EU-UNAWE in Baden- 

Württemberg, while the Astronomische Gesellschaft 

has agreed to act as the program’s patron throughout 

Germany. 

A key component of science literacy is first-hand research 

experience for high-school students. To this end, 

we continued our collaboration with the International 

Fig. V.2.6: Autumnal impressions of an earthbound galaxy (30 

November 2011) 

Credit: D. Gouliermis


Credit: C. Liefke/HdA 

Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) on the IASC- 

Pan-starrs asteroid search (high-school students searching 

for asteroids in Pan-starrs image data, with a realistic 

chance of discovering previously unknown main-belt 

asteroids), with Carolin Liefke supporting a total of 12 

German high-school groups participating in two search 

campaign. Most of our high-school student research activities 

involve much smaller groups, including students 

from the Hector-Seminar (C. Liefke, M. Pössel with A. 

van der Wel and J. Bouwman), the International Summer 

Science School Heidelberg (M. Pössel) and career orientation 

as well as regular interns (O. Fischer, C. Scorza, 

M. Frommelt, T. Schultz, A. Ludwig, C. Liefke, M. 

Pössel). 

Our intern Marcel Frommelt made his own contribution 

to our program (sponsored by C. Scorza) with a research 

project on a balloon mission to Titan – which included 

an experimental part (a home-made balloon with 

camera launched into the stratosphere) and placed first in 

the regional and third in the Baden-Württemberg State 

competition “Jugend forscht” in the category of Geo- and 

Space Sciences. 

Fig. V.2.7: The main protagonists at the official opening, left to 

right: the building’s architect, Manfred Bernhardt; MPIA director 

Thomas Henning; Bernhard Eitel, rector of Heidelberg 

University; MPIA director Hans-Walter Rix; Markus Pössel, 

managing scientist of the HdA; Peter Gruß, president of the 

Max Planck Society; Theresia Bauer, minister for science, re- 

Networking, cooperation and, given that we are a relatively 

new institution, outreach to the other members of 

the outreach community remain an important part of our 

work. Notably, we guided more than 350 participants on 

tours of the HdA construction site, including numerous 

participants of the Astronomische Gesellschaft’s annual 

meeting which, this year, took place in Heidelberg. To 

keep our partner institutions up to date, we also organized 

a special “HdA day” in our just-finished building in 

November. An anniversary colloquium on the occasion 

of the nominal retirement of MPIA/ HdA member Jakob 

Staude, who serves as one of the publishers of Sterne und 

Weltraum, also in November, provided excellent opportunities 

for introducing ourselves to additional members 

of the German outreach community. Last but certainly 

not least, our grand opening, attended by, among others, 

Baden-Württemberg State Minister for Science, Research 

and the Arts Theresia Bauer, Baden-Württemberg 

State Minister for Education, Youth and Sports Gabriele 

Warminski-Leitheußer, Peter Gruss as President of the 

Max Planck Society, Eckart Würzner as Lord Mayor of 

the City of Heidelberg, Bernhard Eitel as Rector of the 

search and the arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg; Klaus 

Tschira; Gabriele Warminski-Leitheußer, minister for education, 

youth and sports of the State of Baden-Württemberg; 

Eckart Würzner, Lord-mayor of Heidelberg; Mathias Voss, 

head of administration, MPIA; Klaus Jäger, scientific coordinator, 

MPIA, and Jakob Staude. (16 December 2011).

University of Heidelberg and our principal benefactor, 

Klaus Tschira, took place on December 16. The opening 

lecture held by Michael Kramer of the Max Planck Institute 

for Radio Astronomy. The building was presented 

both formally (in a small-scale meeting beforehand) and 

symbolically (as part of the opening ceremony) by Klaus 

Tschira to the Max Planck Society. 

Internationally, our main collaborations are in the 

framework of the EU-UNAWE network (that is, with our 

counterparts in Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, 

South Africa and Spain) as well as with Chile (in 

cooperation with the Heidelberg University’s Center for 

Astronomy and its Centre of Excellence in Chile). 

Key strands of our network are tied to specific persons: 

Olaf Fischer and Cecilia Scorza are members 

of the Schulkommission (School's committee) of the 

Astronomische Gesellschaft, and Fischer was elected its 

chairman this September. Cecilia Scorza is the German 

coordinator for the European Association for Astronomy 

Education and for the EU-UNAWE program, as well as 

a member of IAU commission 46, “Astronomy Education 

and Development”. 

We are also pleased to announce that, at this year’s 

meeting of Astronomische Gesellschaft, Olaf Fischer 

was awarded the Hans-Ludwig Neumann Award for Astronomy 

Education in Schools while, at the same meeting, 

our benefactor Klaus Tschira was made an honorary 

member of the Astronomische Gesellschaft – a rare honour 

bestowed upon those who have furthered the cause 

of astronomy in an exemplary manner; the Astronomische 

Gesellschaft explicitly mentions the Haus der Astronomie 

as a key example of Klaus Tschira’s contributions 

to astronomy. 


The highlight of 2011 was, without doubt, the opening 

of the Haus der Astronomie’s new, galaxy-shaped 

building. The building had begun the year as not much 

more than a concrete shell (with windows, to be sure). 

It gained shape, a planetarium dome, lecture-hall chairs, 

planetarium projectors, a clean white interior and a spectacular 

exterior facade, interior partition walls and office 

furniture. After moving in the last week of September, 

HdA staff began to discover the building, its rooms 

and their functionality. Of particular interest, of course, 

was the digital Zeiss planetarium, which includes a show 

manager for use e.g. with our own visualizations, and 

the Uniview software for visualizing astronomical catalogue 

data. 

If the last months of 2011 showed one thing, it is that 

2012 as the year for fully implementing HdA activities in 

their new setting, should be very exciting! The year 2011 

we will remember as the year the Haus der Astronomie 

found its home – and hit the ground running. 

Markus Pössel, Natalie Fischer, 

Olaf Fischer, Carolin Liefke, 

Alexander Ludwig, Anita Mancino, 

Tobias Schultz, Cecilia Scorza, 

Jakob Staude, Thomas Henning, 

Hans-Walter Rix, Klaus Jäger, 

Mathias Voss, Frank Witzel

94 

V.3 Honors and Awards 

Ernst Patzer Prize 

The annually presented Ernst Patzer Prizes are honouring 

the best publications produced in the course of 

doctoral studies or in the following postdoc phase. The 

publications must have been published in a refereed 

journal. The selection committee consists of two scientists 

from MPIA and one additional external scientist 

from Heidelberg. 

The Award was donated by the art-lover and philosopher 

Ernst Patzer and established by his widow. 

It is intended to support junior scientists. The Foundation 

awards its prizes to young researchers at the 

MPIA and other institutes in Heidelberg and wishes to 

support science and research particularly in the field 

of astronomy. 

This year’s prize winners were: 

Elisabetta Caffau, Postdoc at the Center for Astronomy 

of Heidelberg University (ZAH), for her paper “An 

extremely primitive star in the Galactic halo” (2011, 

Nature 477, 67–69). 

Alexander Karim, IMPRS PhD student at MPIA, for 

his publication “The star formation history of mass-selected 

galaxies in the CosMos field” (2011, Astrophysical 

Journal 730(2), 1–31). 

Fig. V.3.2: Alexander Karim 

Fig. V.3.1: Elisabetta Caffau Fig. V.3.3: Andreas Schruba

Fig. V.3.4: Olaf Fischer Fig. V.3.5: Dimitrios A. Gouliermis 

Fig. V.3.6: Fabian Wipfler und Marc-Oliver Lechner 

V.3 Honors and Awards 95


Andreas Schruba, postdoc at MPIA, for his paper “A 

molecular star formation law in the atomicgas-dominated 

regime in nearby galaxies” (2011, Astronomical Journal 

142, 37). 

As the years before, they were honored during the 

Patzer Colloquium which took place on December 2 nd in 

the lecture hall of the MPIA where the prize winners gave 

a 30 minutes presentation of their work. 

Further awards 

Olaf Fischer from the Haus der Astronomie was 

awarded by the German Astronomical Society (Astronomische 

Gesellschaft, AG) during the annual meeting in 

Heidelberg in September 2011 with the Hans-Ludwig 

Neumann Prize. This prize was established in 1996 to 

recognize outstanding activities for the advancement of 

astronomy at school. 

Dimitrios A. Gouliermis received the fellowships 

“Comprehensive Characterization with HST of Stellar 

Populations in Star-Forming Regions of the Large Magellanic 

Cloud” (DLR Program 50 OR 908) and “The Stellar 

Clusters Population of the Andromeda Galaxy from the 

Panchromatic HST Survey” (German Science Foundation 

(DFG) Program GO 1659/3–1). 

Jouni Kainulainen, Hua-Bai Li, Sarah Ragan, 

Amy Stutz und Svitlana Zhukovska had been equipped 

with a research budget from the DFG Priority Program 

“Physics of the Interstellar Medium” while Dmitry A. 

Semenov received a research budget, also from the DFG, 

within the program “The first 10 million years of the 

Solar System – a Planetary Materials Approach” (SPP 

1385) 

Natalie Raettig received an Annette Kade Fellowship 

for a three months visit to the American Museum of Natural 

History (AMNH) in New York, USA, while Karin 

Sandstrom was awarded with a Marie Curie International 

Incoming Fellowship. 

Since 2007 the Max Planck Society has been awarding 

up to 20 apprentices with the Apprenticeship Prize 

for excellent performance on the job and at school as 

well as for social involvement during the training period. 

For very good marks in his final year of training in the 

precision mechanics workshop of MPIA Fabian Wipfler 

received the Apprenticeship Prize for metal work as 

well as an award from the Chamber of Crafts Mannheim. 

The Apprenticeship Prize for administrative work went 

to Marc-Oliver Lechner who received his training in the 

MPIA administration department. 

Klaus Jäger, Martin Kürster, 

Axel M. Quetz

Staff 

Directors: Henning (Managing Director), Rix 

Scientific Coordinator: Jäger 

Public Outreach/Haus der Astronomie: Pössel (Head) 

Administration: Voss (Head) 

MPIA Observatories: Gredel 

Scientists: Afonso, Andrae (since 1.9.), Bailer-Jones, Balog, 

Bertram, Betremieux (since 15.9.), Beuther, Bik, Birnstiel 

(until 30.6.) Borelli, Bouwman, Brandner, Brieva (since 

1.10.), De Bonis, Deacon (since 1.10.), Decarli (since 1.2.), 

Döllinger (1.7. until 30.9.), Dullemond (until 31.8.), Dumas 

(until 15.3.), Dziourkevich (until 31.5.), Egner (parental 

leave), Feldt, Fendt, Fried, Gässler, Goldman, Gouliermis, 

Graser, Gredel, Hayfield (since 15.2.), Hennawi, Herbst, 

Hippler, Hofferbert, Ilgner (since 1.5.), Inskip (maternity 

protection and parental leave since 5.4.), Huisken, Jäger 

K., Jahnke, Kaltenegger, Klaas, Klahr, Köhler, Kreckel H. 

(since 15.9.), Kreckel K. (since 1.12.), Krause, Kürster, 

Launhardt, Leipski, Lenzen, Linz, Liu Chao, Macciò, 

Marien, Martin, Meisenheimer, Möller-Nilsson, Müller, F., 

Mundt, Nielbock, Pavlov, Peter, Petitdemange (until 30.9.), 

Pössel, Pott, Rodriguez, Sandor (until 31.8.), Sandstrom 

(since 1.10.), Scheithauer (parental leave until 14.4.), 

Schmiedeke (until 30.4.), Schinnerer, Schreiber, Seidel (since 

15.2.), Semenov, Setiawan (until 30.9.), Sicilia-Aguilar 

(until 30.6.), K. Smith, Tabatabaei (since 1.3.), Trowitzsch, 

Tsalmantza, van Boekel, van de Ven (since 15.8.), Walter 

Postdocs: Adamo (since 1.9.), Benisty, Bergfors (since 

1.12.), Biller, Bonnefoy, Burtscher (since 1.6.), Chauvin, 

Cisternas (since 15.11.), Collins (since 15.9.), Commerçon 

(until 14.10.), Crighton, Da Cunha (since 1.3.), Decarli (until 

31.1.), Dean (since 1.11.), Doellinger (until 30.6.), Fang 

Min (1.3. until 30.6.), Fanidakis (15.9.), Fedele (until 30.7.), 

Gennaro (since 1.12.), Gielen (until 31.8.), Groves, Hatt 

(until 15.7.), Hodge, Johnston, Kainulainen, Karovicova 

(since 15.8.), Kendrew, Krasnokutskiy, Kulkarni (since 

1.10.), K. G. Lee, (since 15.9.2011, R. Lee (since 15.8.), 

H.-B. Li, Lusso (since 15.9.), Lyubenova, Mancini (since 

1.5.), Martinez-Delgado, Meidt, Miguel (since 1.4.), 

Mordasini, Morganson, Nikolov (since 11.4.), Noel (until 

30.9.), Olofsson, Ormel, Ragan, Rakic (since 1.11.), Rubin, 

Sandstrom (until 30.9.), Schlieder (since 1.9.), Schmalzl 

(1.2. until 31.3.), Schmidt T. (1.7.2011 until 31.8.), Stinson 

(since 1.7.), Stutz, Thalmann (until 9.1.), van den Bosch R., 

van der Wel, Venemans (since 15.9.), Wang Hsiang-Hsu 

(20.1. until 28.2.), Watkins, Xue (since 1.11.), Y. Yang, 

Zhukovska, Zimmerman (since 15.9.), Zsom 

PhD Students: Albertsson, Arrigoni Battaia (since 1.10.), 

Banados Torres (since 1.9.), Bergfors (until 30.11.), 

Besel, Boley, Brangier (since 1.11.), Brasseur (until 7.5.), 

Büdenbender (since 1.5.), Caldu Primo (since 1.9.), Cielo 

(since 1.9.), Burtscher (until 26.5.), Chang Yu-Yen, Chang 

Jiang (since 1.10.) Chen Guo, Cisternas (until 14.11.), 

Cologna, Colombo, Csak (until 31.8.), De Rosa, Dittrich, 

Dittkrist (since 1.4.), Dopcke, Fang Min (until 28.2.), Feng 

Fabo (since 15.9.), Feng, Siyi (since 15.9.), Flock, Follert, 

Gennaro (until 30.11.), Gerner (since 1.4.), Hansson A. 

(1.10. until 31.12.), Hanson R. (since 1.10.), Hegde (since 

1.4.), Golubov, Grootes, Holmes, M. Jäger, Jin (since 

1.11.), Kalinova, Kannan, Kapala (since 1.10.), Karim (until 

30.11.), Kurokawa (since 1.9.), Kudryavtseva, Läsker, L. 

Liu (until 30.9.), Lippok, C.-C. Lu, Ludwig, Maier, Malygin 

(since 1.11.), Manjavacas (since 15.10.), Micic (1.10. until 

31.12.), Mohler, Müller, A. (since 1.3.), Nikolic, Nikolov 

(until 10.4.), Nugroho, Pang (1.9. until 30.11.), Paudel 

(until 31.3.), Penzo (since 1.9.), Pitann (until 30.11.), Porth 

(until 31.10.), Potrick, Raettig, Ramkumar, Rochau, Rorai, 

Ruhland (until 31.5.), Sabri, Schmalzl (until 31.1.), K. B. 

Schmidt, T. Schmidt (until 30.6.), Schnülle (since 1.7.), 

Schruba (until 30.11.), Schulze-Hartung, Sheiknezami (since 

15.7.), Singh (since 1.10.), Steglich, Stepanovs (since 

1.7.), Sturm, Sun (since 1.11.), Uribe (until 31.10.), Vaidya 

(1.8. until 31.10.), Tackenberg, Trifonov, Uribe, Valente, 

Van der Laan (until 30.11.), Vasyunina (until 31.1.), H.-H. 

Wang (until 19.1.), Windmark (until 31.8.), Z. Yan, P. Yang, 

Zechmeister (until 15.2.), L. Zhang, M. Zhang, X. Zhang 

Diploma Students and Student Assistants (UH): Dittkrist 

(until 31.3.), Chira (14.3. until 31.8.), Hirsch (since 26.9.), 

Kopytova (since 27.5.), Molliere (11.4. until 11.7.), Pohl 

(1.4. until 31.8.), Shurkin (since 1.10.), Voggel (28.4. until 

21.7.), Wouter (since 1.9.) 

Diploma and Master Students (FH): Neumeier, Niemann, 

Panduro 

Interns: Abel, Baldauf, Betzold (until 14.5.), Brezinski, 

Ehret, Euler (until 28.2.), Jentsch (until 14.4.), Kugler, Li 

(1.3. until 31.8.), Lechner, Leonhardt (11.7. until 5.8.), 

Neidig (until 28.2.), Neumeier, Niemann (until 28.2.), 

Omari (1.3. until 31.8.), Specht (since 1.9.), Till (since 1.9.), 

Wipfler (until 31.7.) 

Student Assistants: Barboza (until 31.1.), Bihr (since 1.8.), 

Ciceri (since 11.7.), Dittkrist (until 31.3.), Fiedler (until 

22.8.), Fraß (since 1.10.), Haude (since 1.5.), Maseda (since 

15.8.), Morrison (until 30.6.), Neumeier (since 1.9.), 

Panduro, Schneider (until 12.12.) 

Public Outreach / Haus der Astronomie: Pössel (Head), N. 

Fischer, O. Fischer, Liefke, A. Ludwig, (since 8.9.), Quetz, 

Staff 97

98 Staff 

Schultz (since 8.9.), Scorza; trainees: Fraß (since 1.10.), 

Frommelt (until 31.5.), Haude (since 1.5.) 

Technical Departments: Kürster (Head) 

Mechanics Design: Rohloff (Head), Baumeister (Deputy), 

Blümchen (until 14.8.), Ebert, Huber, Münch, Rochau 

(since 1.8.), Schönherr (until 31.8.); Trainees, Student 

Assistants: Barboza (until 31.1.), Euler (until 28.2.) 

Precision Mechanics Workshop: Böhm (Head), W. Sauer 

(Deputy), Heitz, Maurer, Meister, Meixner, Stadler; 

Trainees, Student Assistants: Abel, Baldauf, Brezinski, 

Ehret, Kugler (since 1.9.), Merx, Neidig, Specht (since 

1.9.), Wipfler 

Electronics: Wagner (Head until 31.10.), Mohr (Head since 

1.11., Deputy until 31.10.), Ramos (Deputy since 1.11.), 

Adler, Alter, Bieler (until 30.9.), Ehret, Klein, Lehmitz, 

Mall, Ridinger, Wrhel; Trainees, Student Assistants: Jentsch 

(until 14.4.), Y. Li (1.3. – 31.8.), Niemann (until 28.2.), 

Neumeier, Omari (1.3. – 31.8.), Panduro 

Instrumentations-Software: Briegel (Head), Storz (Deputy), 

Berwein, Borelli, Kittmann, Kulas (since 1.6.), Möller- 

Nilsson, Neumann, Pavlov, Trowitzsch 

Engineering and Project Management: Marien (Head), 

Bizenberger (Deputy), Bertram, Brix (until 30.4.), Conrad, 

De Bonis, Gässler, Graser, Hofferbert, Laun, Mellein, 

Meschke, Naranjo, Peter 

Administrative and Technical Service Departments: 

Administration: Voss (Head); purchasing dept.: Wolf, Anders; 

finances dept.: Mantwill-Aue (since 1.7.), S. Schmidt, (until 

30.4.), Anders, Enkler, Zähringer; staff dept.: Apfel, Baier, 

Hölscher, Scheerer (until 31.5.), Schleich; reception: Beckmann; 

trainees: Lechner, Leonhard (11.7. – 6.8.), Till (since 1.9.2011) 

Library: Dueck 

Data Processing: Richter (Head), Piroth (Deputy), Hiller; 

Student Assistant: Fiedler 

Photographic Lab: Anders 

Graphic Artwork: Quetz (Head), Meißner, Müllerthann 

Secretaries: Bohm, Janssen-Bennynck, Koltes-Al-Zoubi 

(maternity protection and parental leave since 21.9.), 

Seifert, Witte-Nguy 

Technical Services and Cafeteria: F. Witzel (Head), Nauß 

(Deputy), Behnke, Drescher, Heller, Jung, Krämer (since 

1.10.), Lang, B. Witzel, E. Zimmermann 

Former Staff Members Acting for the Institute: Christoph 

Leinert, Dietrich Lemke, Jakob Staude 

Freelance Science Writer: Thomas Bührke 

Guests: Santiago Barboza, Obs. Bordeaux, 1. Sep. 2010 – 

31. Jan.; Neal Turner, Konkoly Obs., 6. Dec. 2010 – 7. 

March; Iva Karovicova, Univ. Salerno, 4. Jan.; Markus 

Janson, AIP, 9.–11. Jan.; Davide Fedele, Eso Garching, 

10.–14. Jan.; V. Roccatagliata, 10.–14. Jan.; Claudio 

Llinares, Univ. Michigan, 11.–12. Jan.; Jens Zuther, Univ. 

Austin, 13.–14. Jan.; Thomas Ruppel, MPA, 18. Jan.; Else 

Starckenburg, CfA, 18.–19. Jan.; Matthew Horrobin, Eso 

Garching, 19. Jan.; Benjamin Weaver, IAS Cambridge, 

22.–30. Jan.; Olia Panic, MPE, 24. Jan.–2. Feb.; Jonathan 

Menu, Eso Garching, 24.–25. Jan.; Steffi Walch, CEA/ 

SACLAY, 24.–26. Jan.; Luigi Mancini, Univ. Bologna, 

25.–28. Jan.; Natasha Madox, Leiden Obs., 25.–26. Jan.; 

Giuseppa Battaglia, Inst. Scien. Espai, 25.–26. Jan.; Olivera 

Rakic, Univ. Barcelona, 23.–25. Jan.; Stefan Kraus, Univ. 

Groningen, 25.–27. Jan.; Josh Adams, Harvard Univ., 26.– 

28. Jan.; Roderick Overzier, SRON Groningen, 26.–27. 

Jan.; Thomas Robitaille, Univ., 26.–28. Jan.; Pamela 

Klaassen, 27. Jan.; Ryan Cooke, Univ. Madrid, 27.–28. Jan.; 

Thomas Müller, Univ. Florida, 27.–28. Jan.; Bram 

Venemans, Univ. Cambridge, 27.–28. Jan.; Mark Sargent, 

Univ. Milano, 27.–28. Jan.; Elisabeta Lusso, Obs. Bordeaux, 

29. Jan.; Eva Meyer, Leiden Observatory, 31. Jan.–4. Feb.; 

Andreu Font, Univ. Milano/Trieste, 1.–2. Feb.; Aday 

Robaina, Princeton, 6.–10. Feb.; Peter Barthel, Univ. Köln, 

6.–9. Feb.; Joanna Kuraszkiewicz, IAC, 6.–9. Feb.; Max 

Avruch, IAC, 6.–9. Feb.; Luciano Casarini, CfA Harvard, 

7.–19. Feb.; Sebastian Daemgen, Eso, Chile, 7.–11. Feb.; 

Jose Caballero, MPA Garching, 8.–11. Feb.; Mark 

Keremedjiev, Univ. California, 10.–13. Feb.; Michelle 

Colling, Black Bird Obs., 13.–14. Feb.; Luciano Casarini, 

Tokyo Inst. Techn., 7.–19. Feb.; Hincelin Ugo, Esa, 14.–18. 

Feb.; Joshua Schlieder, Praktikant, 8.–10. Feb.; Silvio 

Bonometto, LRA Paris, 14.–16. Feb.; Khee-Gan Lee, 

MPIfR Bonn, 21.–24. Feb.; Jens Zuther, MPIfR Bonn, 

22.–24. Feb.; Agnieszka Rys, Sobolev Inst., 25. Feb.–12. 

March; Jesus F. Barroso, Konkoly Obs., 2.–4. March; Lars 

E. Hernquist, JPL, 5.–9. March; Emanuela Pompei, 

Stockholm Univ., 7.–11. March; Ben Moster, Univ. Hawaii, 

7.–11. March; Imke de Pater, CfA, 13.–15. March; Jay 

Gabany, Leuven, 14.–17. March; Hiroyuki Kurokawa, 

UCLA, 14.–20. March; Torsten Böker, 14.–18. March; 

Roxana Chira, 15. March – 15. July; Patrick Hennebelle, 

16.–17. March; Arnaud Belloche, STScI, 16.–17. March; 

Anastasi Tsitali, Univ. Bologna, 16.–17. March; Nikolai 

Voshchinnikov, Eso, 17. March – 14. Apr.; Csaba Kiss, 

Univ. Torun, 21.–23. March; Roger Lee, Univ. Torun, 21.– 

23. March; Angela Adamo, MPE, 22.–25. March; Nader 

Haghighipour, Leiden Obs., 27.–30. March; Thomas 

Robitaille, Russ. Acad. Sci., 28. March; Katrina Exter, 

Kapteyn Inst., 28. March; Heike Schlichting, Univ. 

California, 3.–4. Apr.; Brian Cobile, Kapteyn Inst., 4.–15. 

Apr.; Sabrina Nietzel, Ohio State Univ., 11.–15. Apr.; Paul 

Mollière, Ohio State Univ., 11. Apr.–6. July; Massimo 

Robberto, Konkoly Obs., 12.–14. Apr.; Camillo Penzo,

Konkoly Obs., 13.–15. Apr.; Bram Venemans, Univ. Chile, 

13.–14. Apr.; Joanna Drazkowska, Univ. Birmingham, 

17.–22. Apr.; Kacper Kowalik, Univ. Göttingen, 17.–22. 

Apr.; Clare Dobbs, College Charleston, 18.–20. Apr.; Eva 

Meyer, Leiden Observatory, 26.–29. Apr.; Yaroslav 

Pavlyuchenkov, Univ. Zürich, 20. Apr.–12. May.; Mark den 

Brok, Csiro, 1. May – 31. July; Andreas Seifahrt, Univ. 

Lancashire, 3.–6. May; Marco Spaans, AifA, 4.–5. May; 

Anton Vasyunin, Durham Univ., 8.–29. May; Tatiana 

Vasyunina, Oss. Astron. Trieste, 8.–29. May; Csaba Kiss, 

MPE, 9.–11. May; Nikolett Szalai, Univ. Warsaw, 9.–11. 

May; Markus Rabus, UC Berkeley, 9.–14. May; Vinothini 

Sangaralingam, Ruhr Univ. Bochum, 10.–11. May; Mathias 

Zechmeister, Inaf, 10.–13. May; Joe Carson, IAA, 10. May 

– 10. June; Olja Panic, LBTO, 10. May – 10. June; Silvia 

Garbari, LBTO, 12.–13. May; Maxim Voronkov, Raytheon, 

11.–13. May; Greg Stinson, Univ. Toronto, 12.–17. May; 

Vernesa Smolcic, Groningen Univ., 15.–19. May; Nikos 

Fanidakis, University Toledo, 16.–20. May; Fabio Fontanot, 

Eso, 16.–20. May; Marc Schartmann, Harvard Univ., 18. 

May; Maria Kapala, Univ. Zürich, 26.–27. May; Frank 

Bigiel, Univ. Mexico, 27.–28. May; Rolf Chini, PSU, 30. 

May; Alessandro Brunelli, Univ. Wyoming, 30. May – 10. 

June; Conchi Cardenas, Univ. Maryland, 30. May – 10. 

June; Dave Thompson, Inaf, 30. May – 10. June; Tim Shih, 

Inaf, 30. May – 10. June; Andrew Dolphin, UC Santa Cruz, 

5.–12. June; Markus Janson, Oss. Catania, 6.–9. June; 

Marten Breddels, LMU, 6.–17. June; J.D. Smith, Boulder, 

6. June – 4. Aug.; Andreas Glindemann, IPMU Tokyo, 8.–9. 

June; Rebekah Dawson, Univ. Washington, 9.–10. June; 

Ros Roskar, UC Santa Cruz, 9.–10. June; A. Segura Peralta, 

Univ. Victoria, 9. June – 22. July; Alexander Wolszczan, UC 

Santa Cruz, 10. June – 12. July; Adam Myers, MIT, 10. June 

– 10. Aug.; Alberto Bolatto, Univ. Kansas, 13.–16. June; 

Antonella Natta, Eso, 15. June – 15. July; Malcolm 

Walmsley, UCO/Lick Obs., 15. June – 15. July; Jason 

Prochaska, Univ. California, 15. June – 31. Aug.; V 

Antonuccio-Delogu, Univ. Washington, 16. June – 25. July; 

Maria Lenius, Steward Obs., 20.–21. June; Glen Stewart, 

NYU, 21.–22. June; John D. Silverman, CAS, China, 22.– 

25. June; Julianne Dalcanton, JHU, 23. June – 21. July; 

Gabor Worseck, StSI, 24. June – 24. July; Aaron Dutton, 

NYU, 25. June – 9. July; Michele Fumagalli, NYU, 26. 

June – 2. July; Rob Simcoe, Univ. Cape Town, 27. June – 

22. July; Greg Rudnick, Univ. Budapest, 27. June – 28. 

July; Olja Panic, Imperial Coll. London, 27. June – 8. July; 

Connie Rockosi, Harvard Univ., 27. June – 9. July; Brad 

Holden, Univ. Utah, 27. June – 9. July; Dan Weisz, Keck 

Obs., 28. June – 26. July; Benjamin Weiner, Univ. Utah, 29. 

June – 1. Aug.; Jo Bovy, IAA, 29. June – 4. Aug.; Jifeng 

Liu, Univ. Amsterdam, 30. June – 1. July; Davide Fedele, 

CfA, 4.–30. July; Veronica Roccatagliata, Konkoly Univ., 

4.–30. July; Lang Dustin, CfA, 2. July – 2. Aug.; David 

Hogg, New York University, 2. July – 1. Sep.; Erwin De 

Blok, Oxford Univ., 1.–31. July; Victor L. Toth, IAA, 1. 

July – 31. Aug.; Sami Dib, OAN, 4.–15. July; Dimitar 

Sasselov, Univ. Milano, 1.–8. July; Adam Bolton, Arcetri, 

2.–15. July; Randy Campbell, Inaf, 4. July; Joel Brownstein, 

Iram, 5.–15. July; Rainer Schödel, UC Santa Cruz, 5.–7. 

July; Gijs Mulders, Nagoya Univ., 5.–8. July; Martin Elvis, 

UC Santa Cruz, 9.–16. July; Peter Abraham, Univ. Kyiv, 

4.–8. July; Giuseppina Fabbiano, 10.–16. July; Khee-Gan 

Lee, 10.–17. July; Sownak Bose, Harvard Univ., 11.–30. 

July; Cardenas Conceipcion, JPL, 12.–22. July; Santiago 

Garcia-Burillo, NYU, 17.–22. July; Massimo Dotti, Inaf, 

17.–24. July; Carmelo Arcidiacono, 18.–22. July; Alessandro 

Brunelli, Univ. Ukraine, 18.–22. July; Jerome Pety, 

Lawrence Nat. Lab., 18.–22. July; Jessica Werk, Haverford 

College, 18.–27. July; Satoshi Okuzumi, Inst. Uzbekistan, 

18.–29. July; Robert Da Silva, Univ. California, 18. July – 

1. Aug.; Mykola Malygin, Obs. Strasbourg, 24.–29. July; 

David Cann, Herzberg Inst., 25. July – 11. Aug.; Emma 

Wolpert, JPL, 25. July – 11. Aug.; Sarah Rugheimer, McGill 

Univ., 29. July – 26. Aug.; Pieter Deroo, Drexel Univ., 31. 

July – 14. Aug.; Dan Foremann-Mackey, Univ. Victoria, 

1.–26. Aug.; Carmelo Arcidiacono, UC Santa Cruz, 1.–5. 

Aug.; William Fischer, Chin. Acad. Sci., 1.–5. Aug.; Nao 

Suzuki, Inst. Astron. RAS, 14.–20. Aug.; Ross Fadely, Univ. 

HD, 15.–25. Aug.; Mansur Ibrahimov, Inaf, 15.–28. Aug.; 

Steven Beckwith, MPIfR Bonn, 21.–25. Aug.; Caroline Bot, 

Herzberg Inst., 23.–24. Aug.; Cassandra Fallcheer, Groves, 

29. Aug.–9. Sep.; Mark Swain, Univ. College London, 3.– 

12. Aug.; Gabriel-D. Marleau, Univ., 8.–12. Aug.; Gordon 

Richards, Univ. Pisa, 8.–31. Aug.; Trevor Mendel, Univ. 

Amsterdam, 9.–13. Aug.; Gabor Worseck, Univ. Toledo, 

9.–28. Aug.; Wang Wei, CSIC-IEEC, 1.–30. Sep.; Kevin 

Flaherty, IAC, 4.–7. Sep.; Vitaly Akimkin, Tata Inst. Pune, 

5.–18. Sep.; Maria Knodt, Univ. Victoria, 5.–30. Sep.; 

Riccardo Smareglia, Univ. Wisconsin, 5.–9. Sep.; Konrad 

Tristram, 8.–9. Sep.; James Di Francesco, Obs. Paris, 9.–17. 

Sep.; Patrik Jonsson, Inasan, 12.–16. Sep.; Steve Boudreault, 

15.–20. Sep.; P.G. Prada Moroni, ATC Edinburgh, 18.–24. 

Sep.; Emanuele Tognelli, Inst. TP, Zurich, 18.–24. Sep.; 

Gerrit van der Plas, Inst. TP, Zurich, 19.–23. Sep.; William 

Fischer, NRAO, 25.–28. Sep.; Marco Padovani, Inasan 

Moscow, 26. Sep.–31. Oct.; Agnieszka Rys, Ipag/CNRS, 

29. Sep.–12. Oct.; Sambit Roychowdhury, Ipag/CNRS, 1.– 

5. Oct.; Ryan Leaman, MPE, 1.–9. Oct.; Jay Gallagher, Lab. 

Marseille, 7. Oct.; Carol Grady, Yonsei Univ., 7. Oct.; 

Matthieu Brangier, yonsei Univ., 9.–12. Oct.; Vitaly 

Akimkin, CfA, 9.–30. Oct.; Sin-iti Sirono, Dark Cosm. 

Inst., 10.–11. Oct.; Adrian Glauser, Insugeo-Conicet, 10.– 

13. Oct.; Donnino Anderhalden, Eso, 10.–14. Oct.; Aurel 

Schneider, Univ. Como, 12.–14. Oct.; Jürgen Ott, KU 

Leuven, 21.–29. Oct.; Y. Pavlyuchenkov, Univ. Edinburgh, 

24. Oct.–6. Nov.; Xavier Bonfils, Univ. Oxford, 26.–28. 

Oct.; David Ehrenreich, IAA, 26.–28. Oct.; Thomas Müller, 

MPA Garching, 2.–4. Nov.; Clement Surville, Inst. Astrophy. 

Paris, 7.–11. Nov.; Hyun-Jin Bae, IAA, 7.–8. Nov.; Hyun- 

Jin Bae, DAMTP Cambridge, 7.–8. Nov.; Dae-Won Kim, 

IAA, 7.–9. Nov.; Andrew Zirm, Univ. Leiden, 9.–13. Nov.; 

Olga Pintado, Univ. Madrid, 11.–19. Nov.; Andreas 

Glindemann, NRAO, 14. Nov.; Emanuele P. Farina, 

University of Insubria, 14.–18. Nov.; Jonathan Menu, Iram, 

Staff 99

100 Staff / Departments 

14.–18. Nov.; Adrian Glauser, AEI, 14.–18. Nov.; Yixiong 

Wang, Eso, 20.–22. Nov.; A. Segura, Harvard Cfa, 20.–25. 

Nov.; Ben Moster, 21.–23. Nov.; Camilla Pacifici, ETH, 

21.–25. Nov.; Jose M. Ibanez, Univ. California, 21.–25. 

Nov.; Sijme-J. Paardekooper, Caltech, 21.–26. Nov.; 

Matilde Fernandez, Univ. Hertfordshire, 25. Nov.; Simone 

Weinmann, 25.–26. Nov.; Chris Brook, 27. Nov.–1. Dec.; 

John Tobin, 27. Nov.–3. Dec.; Michele Fumagalli, 6.–9. 

Dec.; Pierre Cox, 7.–8. Dec.; Felicitas Mokler, 8.–16. Dec.; 

Mark Westmoquette, 12.–13. Dec.; Sijacki Debora, 14. 

Dec.; Peter Hofner, 14.–16. Dec.; Adrian Glauser, 14.–16. 

Dec.; Steve Beckwith, 14.–18. Dec.; Dominik Richers, 

18.–21. Dec.; Elias Brinks, 18.–23. Dec. 

Short-term Scholarships: Antonuccio (14.6. until 27.7.), 

Burtscher (1.6. until 31.12.), Dalcanton (23.6. until 21.7.), 

El-Kork (27.6. until 06.8.), Fedele (3.7. until 30.7.), Jin 

(1.12.), Kostogryz, Main Astronomical Observatory of NAS 

of Ukraine (1.8. until 30.9.), Lang (2.7. until 02.8.), Natta 

Departments 

Department: Planet and Star Formation 

Director: Thomas Henning 

Infrared Space Astronomy: Oliver Krause, Zoltan Balog, 

Marc-André Besel, Thomas Blümchen, Jeroen Bouwman, 

Örs Hunor Detre, Ulrich Grözinger, Rory Holmes, Ulrich 

Klaas, Hendrik Linz, Friedrich Müller, Markus Nielbock, 

Jan Pitann, Silvia Scheithauer, Anika Schmiedeke, Jürgen 

Schreiber, Amy Stutz 

Star Formation: Henrik Beuther, Angela Adamo, Tobias 

Albertsson, Miriam Benisty, Adrianus Bik, Paul Boley, 

Miwa Egner (parental leave), Min Fang, Markus Feldt, 

Siyi Feng, Mario Gennaro, Thomas Gerner, Dimtrios 

Gouliermis, Katharine Johnston, Jouni Kainulainen, 

Ralf Launhardt, Roger Lee, Huabai Li, Rainer Lenzen, 

Nils Lippok, Maria Elena Manjavacas Martinez, Johan 

Olofsson, Sarah Ragan, Boyke Rochau, Markus Schmalzl, 

Dmitri Semenov, Aurora Sicilia Aguilar, Bernhard Sturm, 

Jochen Tackenberg, Roy van Boekel, Antonin Vasyunin, 

Tatiana Vasyunina, Wei Wang, Yuan Wang, Miaomiao 

Zhang, Svitlana Zhukovska 

Brown Dwarfs/Exoplanets: Reinhard Mundt, Carolina 

Bergfors, Beth Biller, Mickaël Bonnefoy, Wolfgang 

Brandner, Gael Chauvin, Guo Chen, Michaela Döllinger, 

Bertrand Goldmann, Felix Hormuth, Sarah Kendrew, 

Rainer Köhler, Natalia Kudryavtseva, Luigi Mancini, 

Maren Mohler, Victoria Rodriguez Ledesma, Tim Schulze- 

Hartung, Johny Setiawan, Zhao Sun, Christian Thalmann, 

Matthias Zechmeister, Neil Zimmerman 

(15.6. until 15.7.), Panic (15.5. until 30.6.), Pavlyuchenkov 

(15.4. until 14.5.), Richards (1.8. until 31.8.), Roccatagliata 

(3.7. until 30.7.), Segura (1.7. until 31.7.), Simcoe (27.6. 

until 29.7.), Smith (6.6. until 04.8.), Toth (1.7. until 31.8.), 

Walmsley (15.6. until 15.7.), Wang Wei (1.9. until 30.9.), 

Weaver (1.1. until 04.2.), Weisz (28.6. until 26.7.) 

Due our regular international meetings and workshops further 

guests visited the institute, not listed here individually. 

Calar Alto Observatory Almeria, Spain 

Astronomy Coordination: Thiele 

Telescope Technology and Data Processing: W. Müller 

Theory (SP): Hubertus Klahr, Hassnat Ahmad, Bennoit 

Commerçon, Karsten Dittrich, Natalia Dziourkevitch, Mario 

Flock, Mykola Malygin, Christoph Mordasini, Ludovic 

Petitdemange, Nathalie Raettig, Ana Uribe 

Laboratory Astrophysics: Friedrich Huisken, Abel Brieva, 

Yvain Carpentier, Cornelia Jäger, Sergey Krasnokutskiy, 

Karsten Potrick, Gael Rouillé, Toulou Sabri, Torsten 

Schmidt, Mathias Steglich 

Frontiers of Interferometry in Germany (FrInGe): Thomas 

Henning, Uwe Graser, Rainer Köhler, Ralf Launhardt, Roy 

van Boekel 

Adaptive Optics: Wolfgang Brandner, Guo Chen, Casey 

Dean, Markus Feldt, Dimitrios Gouliermis, Stefan Hippler, 

Felix Hormuth, Natalia Kudryavtseva, Christian Thalmann, 

Pengqian Yang 

MPG Junior Research Group: Cornelis Dullemond, Tilmann 

Birnstiel, Martin Ilgner, Christian Ormel, Paola Pinilla, 

Zsolt Sandor, Fredrik Windmark, Andras Zsom 

MPG Junior Research Group: Thomas Robitaille 

MPG Minerva Group: Cristina Afonso, Balasz Csak, 

Maximiliano Moyano, Nikolai Nikolov 

Emmy-Noether-Group: “Charakterisierung extrasolarer 

Planeten”: Lisa Kaltenegger, Yan Yves Betremieux, Yamila 

Miguel, Siddarth Hegde, Hiroyuki Kurokawa

Department: Galaxies and Cosmology 

Director: Hans-Walter Rix 

Milky Way and Local Group: Coryn Bailer-Jones (inclusive 

the Gaia project group), René Andrae, Fabo Feng, Richard 

Hanson, Chao Liu, Kester Smith, Paraskevi Tsalmantza, 

Thomas Herbst, Hans-Walter Rix, Christal Brasseur, Michel 

Collins, Nicolas Martin, David Martinez-Delgado, Christine 

Ruhland, Xiangxiang Xue 

Galaxies in the present Universe: Andrea Macciò, Eva 

Schinnerer, Sharon Meidt, Dario Colombo, Tessel van 

der Laan, Glen van de Ven, Greg Stinson, Rahul Kannan, 

Mariya Lyubenova, Vesselina Kalinova, Roland Laesker, 

Sladjana Nikolic, Robert Singh 

Galactic Center and Black Holes: Christian Fendt, Joseph 

Hennawi, Knud Jahnke, Katherine Inskip, Dading Hadi 

Nugrohu, Klaus Meisenheimer, Leonard Burtscher, Jörg- 

Uwe Pott, Iva Karovicova, Kirsten Schnuelle 

The interstellar and intergalactic Medium: Joseph 

Hennawi, Eva Schinnerer, Gael Dumas, Brent Groves, 

Jacqueline Hodge, Annie Hughes, Kathryn Kreckel, 

Fatemeh Tabatabaei, Fabian Walter, Anahi Caldu Primo, 

Elisabetha da Cunha, Maria Kapala, Eric Morganson, Karin 

Sandstrom, Andreas Schruba, Hsiang-Hsu Wang 

Teaching Activities 

Winter Term 2010/2011 

Chr. Fendt, C. Dullemond, J. Hennawi: IMPRS (Seminar) 

Th. Henning, H. Beuther: Star Formation (Lecture) 

S. Hippler: Experiment F36 “Wave Front Analysis”, 

Advanced Practocal for Physicists (Practicals) 

V. Joergens, H. Klahr: Extrasolar Planets and Brown 

Dwarfs (Lecture) 

H. Klahr, R. Mundt: Einführung in die Astronomie und 

Astrophysik III (Seminar with J. Heidt and J. Krautter) 

K. Meisenheimer: Institute Colloquium of MPIA and LSW 

(Colloquium with S. Wagner) 

H.-W. Rix: Galaxies (Course Lecture, block course), 

Exercises on Galaxies (Exercise) 

Summer Term 2011: 

H. Beuther, Chr. Fendt: Outflows and Jets: Theory and 

Observations (Lecture) 

R. van Boekel: Observational Astronomy (Lecture with A. 

Quirrenbach (LSW) und C. Dullemond (ITA)) 

C. Dullemond: Observational Astronomy (Course Lecture) 

Chr. Fendt, C. Dullemond, J. Hennawi, V. Joergens: Seminar 

on current research topics (IMPRS 1) (Seminar) 

Chr. Fendt: Astronomy for Non-Physics (with A. Just (ARI)) 

Departments / Teaching Activities 101 

Galaxy Evolution and the early Universe: Knud Jahnke, 

Mauricio Cisternas, Gregor Seidel, Klaus Meisenheimer, 

Michael Fiedler, Mathias Jäger, Christian Leipski, Hans- 

Walter Rix, Kasper Borello Schmidt, Yu-Yen Chang, 

Michael Maseda, Balasubramanian Ramkumar, Arjen van 

der Wel, Eva Schinnerer, Alexander Karim, Fabian Walter, 

Eduarodo Banados Torres, Roberto Decarli, Gisella de 

Rosa, Bram Venemans 

Galaxy Dynamic: Hans-Walter Rix, Lan Zhang, Glenn 

van de Ven, Remco van den Bosch, Laura Watkins, Alex 

Büdenbender 

Numerical and Cosmological Simulations: Christian Fendt, 

Oliver Porth, Somayyeh Sheiknezami, Deniss Stepanovs, 

Barghav Vaidya, Joe Hennawi, Neil Crighton, Girish 

Kukarni, Khee-Gan Lee, Elisabeta Lusso, Olivera Rakic, 

Kate Rubin, Yujin Yang, Fabrizio Arrigoni Battaia, Gabriele 

Maier, Alberto Rorai, Andrea Macciò, Jian Chang, Salvatore 

Cielo, Nikolaos Fanidakis, Camilla Penzo 

Instrumentation Development: Thomas Herbst, Michael 

Boehm, Matthieu Brangier, Jian Chang, Roman Follert, 

Qiang Fu, Eva Meyer, Joshua Schlieder, Zhaojun Yan, 

Xianyu Zhang, Josef Fried, Jörg-Uwe Pott 

Th. Henning: Physics of Star formation (Master- 

Pflichtseminar) 

S. Hippler: Experiment F36 “Wave Front Analysis” of the 


F. Huisken, C. Jäger: Cluster & Nanoteilchen II, Friedrich 

Schiller Universität, Institut für Festkörperphysik, Jena 

K. Jahnke: Gruppenunterricht zur Experimentalphysik II 

(Exercise) 

V. Kalinova: Experiment FP 30 “CCD photometry with 70cm 

telescope” of the Advanced Practocal for Physicists 

(Practicals) 

L. Kaltenegger: IMPRS summer school: Characterizing exoplanets 

– from formation to atmospheres (with W. Benz 

(Univ. Bern), P. Hauschildt (Univ. Hamburg), A. Johansen 

(Lund Observatorium), S. Udry (Observatorium Genf)) 

H. Klahr: Advanced seminar on Theory of Planet and Star 

Formation (Seminar) 

H. Klahr, Chr. Mordasini: Physics and Numerics of 

Accretion Disks and Planet Formation (Lecture) 

H. Klahr, V. Joergens: Extrasolar Planets and Brown Dwarfs 

(Lecture) 

R. Köhler, A. Müller: Introduction to IDL for Scientific 

Research (block course) 

K. Meisenheimer: Gruppenunterricht zur Experimental physik 

II (Exercise)

102 Teaching Activities / Service in Committees 

H.-W. Rix: Galaxy Coffee (Advanced Seminar), Galaxies 

(Lecture) 

H.-W. Rix, F. Walter, N. Martin: Galaxies (block course) 

Winter Term 2011/2012: 

H. Beuther, H, Klahr, H.-W. Rix: Einführung in die 

Astronomie und Astrophysik III (Pflichtseminar) 

C. Dullemond: Numerische Gas- und Flüssigkeitsdynamik 

(Lecture / Exercise), Mathematische Methoden in der 

Physik I (Lehramt) (Lecture / Exercise) 

C. Dullemond, J. Hennawi: Cosmology (Lecture / Exercise 

/ Seminar) 

Chr. Fendt, K. Meisenheimer, G. Van de Ven: Seminar zu 

aktuellen Forschungsthemen (IMPRS 1) (mit R. Klessen 

(ITA), S. Glover (ITA), A. Koch (LSW)) 

Th: Henning: Physik der Sternentstehung (Advanced 

Seminar) 

S. Hippler: Experiment F36 “Wave Front Analysis”, 


V. Joergens: Extrasolare Planeten und Braune Zwerge 

(Lecture / Seminar) 

H. Klahr: Numerisches Praktikum (Practicals), Physik 

und numerische Methoden zu Akkretionsscheiben und 

Planetenentstehung (Lecture) 

H. Klahr, Chr. Mordasini: Uknum Numerical (Seminar) 

K. Meisenheimer: Institute Colloquium of MPIA and LSW 

(Colloquium with S. Wagner) 

Service in Committees 

Coryn A. L. Bailer-Jones: Member of the “PhD-Students 

Advisory Committee” at the MPIA; Manager of the 

Subconsortium “Astrophysical Parameters”, Gaia 

Data Processing and Analysis Consortium; Member 

of the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium 

Executive 

Henrik Beuther: Member of the iram program committee; 

Member of the apex MPG program committee; Member 

of the Patzer foundation board 

Karsten Dittrich: Student Representative; Head of the 

Event-Gruppe (PhDnet) 

Christian Fendt: External reviewer and auditor of the PhD 

student Noemie Globus, Laboratoire de L’Univers et ses 

theories, Paris, France 

Bertrand Goldman: Member of the panic Science Team; 

Member of the Science Policy Oversight Committee of 

the PanStarrS1 consortium 

Dimitrios A. Gouliermis: Member of the Calar Alto Time 

Allocating Committee (TAC); Member of the Lincnirvana 

Science Team 

Roland Gredel: Member of der ELT science and engineering 

group; Member of the CTA internal site assessment; 

Chair of the LBT internal operational readiness 

review; Chair of the LBT time domain observations 

working group; Chair of the Opticon board; Member 

of der Opticon committees “telescope directors forum”, 

“enhancement activities Eastern Europe” and “NEON 

summer schools”; Chair of the Stac; Chair of the Lincnirvana 

internal review committee. 

Thomas Henning: Member of the Eso Council; Chair of 

the LBT associated company; Member Representative 

of the LBT Board; Member of the caha Executive 

Committee; Member of the Board of IAU Division 

VI, Interstellar Matter; Member of the National 

Cospar Committee; Representative of the Astronomy/ 

Astrophysics Subdivision of the Leopoldina; Member 

of the scientific committee of the Thüringer observatory 

Tautenburg; Member of der Appeal Committee of Dutch 

Academy Professorship Programme; Head of the ERC 

Panel for Advanced Grants PE9, “Universe Science”; 

Member of the Prize Committee of the Stern-Gerlach 

Award; Member of der Master Commission of the MPI 

für Chemie, Mainz; Member of der Appeal Committee 

for Professor of Astrophysics of the University of 

Innsbruck; Member of the Organizing Committee of the 

DFG Priority Programme “Physics of the Interstellar 

Medium” 

Cornelia Jäger: Member of the Program Committee of the 

DFG priority program “The Physics of the Interstellar 

Medium”; Member of the Plenary Members Group 

of the EU Initial Training Network (ITN) “Lassie – 

Laboratory Astrochemical Surface Science in Europe” 

Klaus Jäger: board member of the Astronomische 

Gesellschaft (Press Officer); Member of the scientific 

advisory committee of the International Summer 

Science School Heidelberg (ISH); Participation in the 

Rat Deutscher Sternwarten (RDS); Participation in the 

LBT-associated company (LBTB) 

Lisa Kaltenegger: Member of the Editorial boards of the 

series of books “Astrobiology”, at Springer Astrobiology 

and at the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Member in 

boards of naSa, NSF, Royal Society review panels, 

DFG, French Academie of Science, Exobiology, LBT, 

Kepler, Astrobiology; Member of the PAC; Member of 

the Executive Council, naSa Extrasolar Planet Analysis 

Group 

Oliver Krause: Member of the eSa-EChO Science Teams 

Martin Kürster: Member of the eSpreSSo PDR Review Board 

Ralf Launhardt: Member of the S-TAC at the MPIA; 

Member of the ERC starting grants evaluation panel 

Christoph Leinert: Member of the Eso OPC panels; Member 

of the International Advisory Board of the Konkoly 

Observatory 

Hua-Bai Li: Member of the Expert committee for the 

award of Discovery Grants of the Natural Sciences and 

Engineering Research Council of Canada 

Nicholas Martin: Member of the Next Generation Canada- 

France-Hawaii Telescope Science Working Group; Head 

of the Pan-StarrS1 Science Consortium Key Project 5 

(the Milky Way and the Local Group)

Klaus Meisenheimer: Member of der AGN/Galactic Center 

working group 

Reinhard Mundt: Member of the carmeneS Core 

Managment Team as Representative of the MPIA; 

Ombudsman of the MPIA 

Markus Nielbock: Member of the herScheL pacS 

Instrument Control Centre (ICC); Member of the 

herScheL Calibration Steering Group as a Representative 

of the pacS ICC; Member of der herScheL Pointing 

Working Group 

Hans-Walter Rix: Member of the PS1 Science Consortium; 

Member of the nirSpec Science Team; Member of 

the DFG boards; Member of the Emmy-Noether Panel; 

Member of the Visiting Committees STScI; Member of 

the eucLid Mission Board 

Eva Schinnerer: Member of the NRAO Users Committee 

Amelia Stutz: Member of the MPIA Stac; Member of the 

Eso TAC 

Roy van Boekel: Member of the belgium VLTI TAC 

Glenn van de Ven: Member of the Linc-nirvana Science 

Team 

Remco van den Bosch: Member of the MPIA computer 

committee 

Tessel van der Laan: Member of the WBK 

Fabian Walter: Member of the NRAO Panel to Advise on 

Science and EVLA Operations (Paseo) 

Further Activities 

The MPIA released 12 press releases. Several radio and 

television interviews have been given (Klaus Jäger, 

Markus Pössel, Axel M. Quetz, and others). 

The eight lectures of the lecture series “Astronomie 

am Sonntag Vormittag” in June and July have been 

organized by Markus Pössel, Klaus Jäger, and Axel 

M. Quetz. 

Markus Feldt organized the “Miniforschung” for undergraduates. 

For the Girls’ Day on April 14 th at the institute Vianak 

Naranjo was responsible, with participation of Klaus 

Jäger, Markus Pössel, Lisa Kaltenegger, Natalie 

Raettig, Aurora Sicilia, and others. 

The Board of Trustees hold a meeting on November 

29 th which was organized by Klaus Jäger, Thomas 

Henning, and Hans-Walter Rix. 

The pupil practical “Astronomie” on October 24. – 28. 

was organized and led by Klaus Meisenheimer and 

Michael Biermann (ZAH/ LSW) with participation of 

Silvia Scheithauer, and Klaus Jäger. 

During the year a total of 440 visitors in 19 groups have 

been given guided tours through the institute (Axel 

M. Quetz, Markus Pössel, Vesselina Kalinova, Silvia 

Scheithauer, and others). 

Service in Committees / Further Activities 103 

The new newsletter of the MPIA was elaborated by 

Klaus Jäger (conception and editing work), Mathias 

Voss, Thomas Henning, and Hans-Walter Rix. 

In honor of Jakob Staude on November 15 a scientific 

celebratory colloquium was held, organized by Klaus 

Jäger, Markus Pössel, Axel M. Quetz, and Hans- 

Walter Rix. 

Vianak Naranjo held the office of the equal opportunities 

officer at the MPIA. 

Tessel van der Laan (until Sept. 29), Karsten Dittrich 

(since Sept. 29) and Maren Mohler have been student 

representatives at the MPIA during 2011. 

Axel M. Quetz was member of the editorial team which 

created the 50th volume of “Sterne und Weltraum”. 

Jakob Staude was member of the publisher team of 

the 50th volume of “Sterne und Weltraum”. 

Guided tours through the Astrophysical Laboratory 

in Jena during the “Long night of the Sciences” on 

November 25th under the motto “Laboratory experiments 

simulate conditions in interstellar dust clouds” 

were held by Cornelia Jäger, Gaël Rouillé, Karsten, 

Potrick, and Mathias Steglich. 

Roberto Decarli organized the weekly Galaxy Coffee. 

Brent Groves was science co-coordinator of the KinGfiSh 

group. 

Friedrich Huisken was member of the program commitee 

of the international conference: International 

Symposium on Rarefied Gas Dynamics (RGD) and 

Mitheraco-editor of the Romanianen conference series 

on laser and optics “romopto”. 

Klaus Jäger created contributions for TV broadcaster 

(ARD, SWR, RNF, N24, CampusTV) as well as 

counseled them; he created contributions für print 

magazines; he created an audio/video trailer for the 

opening of the Astronomischen Gesellschaft (AG) 

in Heidelberg; he composed and produced music 

on occasion of the inauguration of the “House of 

Astronomy” and for TV at astronomical topics; he 

wrote press releases for the AG, for the Rat Deutscher 

Sternwarten and the LBT-associated company 

(LBTB); he contributed in planning and on events of 

the “House of Astronomy”, the International Science 

School Heidelberg, der annual meeting of the AG in 

Heidelberg and he gave several special guided tours 

and lectures; he organized the “Visitor Colloquium” 

at the MPIA (with Meidt, Klahr). 

Lisa Kaltenegger: collaboration with the eSa proposal 

teams of neat and EChO; PI of the ISSI-Team “1D/3D 

Exoplanet Atmospheres and their Characterization”; 

Co-I of the naSa Explorer Mission teSS; Co-I of 

the naSa Astrobiology Institute: Advent of Complex 

Life. 

Alexander Karim took part at the science slam in Bonn with 

his contribution “Stars, Sterne und Galaxien” as well as 

at the science slam in the cinema “Capitol” in Mainz. He 

counseled the TV broadcaster 3Sat for the broadcasting 

“Für meine Forschung werben – auf der Bühne”.

104 Further Activities / Compatibility of Science, Work, and Famoöy 

Ralf Launhardt was project scientist at eSpri. 

Dietrich Lemke war associated editor of the “Journal of 

Astronomical Instrumentation” (World Scientific). He 

wrote the book “Im Himmel über Heidelberg” on the 

occasion of the 40 th anniversary of the MPIA. The 

book was presented with represantativs of the archive 

of the MPG (Berlin) to the public at a ceremonial act 

on May 23 rd . 

Hendrik Linz was guest scientist at the NRAO in 

Socorro, New Mexico, USA. 

Markus Nielbock contributed on the “Tag der Astronomie 

2011” at the Engadiner Astronomiefreunde in St. Moritz, 

Switzerland. He is member of the Astro no mieschule 

e.V., Heidelberg. 

Sarah Ragan was postdoc representative at the MPIA. 

Kasper Borello Schmidt organized the monthly 

Heidelberg discussion forum on gravitation lenses 

“LiHD – Lensing in Heidelberg”. 

Referees at Science Journals: Coryn A. L. Bailer- 

Jones (ApJ, A&A, MNRAS); Henrik Beuther 

(A&A, ApJ, MNRAS, Nature); Elisabete da Cunha 

(A&A); Friedrich Huisken (Advanced Materials, 

Nanotechnology, Science, NanoLetters, Applied 

Physics Letters, Journal of Applied Physics, Chemical 

Physics Letters, Chemical Reviews, Journal of 

Chemical Physics, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 

Journal of Nanoparticle Research, Computational 

Materials Science); Viki Joergens (Astrobiology, 

Icarus, ApJ, A&A, ApJL, PPS, Springer); Oliver 

Krause (ApJ, Nature); Hendrik Linz (ApJ). 

Referee for Research Grants: Henrik Beuther (DFG, ERC 

National French Agency of Research); Christian 

Fendt: Externer Gutachter für Forschungsmittel 

des “Natural Sciences and Engineering Research 

Council of Canada”, FWO, Foundation for Scientific 

Research Belgium; Friedrich Huisken (DFG, EU 

(Marie-Curie), Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen 

Forschung in Österreich, der Grant 

Agency of the Czech Republic, der naSa, dem 

American Chemical Society Petroleum Research 

Fund, der German Israeli Foundation for Scientific 

Research and Development. 

Compatibility of Science, Work, 

and Family 

To present informations and solutions for better compatibility 

of job and family was in 2011 again an important 

matter to the MPIA. The institute supports men and 

women in all cases equaly. Main focus was set on the 

following domains: 

1. Flexibility on the working environment: 

Flexible configuration of the working hours is a fundamental 

premise for a better compatibility of job and 

family and an important aspect for scientists and other 

employees, who wants to bring their job in harmony with 

child care, care-dependent relatives or job related change 

of residence of the life partner. The MPIA supports different 

models or working. A flexible working environment 

is offered at the MPIA for both scientific as well as 

non-scientific employees. This includes family induced 

time-outs, temporary reduction of the working hours, or, 

if necessary, the flexible choice of the job location, for 

example at the home office. 

2. Care services for employees with children and care for 

needy families: 

The MPIA has together with the other Heidelberg MPIs 

access to a total of 21 nursery and kindergarten places. 

The MPIA cooperates with the MPI for Nuclear Physics 

for the rapid implementation of a kindergarten. The institute 

provides in-house support and a baby office for 

employees with breastfeeding children. In exceptional 

cases or emergency situations, employees may come to 

work with children. The international office offers advice 

in finding suitable places in nurseries, kindergartens 

and schools and in holiday childcare. The MPIA also 

provides support for employees with care-dependent 

relatives through the family service “Besser betreut” and 

via the information portal of the “Bündniss für Familie”. 

3. Information portal at MPIA: 

The information portal of the MPIA includes an e-mail list 

for parents and for employees with caring responsibilities 

for relatives. Here you find assistance, tips, suggestions 

and answers. Additional information on dual-career 

issues, including a dual-career job board can be found 

also on the related web pages of the institute at http:// 

www.mpia.de/Public/menu_q2.php?MPIA/jobs/dualcareer.html. 

Related posts in the institute offers an information 

board with current postings. In family-related downtime 

employees may – if desired – stay connected via 

a contact retention program and attend training events, 

staff meetings and other important meetings. 

4. Informationen for leaders: 

When recruiting staff the service offerings of the Institute 

on “combatibility of work and family” in employment 

negotiations are integrated. Executives at MPIA know 

the people to contact about work and family issues, as 

well as dual-career work-life balance and can refer as 

needed to the appropriate contact person. By the end of 

2011 the subject “awareness and involvement of leaders” 

in the working group “work and family” was selected in 

the Heidelberg alliance as main topic. A cross-enterprise 

information sharing has been started and will be continued 

and deepened in 2012. 

5. Cooperation of the MPIA in networks: 

The topic of networking is becoming increasingly important. 

The MPIA cooperates in the following networks for 

the implementation of solutions • Dual career network

Heidelberg: The dual career services at MPIA supports 

to help launch dual-career couples in furthering the career 

of the partner. In cooperation with the Heidelberg 

University, the University Hospital, the German Cancer 

Research Center (DKFZ), the European Molecular 

Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the SRH-Holding, the 

College of Education, the city of Heidelberg and the 

other Heidelberg MPIs, the dual career service provides 

contacts with potential employers in the region 

of Heidelberg and her support in the search for suitable 

locations. The dual career network has established an 

active job board with current vacancies and job applications. 

• Child Care Working Group of the University 

of Heidelberg: From this working group has resulted a 

cooperation agreement and rights for several places in a 

kindergarten were ascertained. • The MPIA is a member 

of the Alliance for Family Heidelberg. This corporate 

network is to exchange information and to ensure the 

various services in the field “work and family” and is a 

Awards 

The Ernst Patzer Prize winners of this year are: 

The postdoc Elisabetta Caffau, ZAH, for her publication 

“An extremely primitive star in the Galactic halo”, the 

IMPRS doctoral student Alexander Karim for his publication 

“The star formation history of mass-selected 

galaxies in the coSmoS field” and an den postdoc 

Andreas Schruba for his publication “A molecular star 

formation law in the atomic-gas-dominated regime in 

nearby galaxies”. 

Dimitrios A. Gouliermis received a fellowship “Com prehen 

sive Characterization with HST of Stellar Popu lations 

in Star-Forming Regions of the Large Magellanic 

Cloud” (DLR Program 50 OR 908) and “The Stellar 

Clus ters Population of the Andromeda Galaxy from the 

Pan chro ma tic HST Survey” (DFG Program GO 1659/3- 

1). 

Compatibility of Science, Work, and Famoöy / Awards 105 

major hub. • MPIA is also on the distribution list of the 

Rhine-Neckar region and cooperates with the nationwide 

active corporate network “Erfolgsfaktor Familie”. 

The cross-linking of the MPIA with other scientific institutions, 

public bodies and business enterprises guaranteed 

the improvement and extension of the offers, the efficiency 

of each network partner and thus combines the 

energies in the implementation of important measures in 

Heidelberg as an attractive location for science. 

Working Council 

The members of the working council met on 50 meetings 

in the MPIA and with the other workings councils 

of the Heidelberg MPIs on March 3 rd at the MPI for 

Comparative Public Law and International Law, and 

on October 17 th at the MPIA. 

Jouni Kainulainen, Hua-Bai Li, Sarah Ragan, Amy Stutz 

und Svitlana Zhukovska received a research grant from 

the DFG Priority Program “Physics of the Interstellar 

Medium”. 

Maren Mohler was awarded with the first prize of the 

Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Seminar for her poster 

“Extrasolar Planets – Towards comparative planetology 

beyond the Solar System” in Bad Honnef. 

Karin Sandstrom received a Marie Curie International 

Incoming Fellowship. 

Dmitry A. Semenov received a research grant “The first 10 

million years of the Solar System – a Planetary Materials 

Approach” from the DFG (SPP 1385).

106 Cooperation with Industrial Firms 

Cooperation with Industrial Companies 

Adolf Pfeiffer GmbH, Mannheim 

Aerotech GmbH, Nürnberg 

Agilent Technologies Italia S., Leini 

Air Liquide GmbH, Pfungstadt 

Alcatel, Wertheim 

Alternate Computer Versand, Linden 

American Astronomical Society, 

Washington D.C. 

Aqua Technik Gudat, Neulußheim 

Arlt Computer GmbH & Co.KG, 

Heidelberg 

asknet AG, Karlsruhe 

Aufzug-Service M. Gramlich GmbH, 

Ketsch 

AVIS, Oberursel 

B+S Express Transport GmbH, 

Weinheim 

Baader Planetarium GmbH, 

Mammendorf 

Baier Digitaldruck, Heidelberg 

Bechtle ÖA Direkt, Neckarsulm 

Bürklin OHG, Oberhaching 

Büro-Mix GmbH, Mannheim 

CADFEM GmbH, Grafing 

Carl Zeiss Optronics GmbH, 

Oberkochen 

Computacenter AG & Co oHG, 

Stuttgart 

COMTRONIC GmbH, Wilhelmsfeld 

Conrad Electronic SE, Hirschau 

Contag GmbH, Berlin 

Cryophysics GmbH, Darmstadt 

Dekra Akademie GmbH, Mannheim 

DELL-Computer GmbH, Frankfurt 

DELTA-V GmbH, Wuppertal 

Deti GmbH, Meckesheim 

DHL Express Germany GmbH, Köln 

Digi-Key c/o US Bank Minneapol, 

Enschede 

DPS Vakuum, Großrinderfeld 

Drucker Druck, Bietigheim 

DVS Dekont Vakuum Service GmbH, 

Erfurt 

E. Strauss GmbH & Co., 

Biebergemünd 

EDICO-Equipment GmbH, 

Nürnberg 

Edmund Optics GmbH, Karlsruhe 

Elektro-Steidl, Weinheim 

ELMA Electronic GmbH, Pforzheim 

ERNI Electronics GmbH, Adelberg 

esd electronic system design g, 

Hannover 

eSo - European Southern, Garching 

EUROstor GmbH, Filderstadt 

Faber Industrietechnik GmbH, 

Mannheim 

Farnell GmbH, Oberhaching 

Federal Express Europe Inc., 

Kelsterbach 

Fels Fritz GmbH Fachspedition, 

Heidelberg 

Fischer Elektronik GmbH & Co., 

Lüdenscheid 

FlowCAD EDA-Software Vertrieb, 

Feldkirchen 

Friedrich Wolf GmbH, Heidelberg 

Fritz Zugck, Leimen 

Funk Gruppe GmbH, Munich 

Gabler Werbeagentur GmbH, 

Munich 

Garlock GmbH, Neuss 

Geier Metall-u.Stahlhandel GmbH, 

Mannheim 

Gleich Service-Center Nord GmbH, 

Kaltenkirchen 

Graeff Container-u.Hallenbau GmbH, 

Mannheim 

Gummispezialhaus Körner, Eppelheim 

Guttroff Friedrich GmbH, Wertheim 

Häfele GmbH, Schriesheim 

Hagemeyer Germany GmbH &Co, 

Heidelberg 

Hahn u. Kolb GmbH, Stuttgart 

Halle Bernhard Nachfl. GmbH, Berlin 

Hauck GmbH, Heidelberg 

Haufe Service Center GmbH, 

Freiburg i. Br. 

Haus der Technik e.V., Essen 

HELBIG Medizintechnik, 

Neuenstadt 

Heuser Friedrich GmbH, Heidelberg 

Hewlett Packard GMBH, Böblingen 

Hewlett-Packard Direkt GmbH, 

Böblingen 

HM Industrieservice GmbH, Kronau 

Hoffmann, Göppingen 

Hofmann Menü GmbH, Boxberg/ 

Schweigern 

Hohmann Elektronik GmbH, 

Germering 

HSD Consult GmbH, Munich 

Hummer + Rieß GmbH, Nürnberg 

HWP Architekturbüro, Heidelberg 

infopaq Germany GmbH, 

Kornwestheim 

Ingenieurbüro Schlossmacher, 

Unterschleissheim 

INNEO Solutions GmbH, Ellwangen 

IOP Publishing Ltd., Bristol 

ITT Visual Informations GmbH, 

Gilching 

Jacobi Eloxal GmbH, Altlussheim 

JUMO GmbH & Co. KG, Fulda 

Jungheinrich Vertrieb Germany, 

Hamburg 

KA-WE GmbH, Schwetzingen 

Kai Ortlieb Buchbinderei, Eppelheim 

KAISER + KRAFT, Stuttgart 

Kaufmann, Horst W., Crailsheim- 

Wittau 

Keithley Instruments GmbH, 

Germering 

Kniel GmbH, Karlsruhe 

Konica Minolta Businesss, 

Mannheim 

Körber TH. GmbH, Sensbachtal/Odw. 

Kroll Ontrack GmbH, Böblingen 

L.+H. Hochstein GmbH + Co., 

Heidelberg 

Lapp Kabel GmbH, Stuttgart 

Laser Components, Olching 

Layertec GmbH, Mellingen 

LD Didactic AG & Co.KG, Hürth 

Lehmanns Fachbuchhandlung GmbH, 

Heidelberg 

LEIPERT Maschinenbau GmbH, 

Kraichtal-Landshausen 

Linde AG, Mainz-Kostheim 

Lufthansa AirPlus GmbH, Neu 

Isenburg 1 

Maas International GmbH, Bruchsal 

Mayer GmbH Omnibusbetrieb, 

Neckargemünd-Dilsberg 

Meilhaus Electronic GmbH, 

Puchheim 

Melitta Systemservice GmbH & Co., 

Minden-Dützen 

Melles Griot, Bensheim 

Microstaxx GmbH, Munich 

MTS Systemtechnik GmbH, 

Mertingen 

Müller Otto GmbH, Bammental 

Mura, Metallbau, Viernheim 

Murrplastik-System-Technik, 

Oppenweiler 

National Instruments GmbH, Munich 

NET GmbH - DENNER HOTEL, 

Heidelberg 

Neumann Rupert Druckerei, 

Heidelberg 

Newport Spectra-Physics GmbH, 

Darmstadt 

Nibler W. GmbH, Walldorf 

Nies Elektronic GmbH, Frankfurt

Ocean Optics Germany GmbH, 

Ostfildern 

Oerlikon, Köln 

Omnilab GmbH, Berlin 

Optima Research Ltd., Stansted 

OWIS GmbH, Staufen 

PFEIFFER VACUUM GmbH, Asslar 

Pfister BÜRO, Leimen/St.Ilgen 

Philipp Lahres GmbH, Weinheim 

Physik Instrumente (PI), Karlsruhe 

Phytec Messtechnik, Mainz 

Polytec GmbH, Waldbronn 

Pro-Com Datensysteme GmbH, 

Eislingen 

REEG GmbH, Wiesloch 

Reha-Klinik, Heidelberg 

Reichelt Elektronik, Sande 

Rexroth B., Lohr am Main 

Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, Heidelberg 

Rheintourist Reisebüro oHG, 

Heidelberg 

Rittal GmbH + Co.KG, Herborn 

RS Components GmbH, Mörfelden- 

Walldorf 

SAMTEC Germany, Germering 

Sanitär-Raess GmbH, Heidelberg 

Schäfer-Shop GmbH, Betzdorf 

Schroff GmbH, Straubenhardt 

Schulz H.u.G. Ingenieure, Heidelberg 

SCHUPA Schumacher GmbH, 

Walldorf 

servo Halbeck GmbH & Co.KG, 

Offenhausen 

Siemens AG, Mannheim 

Sky Blue Microsystems GmbH, 

Munich 

SMS System-Managment, Aachen 

SPHINX GmbH, Laudenbach 

Stadtwerke Heidelberg AG, 

Heidelberg 

Stäubli Tec Systems GmbH, Bayreuth 

Swets Information Services, Frankfurt 

a.M. 

synoTECH, Hückelhoven 

Tautz Druckluft+Sandstrahltechnik, 

Mannheim 

Technik Direkt, Würzburg 

The MathWorks GmbH, Ismaning 

Cooperation with Industrial Firms 107 

Theile Büro-Systeme, Speyer 

Thorlabs GmbH, Dachau 

ThyssenKrupp Plastics GmbH, 

Mannheim 

TLS Personenförderung GmbH, 

Heidelberg 

Topcart International GmbH, 

Erzhausen 

transtec AG, Tübingen 

Trinos Vakuum-Systeme GmbH, 

Göttingen 

TÜV Life Service GmbH, Munich 

TÜV Süd Industrie Service GmbH, 

Mannheim 

TWM Ottenstein GmbH, Mannheim 

Tydex J.S.Co, St. Petersburg 

United Parcel Service, Neuss 

VA-TEC GmbH & Co.KG, 

Wertheim 

VISION Engineering LTD, 

Emmering 

Walter Bautz GmbH, Griesheim 

Witzenmann GmbH, Pforzheim 

Wolters Kluwer Germany, Neuwied

108 Conferences, Scientific, and Popular Talks 

Conferences, Scientific, and Popular Talks 

Conferences Organized 

Conferences Organized at the institute: 

Conference “Astronomy meets Business – 1 st MPIA 

Job Information Day”, MPIA, 27. Jan. (K. Jäger, L. 

Burtscher, R. Andrae u.a.) 

carmeneS Interface meeting, 10. Feb. (R. Lenzen) 

Awarding of the pupils pizes of the “Agenda-Büro” of the city 

of Heidelberg at the MPIA/HdA, together with the LSW 

on 19. Apr. (C. Scorza, M. Pössel, K. Jäger, H. Mandel 

(LSW), Th. Henning, M. Voss, A. Quirrenbach (LSW) 

and others) 

Book Presentation “Im Himmel über Heidelberg, 40 Jahre 

Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie 1969 – 2009”, written 

by D. Lemke, 23. May (K. Jäger, M. Voss, D. Lemke, 

A. M. Quetz, M. Dueck, u.a.); 

MPIA Internal Symposium, 25. May (G. van de Ven, H. 

Klahr, K. Jäger, and others) 

Coordination Meeting with LBT representatives, 6. – 7. 

June (M. Kürster) 

Linc-nirvana AIV Review, 8. – 9. June (M. Kürster, R. 

Hofferbert) 

Gravity Progress Meeting, 4. – 5. July (R. Lenzen) 

Pan-StarrS 1 Science Consortium – Key Project 5 summer 

meeting, 4. – 5. July (N. Martin, H.-W. Rix) 

Gravity Consortium Meeting, MPIA, 4. – 6. July (S. 

Hippler, W. Brandner, S. Kendrew) 

LN Science Team Meeting, 20 Oct. (E. Schinnerer) 

Linc-nirvana Consortium Meeting, 20. – 21. Oct. (M. 

Kürster) 

Commemorative Colloquium for Jakob Staude, MPIA/ 

HdA, 15. Nov. (K. Jäger, M. Pössel, A. M. Quetz, U. 

Reichert, u.a.) 

Visit to Germany – Japan Round Table am MPIA/HdA, 1. 

Dec. (Th. Henning, M. Pössel, K. Jäger u.a.); 

Inauguration of the “Haus der Astronomie”, 16. Dec. (M. 

Pössel, M. Voss, K. Jäger, and others) 

Other Conferences Organized: 

Ringberg Conference on “Transport Processes and Accretion 

in YSO”, Ringberg Castle, 7. – 11. Feb. (R. van Boekel, 

A. Sicilia, M. Fang, Th. Henning) 

Scientic Project Management, Max-Planck-Haus, 

Heidelberg, 14. Feb. (M. Kürster, M. Perryman) 

Linc-nirvana Consortium Meeting, Padua, 24.–25. March, 

(M. Kürster) 

Gaia DPAC CU8 plenary meeting, Liege, Belgium, 26.–27. 

May (C. A. L. Bailer-Jones) 

Ringberg Workshop on “Geophysical and Astrophysical 

Fluid flow: Baroclinic Instability and Protoplanetary 

Accretion Disks”, Ringberg Castle, 14. – 18. June 

(Hubert Klahr, Helen Morrison, Natalie Raettig, Karsten 

Dittrich) 

PAWS Team Meeting, Schloss Neuburg, 24. – 26. June (A. 

Hughes, S. Meidt, E. Schinnerer) 

IMPRS Summer School “Characterizing exoplanets – 

from formation to atmospheres”, Max-Planck-Haus, 

Heidelberg, 1. – 5. Aug. (Chr. Fendt, K. Dullemond, L. 

Kaltenegger) 

Annual Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft 

“Surveys and Simulations – the real and the virtual 

Universe”, Sep. 19-34, Heidelberg (SOC-members: Th. 

Henning, H.-W. Rix, LOC-Member: K. Jäger) 

Meeting “Public Outreach in der Astronomie” at the 

Annual Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft in 

Heidelberg (K. Jäger, M. Pössel) 

Splinter-Session “Formation, atmospheres and evolution 

of brown dwarfs” at the Annual Meeting of the AG in 

Heidelberg, 20. – 21. Sept. (V. Joergens, B. Biller, W. 

Brandner) 

SeedS 2 nd General Workshop, Results, Techniques and 

New Developments, IWH, Heidelberg, 10. – 12. Oct. (B. 

Biller, M. Bonnefoy, M. Feld, Th. Henning) 

Galaxy and Cosmology Department Retreat, Schloss 

Engers, Neuwied, 17. – 19. Oct. (B. Conn, E. da Cunha, 

H.-W. Rix, T.-H. Witte-Nguy) 

Tagung “PSF workshop 2011”, Boppard am Rhein, 17. – 

19. Oct. (R. van Boekel S. Zhukovska, Th. Henning) 

MPIA-External Retreat, Obrigheim, 17. – 18. Nov. (K. 

Jäger, Th. Henning, H.-W. Rix, T.-H. Witte-Nguy) 

Conferences and Meetings Attended, 

Scientific Talks and Poster Contributions 

Angela Adamo: “PSF retreat”, Boppard, Oct. (Lecture); 

Head of the PSF splinter session “Clustered star formation” 

Coryn A. L. Bailer-Jones: EPSC-DPS Joint meeting, 

Nantes, Oct. (Poster); “Surveys & Simulation – The 

Real and the Virtual Universe”, Annual Meeting of the 

AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep. (Poster) 

Zoltan Balog: pacS ICC meeting in Garching, 8. – 10. Feb.; 

OT1. DP Workshop als Tutor, eSaC in Madrid, Spain, 

14. – 16. March, HCSS documentation Editorial Board 

meeting, London, UK, 21. – 26. Aug.; pacS Photometer 

Pipeline meeting, Heidelberg, 6. Oct.; pacS ICC meeting 

in Frascati, Italy, 17. – 18. Nov. 

Myriam Benisty: Transport Processes and Accretion in 

YSOs, Ringberg Castle, 7. – 11. Feb. (Lecture); Ten 

years of the VLTI, eSo Garching, 24. – 27. Oct. (Lecture) 

Carolina Bergfors: Exoplanets: Past, Present and Future, 

Lund, Schweden, 13. May; “From interacting binaries 

to exoplanet. – Essential modeling tools”, IAU 

Symposium 282, Tatranská Lomnica, Slowakei, 18. – 

22. July (Poster); “Surveys & Simulation – The Real 

and the Virtual Universe”, Annual Meeting of the 

AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep. (Poster); Formation and 

Evolution of Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs, 

Garching, 11. – 14. Oct. (Poster)

Yan Betremieux: “Surveys & Simulation – The Real and 

the Virtual Universe”, Annual Meeting of the AG, 

Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep.; PSF retreat, MPIA, Oct. 

Henrik Beuther: Jenam, St. Petersburg, Russia, 4. – 8. 

July (Lecture); Sofia Community days, Stuttgart, Feb./ 

March, iram large program consortium meeting, Paris, 

France, June (Lecture) 

Arjan Bik: Star Formation Across Space and Time: Frontier 

Science with the LBT and Other Large Telescopes”, 

Tucson, Arizona, USA, 31. Mar. – 2. Apr. (Lecture); 

“Stellar Clusters & Associations: A RIA Workshop on 

Gaia”, in Granada, Spain, 23. – 27. May (Lecture) 

Tilman Birnstiel: “Planet Formation and Evolution”, 

Göttingen, 14. – 16. Feb. (Lecture); eSo Headquaters, 

Garching, Jan. (Lecture); MPIK, Heidelberg, Feb. 

(Lecture); ILTS, Sapporo, Japan, Feb. (Lecture); 

University of Nagoya, Japan, Feb. (Lecture); University 

of Kyoto, Japan, Feb. (Lecture); USM, Munich, May 

(Lecture) 

Paul Boley: “Resolving the future of astronomy with longbaseline 

interferometry”, Socorro, NM, USA, 28. – 

31. March (Poster); “Physics of Space: 40 th Scientific 

Conference for Students” Kourovka, Russia, 31. Jan. – 4. 

Feb. (Lecture) 

Mickaël Bonnefoy: Conference Exploring Strange New 

Worlds, Flagstaff, USA, 1. – 6. May (Poster) 

Mauricio Cisternas: “2011. coSmoS Team meeting”, Zürich, 

Schweiz, 15. June (Lecture); “Galaxy Mergers in an 

Evolving Universe” Hualien, Taiwan, 23. Oct. (Lecture) 

Michelle Collins: The Third Subaru International 

Conference on Galactic Archaeology, Shuzenji, Japan, 

1. – 4. Nov. (Poster) 

Blair Conn: Assembling the puzzle of the Milky Way, Le 

Grand-Bornand France, 17. – 22. Apr. (Poster); “Surveys 

& Simulation – The Real and the Virtual Universe”, 

Annual Meeting of the AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep. 

(Lecture); The 3 rd Subaru Annual Conference, Shuzenji, 

Japan, 1. – 4. Nov. (Poster) 

Albert Conrad: Adaptive Optics Real-time Control System 

Workshop, Durham, UK, 13. – 14. Apr. (Lecture); 

Adaptive Optics for Extremely Large Telescopes II 

(AO4ELT2), Victoria, BC, Canada, 25. – 30. Sep. 

(Poster); European Planetary Science Congress and 

the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American 

Astronomical Society (EPSC-DPS) Joint meeting, 

Nantes, France, 3. – 7. Oct. (Poster) 

Neil Crighton: “The Cosmic Odyssey of Baryons: accreting, 

outflowing and hiding” Conference, Marseille, 

France, 20. – 24. June (Poster) 

Elisabete da Cunha: 3D-HST meeting, Leiden, The 

Netherlands, 4. March (Lecture); 3D-HST meeting, Yale, 

US, 9. – 12. May (Lecture); “Multiwavelength Views of 

the ISM in High-Redshift Galaxies”, eSo Conference, 

Santiago, Chile, 27. – 30. June (Lecture); “The Spectral 

Energy Distribution of Galaxies”, IAU Symposium, 

Preston, UK, 5. – 9. Sep. (Lecture); 3D-HST meeting, 

Leiden, The Netherlands, 10. – 14. Oct. (Lecture); MPIA 

Conferences, Scientific, and Popular Talks 109 

Galaxies & Cosmology department retreat, Schloss 

Engers, 17. – 19. Oct. (Lecture); “Watching Galaxies 

Grow Up”, Ringberg Workshop, Ringberg Castle, 5. – 9. 

Dec. 

Roberto Decarli: Bridging electromagnetic astrophysics 

and cosmology with gravitational waves, Milano, 

Italy, 28. – 30. March (Lecture); Narrow line Seyfert 1. 

Galaxies and their place in the Universe, Milano, Italy, 

4. – 6. Apr. (Lecture); Pan-StarrS Consortium meeting, 

Cambridge, USA, 18. – 21. May; “Single and dual black 

holes in galaxies”, Ann Arbour, USA, 22. – 25. Aug. 

(Lecture) 

Karsten Dittrich: HGSFP Winter School, Obergurgl, 

Österreich, 16. – 20. Jan. (Poster); Plant Formation and 

Evolution, Göttingen, 14. – 16. Feb. (Poster); Saas Fee 

Advanced Course, Villars-sur-Ollon, Schweiz, 3. – 9. 

Apr.; Baroclinic Discs, Ringberg Castle, 14. – 18. June 

(Lecture); “Surveys & Simulation – The Real and 


Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep.; SPP Treffen, Mainz, 17. – 19. 

Oct. (Lecture) 

Markus Feldt: “Surveys & Simulation – The Real and 


Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep. (Lecture) 

Wolfgang Gässler: arGoS consortium meeting, OAA, 

Florence, Italy, 22. – 23. March (Lecture); arGoS consortium 

meeting, LBTO, Tucson, USA, 11. – 12. Aug. 

(Lecture); arGoS meeting on Tip/Tilt sensor, MPIA, 

Heidelberg, 12. – 13. Sep.; arGoS software meeting, 

MPE, Garching, 14. – 16. Nov; arGoS software meeting, 

OAA, Florence, Italy, 12. – 14. Dec. 

Mario Gennaro: Stellar Clusters & Association – A RIA 

workshop on Gaia, Granada, Spain, May (Lecture) 

Bertrand Goldman: “Surveys & Simulation – The Real 

and the Virtual Universe”, Annual Meeting of the AG, 

Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep. (Poster, Lecture) 

Brent Groves: “DF-SPP: Physics of the Interstellar 

Medium”, Freising, 2. – 3. March (Poster); “herScheL 

and the Characteristics of Dust in Galaxies”, Lorentz 

Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands, 28. Feb. – 4. March 

(Lecture); “KinGfiSh Team meeting, IAP, Paris, France, 

3. – 5. July (Lecture); “IAU Symp. 284: The Spectral 

Energy Distribution of Galaxies”, UCLan, Preston, UK, 

5. – 9. Sep. (Lecture) 

Siddharth Hegde: “Extrasolar Planets: Towards 

Comparative Planetology beyond the Solar System”, 

483. Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Seminar, Bad Honnef, 

5. – 8. June; Characterizing Exoplanet – From Formation 

to Atmospheres”, 6 th Heidelberg Summer School “, 

Heidelberg, 1. – 5. Aug.; “Characterizing Extrasolar 

Planet – from Giant to Rocky Planets”, Annual Meeting 

of the AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 24. Sep. (Poster); “From 

the Early Universe to the Evolution of Life”, German- 

Japan Round Table Conference, Heidelberg, 1. – 3. Dec. 

(Poster); “Sao Paulo Advanced School of Astrobiology 

(SpaSa)”, Summer School, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 11. – 20. 

Dec. (Poster)


Thomas Henning: “Surveys & Simulation – The Real 


Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep. (Lecture); PS1. Consortium 

meeting, Harvard, USA, 16. – 20. May; hopS Consortium 

meeting, Rochester, USA, 18. May; diGit Consortium 

meeting, Pasadena, USA, 11. – 15. July 

Stefan Hippler: Gravity Consortium meeting, eSo 

Garching, 31. Mar. – 1. Apr.; metiS Team meeting: MPE 

Garching, 27. – 29. June; Ten years of VLTI: From First 

frinGes to Core Science, Conference, eSo Garching, 

24. – 27. Oct. (Poster) 

Jacqueline A. Hodge: German aLma Early Science 

Community Day, Bonn, 16. – 17. Feb.; Multiwavelength 

Views of the ISM in High-Redshift Galaxies, Santiago, 

Chile, 27. – 30. June (Lecture); Galaxy Mergers in an 

Evolving Universe, Hualien, Taiwan, 23. – 28. Oct. 

(Lecture) 

Rory Holmes: SPIE Optics + Photonics, San Diego, USA, 

12. – 14. Aug. (Poster) 

Annie Hughes: “MW2011. The Milky Way In The 

herScheL Era: Towards A Galaxy-Scale View Of The 

Star Formation Life-Cycle”, Rome, Italy, 19. – 23. Sep. 

(Lecture and Poster); “Formation and Development of 

Molecular Cloud – prospects for high resolution spectroscopy 

with CCAT”, Cologne, 5. – 7. Oct. (Poster) 

Cornelia Jäger: “Formation of GemS from interstellar silicate 

dust.” 2 nd Annual meeting of the SPP 1385, Mainz, 17. – 

19. Oct. (Lecture); “UV-VIS spectroscopy of astrophysically 

relevant PAHs”, 23 nd International Symposium on 

Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (ISPAC23), Münster, 

September 4. – 8. Sep. (Poster) 

Klaus Jäger: Meeting of the Rat Deutscher Sternwarten 

(RDS), Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, 

Garching, 23. March, meeting of the LBT-associated company 

(LBTB), Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, 

Bonn, 12. Apr.; Naturejobs Career Expo, European 

Molecular Laboratory (EMBL), (Lecture), Advanced 

Training Centre, Heidelberg, 9. May; Meeting of the 

scientific council of the “International Summer Science 

School Heidelberg”, Palais Graimberg, Heidelberg, 26. 

May; Meeting of the Rat Deutscher Sternwarten (RDS), 

Heidelberg University, 19. Sep.; “Surveys & Simulation 

– The Real and the Virtual Universe”, Annual Meeting of 

the AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 24. Sep.; Meeting of the scientific 

council of the “International Summer Science School 

Heidelberg”, Palais Graimberg, Heidelberg, 13. Oct.; Visit 

of the German-Japan Round Table at the MPIA/HdA, 

Heidelberg, 1. Dec. (Lecture). 

Katharine G. Johnston: German aLma Early Science 

Community Day, Bonn, 16. – 17. Feb.; Formation and 

Development of Molecular Cloud – prospects for high 

resolution spectroscopy with CCAT, Cologne University, 

5. – 7. Oct. 

Jouni Kainulainen: The Milky Way in the herScheL Era, 

Rome, Italy, 19. – 23. Sep. (Lecture and Poster) 

Vesselina Kalinova: 1 st project meeting of caLifa survey, 

Almeria, Spain, Apr. (Lecture); Conference Galaxy evo- 

lution, Durham University, UK, July (Poster); Galaxy 

coffee, MPIA Heidelberg, Aug. (Lecture); Winter School 

of Astrophysics “Secular Evolution of Galaxies”, Puerto 

de La Cruz, Tenerife, Spain, 14. – 25. Nov. (Poster); 2 nd 

project meeting of caLifa survey, La Laguna, Tenerife, 

Spain, 29. Nov. – 2. Dec. (Lecture) 

Lisa Kaltenegger: Lecture Board of Trustees, 11. Oct.; 

EChO meeting, Paris, France, Apr.; metiS meeting, MPE, 

Garching, June; teSS meeting, MIT, Boston, USA, Oct.; 

GMT meeting, CfA, Boston, USA, Oct. 

Alexander Karim: annual coSmoS collaboration meeting, 

ETH Zürich, 17. June (Lecture); Public outreach splinter 

of the annual meeting of the AG, Heidelberg, 22. Sep. 

(Lecture); High redshift star formation splinter of the annual 

meeting of the AG, Heidelberg, 21. Sep. (Lecture) 

Sarah Kendrew: Gravity science meeting, Paris, France, 

3. – 4. Jan; SciFoo conference, Googleplex, Mountain 

View, California, USA, 12. – 14. Aug. (invitation-only); 

The multi-wavelength view of the Galactic Centre workshop, 

Heidelberg, 17. – 20. Oct. 

Ulrich Klaas: pacS ICC meeting #37, Garching, 8. – 10. 

Feb. 

Hubert Klahr: Transport Processes and Accretion in YSO’s, 

Ringberg Castle, 7. – 11. Feb. (Lecture) 

Rainer Köhler: “Astronomy with Long-Baseline Inter ferome 

try”, Socorro, New Mexico, USA, 28. – 31. March 

(Poster); “Surveys & Simulations – The Real and 


Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep. (Poster); “Formation and 

Early Evolution of Very Low Mass Stars and Brown 

Dwarfs”, eSo Garching, 11. – 14. Oct. (Poster) 

Serge A. Krasnokutski: “Reactions of Si atoms and clusters 

in helium nanodroplets”, 482 nd Wilhelm and Else 

Heraeus Seminar: Helium Nanodroplet – Confinement 

for Cold Molecules and Cold Chemistry, Bad Honnef, 

30. May – 1. June (Poster) 

Oliver Krause: Sofia Community day, University Stuttgart, 

Feb.; Conference Exploring Strange New Worlds, 

Flagstaff, USA, May (Poster); Binary Pathways to type 

Ia Supernova explosions – IAU Symposium 281: Padua, 

Italy, June (Poster); 

The Third Subaru International Conference on Galactic 

Archaeology, Shuzenji, Japan, Nov. (Lecture) 

Natalia Kudryavtseva: Paris Gravity science team meeting, 

Paris, France, Feb. (Lecture); “Ten years of VLTI”, 

Garching Conference, Garchin, Oct. (Poster) 

Martin Kürster: Scientific Project Management, Max Planck 

House Heidelberg, 14. Feb. (with M. Perryman) 

Ralf Launhardt: The Milky Way in the herScheL Era, 

Rome, Italy, 19. – 23. Sep. (Poster) 

Roger Lee: “Surveys & Simulation – The Real and 


Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep. 

Christian Leipski: New Horizons for High Redshift, 

Cambridge, UK, 25. – 29. July (Attendee); The Central 

Kiloparsec in Galactic Nuclei, Bad Honnef, 29. Aug. – 2. 

Sep. (Lecture)

Dietrich Lemke: “400 Jahre Sternwarten in Heidelberg 

und der Kurpfalz – Vom Universitätsgarten in der 

Plöck zum Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie auf dem 

Königstuhl”, Annual Meeting of the Astronomische 

Gesellschaft, Workshop Astronomie-Geschichte, 

Mannheim, 19. Sep. (Lecture) 

Rainer Lenzen: metiS Calibration, Universität Leuven, 

Belgium, 21. Jan.; Gravity progress meeting, MPE 

Garching, 31. May – 1. Apr.; metiS progress meeting, 

MPE Garching, 28. – 29. June; Carmenes Preliminary 

Design Review, CSIC headquarters, Madrid, Spain, 

18. – 21. July; carmeneS FDR Preparation meeting, TH 

Zürich, Schweiz, 4. – 7. Oct.; Conference on Polarimetry 

with the E-ELT, Universität Utrecht, The Netherlands, 

29. – 30. Nov; carmeneS meeting, IAA Granada, Spain, 

12. – 14. Dec. 

Hendrik Linz: atLaSGaL Consortium meeting, MPIfR 

Bonn, 18. May; herScheL/pacS ICC meeting, MPE 

Garching, 1. May – 1. June; “Resolving the Future 

of Astronomy with Long-Baseline Interferometry”, 

Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometry Workshop 

New Mexico Tech, Fidel Center, Socorro, New Mexico, 

USA, 28. – 31. March (Poster); Conference MW2011: 

The Milky Way in the herScheL Era “Angelicum” 

Congress Centre, Rome, Italy, 19. – 23. Sep. (Lecture); 

Retreat of the PSF Department of MPIA, Boppard, 17. – 

19. Oct.; herScheL/pacS ICC meeting, IFSI Rome, 

Italy, 17. – 18. Nov. 

Nils Lippok: The Milky Way in the herScheL Era, 

Rome, Italy, 19. – 23. Sep. (Poster); Formation and Early 

Evolution of Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs, 

eSo Garching, 11. – 14. Nov. (Poster) 

Mariya Lyubenova: caLifa Busy Week 2, IAC, La Laguna, 

Tenerife, Spain, 29. Nov. – 2. Dec. (Lecture) 

Andrea V. Macciò: Galaxy Formation, Durham, UK, 18. – 

22. July (Poster) 

Luigi Mancini: XV International Conference on Gravitational 

Microlensing, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy, 

20. – 22. Jan. (Lecture); “Surveys & Simulation – The 

Real and the Virtual Universe”, Annual Meeting of the 

AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep.; Exoplanetary Science 

with harpS-N, Padova, Italy, 28. – 29. Nov. (Lecture) 

Nicholas Martin: PAndAS Collaboration meeting, Toronto, 

Canada, 28. – 30. March (Lecture); “Assembling 

the Puzzle of the Milky Way”, Le Grand Bornand, 

France, 18. – 22. Apr. (Lecture); Pan-StarrS 1. Science 

Consortium meeting, Boston, USA, 18. – 20. May 

(Lecture); American Astronomical Society meeting, 

Boston, USA, 23. – 27. May 23.-27. (Lecture); Pan- 

StarrS 1. Science Consortium – Key Project 5. Summer 

meeting, Heidelberg, 4. – 5. July (Lecture); “Galaxy 

Formation”, Durham, UK, 18. – 22. July (Lecture); 

The Third Subaru International Conference, Shuzenji, 

Japan, 1. – 4. Nov. 

Klaus Meisenheimer: “Surveys & Simulation – The Real 




Yamila Miguel: “Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Seminar 

Extrasolar Planets: Towards Comparative Planetology 

beyond the Solar System”, Bad Honnef, 5. – 8. June 

(Poster); “WG3. Nitrogen in planetary systems: The 

Early Evolution of the Atmospheres of Terrestrial 

Planets”, Institute of Space Sciences (CSIC-IEEC), 

Barcelona, Spain, 21. – 23. Sep. (Lecture); “German- 

Japan Round Table: From the Early Universe to the 

Evolution of Life”, Heidelberg University, 1. – 3. 

Dec. (Poster); “SpaSa: SaoPaulo Advanced School of 

Astrobiology”, Universidade de Sao Paulo. Instituto de 

Astronomia, Geofisica e Ciencias Atmosfericas:, Sao 

Paulo, Brasilien, 11. – 20. Dec. (Poster) 

Maren Mohler: Planet formation and evolution, Göttingen, 

14. – 16. Feb. (Poster); 14 th eSpri science team meeting, 

Heidelberg, 26. – 27. May; “Extrasolar Planet – 

Towards comparative planetology beyond the Solar 

System”, Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Seminar, Bad 

Honnef, 6. – 8. June (Poster); “Characterizing extrasolar 

planet atmospheres”, Summerschool, Heidelberg, 1. – 5. 

Aug.; “Surveys & Simulation – The Real and the Virtual 

Universe”, Annual Meeting of the AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 

23. Sep.; PSF retreat, 17. – 19. Oct. (Boppard, Lecture); 

eSpri science team meeting, Garching, 7. Nov. 

Christoph Mordasini: EChO workshop, Paris, France, 24. 

March (Lecture); Extreme Solar Systems II conference, 

Jackson Hole, USA, 16. Sep. (Lecture); German-Japan 

Round Table meeting, Heidelberg, 5. Dec. (Lecture) 

Helen Morrison: “Planet Formation and Evolution” 

Göttingen, 14. – 16. Feb. (Poster) 

André Müller: MPIA PSF group retreat, Boppard am Rhein, 

17. – 19. Oct. (Lecture); MPIA PSF-Seminar, 27. July 

(Lecture) 

Reinhard Mundt: 217 th AAS Meetin Seattle, WA, 9. – 13. 

Jan. (Poster); “carmeneS technical meeting on NIR 

channel interfaces”, MPIA Heidelberg, 9. – 10. Feb.; 

carmeneS Preliminary Design Review, Madrid, Spain, 

18. – 21. July; 1 st carmeneS technical meeting for 

FDR preparation, LSW, Heidelberg, 4. – 7. Oct.; First 

carmeneS Science meeting, Göttingen, 5. – 7. Oct. 

Markus Nielbock: herScheL pacS ICC meeting, MPE, 

Garching, 8. – 10. Feb. (Lecture); MPG Science 

Management Seminar, NH Hotel, Hamburg, 11. March, 

herScheL Calibration Steering Group meeting, eStec, 

Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 12. Apr. (Lecture); 

herScheL: In Orbit Performance Review, eSoc, 

Darmstadt, 24. May; herScheL pacS ICC meeting, 

MPE, Garching, 31. May – 1. June (Lecture); herScheL 

Calibration Steering Group meeting, MPE, Garching, 

9. Sep. (Lecture); “Surveys & Simulation – The Real 


Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep.; herScheL pacS Photometer 

Calibration Colocation, MPIA Heidelberg, 6. Oct.; MPIA 

PSF Group Retreat, Boppard, 17. – 19. Oct.; herScheL 

pacS ICC meeting, IFSI, Rome/Frascati, Italy, 17. – 18. 

Nov. (Lecture); herScheL Pointing Working Group 

meeting, eSoc, Darmstadt, 29. – 30. Nov.


Sladjana Nikolic: Cosmic rays and their interstellar medium 

environment, Montpellier, France, 26. Jun. – 1. 

July (Poster); 16 th National conference of astronomers 

of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia, 10. – 12. Oct. (Lecture); 

Summer school: High energy astrophysics, Dublin, 

Ireland, 3. – 15. July 

Johan Olofsson: “Planet Formation and Evolution”, 

Göttingen, Feb. (Lecture) 

Alexey Pavlov: Sphere Data Reduction and Handling 

meeting, IWH (Internationales Wissenschaftsforum 

Heidelberg), Heidelberg, 19. – 21. Jan, (Organisator, 

Lecture); Sphere Science-DRH meeting, ipaG, Grenoble, 

France, 12. – 14. Oct. (Lecture) 

Diethard Peter: AO4ELT2, Victoria, Canada, 25. – 30. Sep. 

(Poster) 

Oliver Porth: Understanding Relativistic Jets, Krakow, 

Poland, 23. – 26. May (Poster); “The Central Kiloparsec 

in Galactic Nuclei (AHAR11)”, Bad Honnef, 29. Aug. – 

2. Sep. (Lecture) 

Axel M. Quetz: “Surveys & Simulation – The Real and 



Natalie Raettig: Planet Formation and Evolution, Göttingen, 

14. – 16. Feb. (Lecture); Ringberg Workshop on 

“Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Flow: Baraclinic 

Instability and Protoplanetary Accretion Disks”, 

Ringberg Castle, 14. – 18. June (Lecture) 

Sarah Ragan: Building on New Worlds, New Horizons, 

Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 7. – 10. March (Lecture); 

aLma community days, eSo Garching, 6. – 7. Apr.; 

MW2011: The Milky Way in the herScheL Era, 

Rome, Italy, 19. – 23. Sep. (Poster); “Formation and 

Development of Molecular Cloud – prospects for high 

resolution spectroscopy with CCAT”, Cologne, 5. – 7. 

Oct. (Poster) 

Hans-Walter Rix: eucLid Consortium meeting, eStec 

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 27. May; Great meeting, 

IAP Paris, France, 10. June; Galaxy Formation 

Conference, Durham, UK, 18. – 20. July; “Surveys & 

Simulation – The Real and the Virtual Universe”, Annual 

Meeting of the AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep.; nirSpec 

Science meeting, Madrid, Spain, 4. – 5. Oct.; phat meeting, 

Seattle, USA, 9. – 12. Nov. 

Boyke Rochau: Stellar Clusters & Associations: A RIA 

Workshop on Gaia, Granada, Spain, 23. – 27. May 

(Lecture) 

Ralf-Rainer Rohloff: Annular meeting of the American 

Society for Precision Engineering, Denver, USA, 13. – 

18. Nov. 

Gaël Rouillé: “Spectroscopy of PAHs with carbon side 

chains”, IAU Symposium 280: The Molecular Universe, 

Toledo, Spain, 30. May – 3. June; “A search for PAHs 

in the ISM: High-resolution UV observations confronted 

with laboratory spectra”, IAU Symposium 280: The 

Molecular Universe, Toledo, Spain, 30. May – 3. June 

(Poster) (together with R. Gredel, Y. Carpentier, M. 

Steglich, F. Huisken, Th. Henning) 

Karin Sandstrom: “From Dust to Galaxies” Paris, France, 

27. Jun. – 2. July (Lecture); “herScheL and the 

Characteristics of Dust in Galaxies”, Leiden, The 

Netherlands, 28. Feb. – 4. March (Lecture); 217 th 

American Astronomical Society meeting, Seattle, USA, 

9. – 13. Jan. (Lecture) 

Silvia Scheithauer: JWST miri European Consortium 

meeting, Leiden, The Netherlands, 6. – 8. Sep.; “Surveys 


Annual Meeting of the AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep. 

Eva Schinnerer: 217 th meeting of the American 

Astronomical Society, Seattle, USA, 9. – 13. Jan. 

(Poster); “Extending the Limits of Astrophysical 

Spectroscopy”, aLma Workshop, Victoria, Canada, 

15. – 18. Jan; coSmoS Team meeting, ETH/Zürich, 

Schweiz, 13. – 17. June (Lecture); KinGfiSh Team 

meeting, IAP, Paris, France, 4. – 5. July (Lecture); LN 

Consortium meeting, MPIA, Heidelberg, 20. – 21. Oct. 

(Lecture) 

Kasper Borello Schmidt: 3D-HST meeting, Leiden, The 

Netherlands, 3. – 7. March (Lecture); 3D-HST meeting, 

New Haven, USA, 9. – 12. May (Lecture); “How 

a Space Project Works”, eLixir School, Nordwijk, 

The Netherlands, 18. – 21. May; “Galaxy Formation”, 

Durham, UK, 18. – 22. July (Poster); eLixir annual 

meeting, Madrid, Spain, 5. – 6. Oct. (Lecture); 3D-HST 

meeting, Leiden, The Netherlands, 10. – 14. Oct. 

(Lecture) 

Kirsten Schnülle: ahar (Astronomy at high angular 

resolution) conference, Bad Honnef, 29. Aug. – 2. Sep. 

(Poster) 

Andreas Schruba: 217 th AAS meeting, Seattle, USA, 

9. – 13. Jan. (Dissertationsvortrag); SPP Workshop of 

DFG Priority Programme 1177, Bad Honnef, 7. – 9. 

July (Lecture); aLma Community Day, eSo, Garching, 

6. – 7. Apr. 

Tim Schulze-Hartung: eSpri Science Team meeting, 

Heidelberg, 26. – 27. May; eSpri Science Team meeting, 

Garching, 7. Nov. 

Dmitry A. Semenov: German-Japanese meeting, 

Uni Heidelberg, 1. – 3. Dec. (Poster); “Isotopes in 

Astrochemistry”, Lorentz workshop, Leiden, The 

Netherlands, Dec. 5. – 9. Dec. (Chair) 

Aurora Sicilia: “Ringberg Conference on Transport 

Processes and Accretion in YSO”, Ringberg Castle, 

Feb. (Lecture) 

Robert Singh: “Surveys & Simulation – The Real and 


Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep.; caLifa 2 nd Busy Week, IAC 

at La Laguna, Tenerife, 29. Nov. – 2. Dec. (Lecture) 

Kester Smith: “Astrostatistics and data mining in large 

astronomical surveys”, La Palma, Spain, 30. May – 3. 

June (Lecture) 

Mathias Steglich: “Electronic spectroscopy of neutral and 

ionized PAHs in inert gas matrices?”, International 

Conference on Interstellar Dust, Molecules and 

Chemistry, Pune, India, 22. – 25. Nov. (Lecture)

Greg Stinson: “Surveys & Simulation – The Real and 


Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep.; “Watching Galaxies Grow 

Up”, Ringberg Castle, 4. – 9. Dec. 

Amelia Stutz: AAS, Seattle, WA, 9. – 13. Jan. (Lecture); 

ISM-SPP, Freising, 2. – 3. May (Poster); hopS meeting, 

Rochester, USA, 16. – 20. May (Lecture); The Milky 

Way in the herScheL Era, Rome, Italy, 19. – 23. Sep. 

(Poster); PSF workshop, 17. – 19. Oct. 

Paraskevi Tsalmantza: “8 th Gaia CU8. meeting”, Liege, 

Belgium, 4. – 5. May (Lecture); “Joint Workshop & 

Summer School on Astrostatistics and Data Mining of 

Large Astronomical Databases”, La Palma, Canary islands, 

Spain, 30. May – 3. June (Lecture) 

Ana Uribe: Advances in Computational Astrophysics, 

Cefalu, Italy, June (Poster) 

Roy van Boekel: EChO community meeting, Meudon, 

France, 23. – 24. March (Lecture) 

Glenn van de Ven: “1 st caLifa Busy Week”, Almeria, 

Spain, 11. – 15. Apr. (Lecture); “Expanding the 

Universe”, Tartu, Estland, 27. – 29. Apr.; “Surveys 


Annual Meeting of the AG, Heidelberg, 19. – 23. Sep.; 

MPIA Galaxy & Cosmology Retreat, Neuwied, 17. – 

19. Oct. (Lecture) 

Tessel van der Laan: KinGfiSh team meeting, Paris, France, 

4. – 5. July, AHAR2011, Bad Honnef, 28. Aug. – 2. Sep. 

(Lecture); IMPRS retreat, Köllbachhaus Simmersfeld, 

23. – 26. March (Lecture) 

Arjen van der Wel: “Galaxy Formation”, Durham, UK, 

18. – 22. July (Lecture); “Watching Galaxies Grow Up”, 

Ringberg Castle, 4. – 9. Dec. (Lecture) 

Bram Venemans: VST atLaS Science Kick-off meeting, 

Durham, UK 5. Dec. (Lecture) 

Fabian Walter: aLma Regional Center meeting, Bonn 

University, Bonn, Feb.; Pan-StarrS 1. Collaboration 

meeting, CfA Cambridge, USA May; eSo aLma meeting, 

Santiago, Chile, June (Lecture) 

Laura Watkins: “Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way”, 

Le Grand-Bornand, France, 17. – 22. Apr. (Lecture); 

“Surveys & Simulation – The Real and the Virtual 

Universe”, Annual Meeting of the AG, Heidelberg, 

19. – 23. Sep. 

Yujin Yang: “The Cosmic Odyssey of Baryons: accreting, 

outflowing and hiding”, Conference, Marseille, France, 

20. – 24. June (Lecture); Conference “Young and Bright: 

Understanding High Redshift Structures”, Potsdam, 

12. – 16. Sep. (Lecture) 

Miaomiao Zhang: “Stellar Clusters and Associations-A RIA 

Workshop on Gaia”, The Congress Centre of Granada, 

Spain, 23. – 27. May (Poster) 

Xianyu Zhang: “Optimal Natural Guide Star Acquisition for 

the Linc-nirvana MCAO system”, Victoria, Canada, 

25. – 30. Sep.; 

Svitlana Zhukovska: “From Dust to Galaxies”, Paris, 

France, 27. Jun. – 1. July (Poster); PSF workshop, MPIA 

Heidelberg, 17. – 19. Oct. (Lecture) 

Invited Talks, Colloquia 


Coryn A. L. Bailer-Jones: “Unravelling the impact of 

astronomical phenomena on the Earth”, Institute for 

Astrophysics, Universität Göttingen, Dec. (Colloquium) 

Myriam Benisty: Institut de Planetologie et d’Astrophysique 

de Grenoble, Grenoble, France, Feb. (Colloquium); 

Sterrenkundig Instituut “Anton Pannekoek”, Amsterdam, 

The Netherlands, Nov. (Colloquium) 

Henrik Beuther: University Calgary, Canada, Oct. 

(Colloquium); Hertzberg Institute for Astronomy, 

Victoria, Canada, Oct. (Colloquium) 

Arjan Bik: Seminar at the massive star group meeting, 

University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 

11. March 

Tilman Birnstiel: “Baroclinic Disks”, Ringberg Castle, 

14. – 17. June (Lecture) 

Paul Boley: “Radiative transfer and spectra of objects from 

the interstellar medium,” Kourovka, Russia, 4. – 5. Feb. 

(Lecture) 

Mickaël Bonnefoy: “The Beta Pictoris system: a disk, a 

planet, and much more”, MPIA Heidelberg, 20. May 

(Colloquium); “NIR spectra of young low mass companions: 

from observations to theory”, MPIA Heidelberg, 

20. Dec. (Colloquium), “The Beta Pictoris system: a 

disk, a planet, and much more”, IFA, Honolulu, Hawaii, 

21. March (Colloquium) 

Mauricio Cisternas: MPIA & LSW Hauskolloquium, MPIA 

Heidelberg, 18. Feb. (Colloquium) 

Albert Conrad: The Astronomy Department of the University 

of California at Berkeley, 20. Aug. (Colloquium) 

Elisabete da Cunha: “Star formation in galaxy clusters”, 

Workshop, Nice, France, 6. – 8. June (Lecture) 

Niall Deacon: “A solar neighbourhood proper motion survey 

with PS1+2MASS”, eSo Seminar, Formation and 

Early Evolution of Very Low Mass Stars and Brown 

Dwarfs, Garching, 12. Oct. (Lecture) 

Roberto Decarli: “Single and dual black holes in galaxies”, 

Ann Arbour, USA, 22. – 25. Aug. (Lecture) 

Kees Dullemond: Ringberg meeting on accretion, 

Ringberg Castle, 7. – 9. Feb. (Lecture); Meeting on 

planet formation, Goettingen, 14. – 16. Feb. (Lecture); 

Exoplanet Meeting, Bad Honnef, 5. – 8. June (Lecture); 

Joint Colloquium, Leiden Observatory, Leiden, The 

Netherlands, 27. Jan. (Colloquium); Colloquium, Lund 

Observatory, Lund, Sweden, 31. March (Colloquium); 

Colloquium, University of Kiel, 6. July (Colloquium) 

Christian Fendt: “MHD simulations of jet formation – relativistic 

jets and radiative jets”, Conference: “The central 

kiloparsec in galactic nuclei”, Bad Honnef, 29. Aug. – 2. 

Sep. (Lecture) 

Wolfgang Gässler: 112. Jahrestagung Deutsche Gesellschaft 

für Angewandte Optik, TU Ilmenau, 14. – 18. June 

(Lecture) 

Dimitrios A. Gouliermis: Colloquium at the Stellar 

Population Journal Club, STScI, Baltimore MD, USA, 

22. July (Colloquium)


Roland Gredel: KIS Freiburg, 8. Dec. (Colloquium) 

Brent Groves: “From Dust to Galaxies”, IAP, Paris France, 

27. June – 1. July 

Thomas Henning: Transport Processes and Accretion 

in YSOs, Ringberg Castle, 7. – 11. Feb. (Lecture); 

herScheL and the Characteristics of Dust in Galaxies, 

Workshop, Leiden, The Netherlands, 28. Feb. – 4. March 

(Lecture); Star Formation across Space and Time: 

Frontier Science with the LBT and other Large Facilities, 

Tucson, USA, 31. March – 2. Apr. (Lecture); Molecular 

Networks: Connecting the Universe, Amsterdam, The 

Netherlands, 18. – 20. Apr. (Lecture); Frontier Science 

Opportunities with the James Webb Space Telescope, 

Baltimore, USA, 6. – 8. June (Lecture); “From Dust 

to Galaxies”, IAP-SAP Colloquium, Paris, France, 

24. June – 1. July (Lecture); “Star Formation across 

the Universe”, Summer School, Alpbach, Österreich, 

19. – 23. Jul1 (Invited Talk and Discussions); European 

Conference on Laboratory Astrophysics, Paris, France, 

26. – 30. Sep. (Lecture); International Conference on 

Interstellar Dust, Molecules, and Chemistry, Pune, India, 

22. – 25. Nov. (Lecture); Formation of Massive Stars, 

University of Vienna, Austria, 27. June (Colloquium); 

From Protoplanetary Disks to Extrasolar Planets, 

Littrow Lecture, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wien, 

Austria, 12. Oct. 2012. (Colloquium); Protoplanetary 

Disks: From Dust to Gas, Berkeley, USA, 27. Oct. 

(Colloquium) 

Friedrich Huisken: “Optical properties of silicon-based 

nanomaterials: Ensemble and single particle spectroscopy 

of silicon nanocrystals and silicon oxide nanoparticles”, 

Korean Institute of Energy Research, 

University of Daejeon, South Korea, 28. March 

(Seminar); “Photoluminescence studies on size-selected 

silicon nanocrystals”, School of Materials Science and 

Engineering, University of Ulsan, South Korea, 29. 

March (Seminar); “Laboratory Experiments for the 

Interpretation of Astrophysical Phenomena”, Seminar 

des Sonderforschungsbereichs 956, I. Physikalisches 

Institut der Universität zu Köln, 7. Nov. (Lecture) 

Klaus Jäger: “Astrophysik mit dem hubbLe-Welt raumteleskop”, 

Physikalisches Kolloquium der Universität 

Mannheim, 14. Apr.; “Astronomy/Physics meets 

Business – Job Careers for Astronomers and Physicists”, 

Naturejobs Career Expo, European Molecular Laboratory 

(EMBL), Advanced Training Centre, Heidelberg, 9. May 

Knud Jahnke: “Galaxy Mergers in an Evolving Universe”, 

Hualien, Taiwan, 23. – 28. Oct. (Lecture); “Watching 

Galaxies Grow Up”, Ringberg Castle, 4. – 9. Dec. 

(Lecture); „Scaling relations between galaxies and 

their central black holes: Facts and fiction”, Univ. 

Southampton, USA, 4. May (Colloquium) 

Lisa Kaltenegger: UMass Amherst, USA, Jan.; University 

of Bern, CH, March; “Spectral evolution of an Earthlike 

planet, Search for signs of life, Super-Earths and 

Life”, MPI für Radioastronomie, Bonn, Apr. (Lecture); 

Weltrauminstitute Graz, Österreich, Apr. (Lecture) 

Alexander Karim: iram visitors Colloquium, iram, 

Grenoble, 8. March (Lecture); Ringberg workshop 

“Watching galaxies grow up”, Ringberg Castle, 5. Dec. 

(Lecture) 

Hubert Klahr: “Role of turbulence in the formation of 

planets”, Turbulent Mixing and Beyond, Trieste, Italy, 

21. – 28. Aug. (Review-Lecture); “The Nature and Role 

of Turbulence in Planet Formation: Magnetorotational 

and Baroclinic Instability”, KITP Workshop: “The 

Nature of Turbulence”, Santa Barbara, 7. Feb. – 3. June; 

“Rayleigh Benard Convection in Rotating Shear Flows”, 

KITP Workshop: “The Nature of Turbulence”, Santa 

Barbara, 7. Feb. – 3. June; “From thermal Convection 

in Protoplanetary Accretion Disks to Baroclinic 

Instability”, Ringberg Workshop on Geophysical and 

Astrophysical Fluid flow: Baroclinic Instability and 

Protoplanetary Accretion Disks, Ringberg Castle, 14. – 

18. June (Review-Lecture); “The Role of Turbulence in 

Planet Formation”, Colloquium, Univ. Braunschweig, 

10. Jan. (Colloquium); “The Role of Turbulence in 

Planet Formation”, Colloquium, Univ. Zürich, Schweiz, 

14. Apr. (Colloquium); “Gravoturbulent Planetesimal 

Formation”, Colloquium at the National Astronomical 

Observatories of China (NAOC), Bejing, China, 30. 

Nov. (Colloquium); “The Role of Turbulence in Planet 

Formation – From colliding boulders to migrating 

planets”, Colloquium, KIAA Institute, Bejing Univ. 

Bejing, China, 1. Dec. (Colloquium); “Planet Formation 

from Dust to Planetesimals” Colloquium, Institute 

of Process Engineering (IPE), Chinese Academy of 

Sciences, Peking, China, 2. Dec. (Colloquium) 

Oliver Krause: “Exoplanet Characterization Observatory – 

Instrumental concept”, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, 

March (Lecture); “Light echoes of Core Collapse 

Supernovae”, Stockholm University, August (Lecture); 

“The Exoplanet Characterization Observatory EChO”, 

Department of Astronomy, Universität Göttingen, April 

(Colloquium) 

Dietrich Lemke: “Infrarot-Weltraum-Teleskope – Ent deckun 

gen im kalten Kosmos”, Jahrestagung der Deutschen 

Ge sellschaft für Angewandte Optik, Ilmenau, 17. June 

(Lecture) 

Hua-Bai Li: Star Formation through Spectroimaging at 

High Angular Resolution, ASIAA, Taipei, Taiwan, 20. – 

24. June (Lecture) 

Hendrik Linz: “NRAO Socorro Colloquium”, NRAO 

Socorro, New Mexico, USA, 4. March (Colloquium) 

Andrea V. Macciò: “Dark matter distribution in galaxies” 

Tevpa conference (Lecture); “DE simulations with 

baryons” (Lecture); The dark Universe Conference; 

Physics Colloquium, Lancashire University, UK, 

3. Apr. (Colloquium); Astronomy Colloquium, Trieste 

Observatory, Trieste, Italy, 24. May (Colloquium); 

TeV particle astrophysics conference, Stockholm, 

Sweden, 1. – 5. Aug. (Review-Lecture); The Dark 

Universe Conference, Heidelberg, 4. – 7. Oct. (Review- 

Lecture)

Luigi Mancini: “The search for extrasolar planets: successes, 

limits and future prospects”, ASI Science Data 

Center, Frascati, Rome, Italy, 20. Dec. (Colloquium) 

Nicholas Martin: Department of Astronomy, Universidad 

de Chile, Santiago, Chile, 1. Sep. (Colloquium); ETH, 

Institute for Astronomy, Zürich, Schweiz, 11. Oct. 

(Colloquium) 

Klaus Meisenheimer: “The Impact of the VLTI on Galactic 

Nuclei and supermassive Black Hole studies”, Workshop 

of the AGN/Gal. Center working group of the European 

Interferometry Initiative. Lissabon, Portugal 28. – 30. 

Nov. (Lecture) 

Christoph Mordasini: Alexander von Humboldt Sino- 

German frontiers of science–symposium, Berlin, 21. 

Apr. (Lecture); Strange new worlds, naSa conference, 

Jackson Hole, USA, 16. Sep. (Lecture); Pas de deux 

Gaia workshop, Paris, 11. Oct. (Lecture) 

Johan Olofsson: “Planet Formation in Action”, ipaG institute, 

Grenoble, France, Apr. (Colloqium) 

Natalie Raettig: “How Can the Baroclnic Instability Help 

Planet Formation”, Weekly seminar of the Astronomy 

Department at the American Museum of Natural History, 

New York, USA, 15. March (Lecture) 

Sarah Ragan: “herScheL and high-resolution sub- 

millimeter studies of the early phases of cluster formation”, 

iram, Grenoble, France, 22. Feb. (Gäste- 

Colloquium) 

Hans-Walter Rix: Colloquium, Innsbruck, Austria, 1. Feb.; 

eSo Seminar, Munich, Sep.; Colloquium, IAP Paris, 

France, 9. Dec. 

Gaël Rouillé: “Laboratory astrophysics in Jena: From 

spectroscopic characterization of large molecules 

and grains to low temperature chemistry”, NWO 

Astrochemistry Workshop: Molecular Networks 

Connecting the Universe, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 

18. – 20. Apr. (Lecture) 

Karin Sandstrom: eSo Santiago, 9. Sep. (Colloquium) 

Eva Schinnerer: Star Formation in Galaxies: The herScheL 

Era, Ringberg Castle, 19. – 24. June (Lecture); MW 

– The Milky Way in the herScheL Era: Towards a 

Galaxy-Scale View of the Star Formation Life-Cycle, 

Rome, Italy, 18. – 23. Sep (Lecture); CEA/Saclay, 

Saclay, France, 14. Apr. (Colloquium) 

Kasper Borello Schmidt: “Watching Galaxies Grow Up”, 

Ringberg Castle, 5. – 9. Dec. (Lecture) 

Dmitry A. Semenov: “Molecular Universe”, IAU Symposium 

280, Toledo, Spain, 29. May – 3. June (Lecture); Vienna 

Observatory, Vienna, Austria, 28. Nov. (Kolloqium); 

“The first 10 million years of the Solar System – a 

Planetary Materials Approach”, 2. Colloquium of the SPP 

1385, Mainz, 17. – 18. Oct. (Lecture) 

Jürgen Steinacker: “The 3D barrier in star formation”, 

Colloqium for Physics and Astronomy, University of 

Ghent, Belgium, 26. Jan; “The Coreshine-Effect”, ipaG, 

Grenoble, France, 4. Nov. (Lecture) 

Jochen Tackenberg: NRC Herzberg Institute for 

Astrophysics, Victoria, Canada, 20. Oct. (Colloquium) 


Roy van Boekel: “Surveys & Simulations – The Real and the 

Virtual Universe” Annual Meeting of the Astronomische 

Gesellschaft, Heidelberg, 19. – 24. Sep.; (Lecture) 

Remco van den Bosch: “Single and double black holes 

in galaxies”, Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 

22. – 25. Aug 

Fabian Walter: Ringberg Workshop on Galaxy Formation, 

Ringberg Castle, April (Lecture); Colloquium Leiden, 

The Netherlands, June (Lecture); Ringberg Workshop 

on Star Formation in Galaxies: The herScheL Era, 

Ringberg Castle, June (Lecture); CCAT Meeting, 

Cologne University, Oct. (Lecture) 

Laura Watkins: Teneriffa, Spain, 22. July (Seminar) 

Yujin Yang: “Theoretical Astrophysics Center Seminars”, 

University of California Berkeley, USA, 7. Nov. 

(Seminar) 

Xianyu Zhang: “First laboratory results with the Lincnirvana 

high layer wavefront Sensor”, Linc-nirvana 

MPIA Weekly Meetings, MPIA Heidelberg, 5. July 

(Lecture); “High order AO correction for Lincnirvana”, 

Galaxy and Cosmology Retreat, Neuwied, 

17. Oct. (Lecture) 

Svitlana Zhukovska: STSci, Baltimore, USA, 6. May 

(Lecture); Hauskolloqium, MPIA Heidelberg, 17. June 

(Lecture) 

Talk Series 

Friedrich Huisken: “Oxidative reactions of group IIA 

and IIIA elements in helium droplets”, 482 nd Wilhelm 

and Else Heraeus Seminar: “Helium Nanodroplets – 

Confinement for Cold Molecules and Cold Chemistry,” 

Bad Honnef, 30. May – 1. June (Lecture) 

Lisa Kaltenegger: SpaSa summer school, Sao Paolo, 

Brasilien, Dec. (Lecture) 

Dietrich Lemke: “Ballon-Astronomie”, Universität 

Stuttgart, 20. Jan. (Lecture) 

Andrea V. Macciò: “Structure formation in the Universe”, 

Salerno University, Italy, March (Lecture) 

Dmitry A. Semenov: “Astrochemistry with aLma”, aLma 

Summer School, Bologne, Italy, 13. – 17. June (Lecture) 

Arjen van der Wel: “Galaxy Evolution”, eLixir meeting, 

CSIC, Madrid, Spain, 5. Oct. (Lecture) 

Popular Talk Series 

During the Lectures of “Uni(versum) für alle! Halbe 

Heidelberger Sternstunden” in the Universitätskirche/ 

Peterskirche Heidelberg the following talks have been 

given: 

Henrik Beuther: “Die Geburt der Sonne”, 27. May 

Christian Fendt: “Astronomische Zeitskalen: Von 

Millisekunden zu Gigajahren”, 24. May 

Roland Gredel: “Warum brauchen die Astronomen ein 

Teleskop mit 42 m Durchmesser”, 17. May


Thomas Henning: “Warum beobachten wir die kältesten 

Objekte im Universum mit Infrarot-Teleskopen?”, 14. 

Apr. 

Tom Herbst: “Von 3 cm zu 42 m Durchmesser: Teleskope 

von Galilei bis 2020”, 5. May 

Klaus Jäger: “Astronomen als Detektive – wie wurde die 

Natur der geheimnisvollen Quasare entlarvt?”, 29. June 

Lisa Kaltenegger: “Wie kann man bewohnbare Planeten finden?”, 

13. July; “Gibt es Leben anderswo im Weltall?”, 

19. July 

Martin Kürster: “Wie groß ist das Universum?”, 9. May; 

“Warum funkeln die Sterne?”, 17. June 

Ralf Launhardt: “Der Lebensweg der Sterne”, 24. June 

Christoph Leimert: “Ebbe & Flut: Was haben die Gezeiten 

mit dem Mond zu tun?”, 20. June 

Dietrich Lemke: “Das todsichere Ende der Erde – wieviel 

Zeit bleibt uns noch?”, 12. July; “Gefahren aus dem 

Welltall?”, 20. July 

Hans-Walter Rix: “Ist das Universum unendlich?”, 2. May 

Popular Talks 

Kees Dullemond: “Kann es Leben auf anderen Planeten 

geben?”, “Life Science Lab”, Heidelberg, 11. Nov. 

Christian Fendt: “Astronomische Perspektiven: Der Blick 

von der Erde – auf die Erde”, Lecture beim “Studientag 

Perspektiven” am Hoelderlin-Gymnasium, Heidelberg, 

12. July 

Thomas Henning: “Von Staubscheiben zu extrasolaren 

Planeten – Die Entstehung von Planetensystemen”, 

Wissenschaft im Rathaus, Dresden, 6. Apr.; “From 

Protoplanetary Disks to Planetary Systems”, IUCAA, 

Pune, Indien, 23. Nov. 

Friedrich Huisken: “Laborexperimente simulieren 

Bedingungen in interstellaren Staubwolken”, Lange 

Nacht der Wissenschaften, 25. Nov. 

Klaus Jäger: “Eine Legende hat Geburtstag – 21 Jahre 

Astronomie mit hubbLe”, Planetarium Mannheim 15. 

Feb.; “Geheimnisvolle Quasare – der Lösung eines 

Rätsels auf der Spur”, DIDACTA-Messe, Stuttgart, 25. 

Feb.; “Scharfblick und Weitsicht – 400 Jahre Astronomie 

mit dem Fernrohr”, Astronomietag, Planetarium 

Mannheim, 9. Apr.; “Eine Legende hat Geburtstag – 21 

Jahre Astronomie mit hubbLe”, Rotary-Club, Buchen, 

11. Apr.; “Geheimnisvolle Quasare – der Lösung eines 

Rätsels auf der Spur”, Arbeitskreis Astronomie, 

Landesmuseum für Naturkunde, Bad Dürkheim, 1. Sep.; 

“Scharfblick und Weitsicht – 400 Jahre Astronomie mit 

dem Fernrohr”, Lecture series “Faszinierendes Weltall” 

of the Förderkreis Planetarium Göttingen, Universität 

Göttingen, 18. Oct. 

Knud Jahnke: “Die gigantischen Schwarzen Löcher in den 

Zentren von Galaxien”, Astronomy of Sunday morning, 

MPIA Heidelberg, 24. July 

Viki Joergens: “Braune Zwerge: Gescheiterte Sterne oder 

Superplaneten?”, Bayrische Volkssternwarte Munich, 

25. March 

Lisa Kaltenegger: “Life in the universe?”, Haus der 

Astronomie, Heidelberg, July; Lecture for pupils, MPIA, 

Nov. 

Hubert Klahr: “Schöne neue Planetenwelten”, Stuttgarter 

Zeitung – Leseruni, Hohenheim, 18. March 

Oliver Krause: “herScheLs Blick ins Universum: Neues 

vom derzeit größten Weltraumteleskop”, “Astronomie 

am Sonntag Vormittag”, MPIA, June 

Dietrich Lemke: “herScheL – Entdeckungen im kalten 

Universum”, Olbers-Gesellschaft, Bremen, 6. Dec. 

Luigi Mancini: “The extrasolar planets”, Torre Civica, 

Bientina (PI), Italy, 27. May 

Markus Nielbock: “Finsternisse”, Engadiner Astro no miefreunde, 

Hotel Laudinella, St. Moritz, Schweiz, 4. Jan.; 

“Die Sonne und andere Sterne”, MaxIQ (Fördergruppe 

für hochbegabte Kinder), Willich, 11. Feb.; “Supernova- 

Lichtechos – Zeitreise zu einer Sternexplosion des 

16. Jahrhunderts”, Engadiner Sternfreunde, Hotel 

Laudinella, St. Moritz, Schweiz, 4. June; “Die Geburt 

von Sternen”, Engadiner Sternfreunde, Hotel Laudinella, 

St. Moritz, Schweiz, 26. Nov. 

Hans-Walter Rix: Planetarium Mannheim, 20. Oct.; 

Sternwarte Karlsruhe, Astronomische Vereinigung 

Karlsruhe e.V., 28. Nov. 

Silvia Scheithauer: “Das James Webb Weltraumteleskop 

– Teil 2: Ein neuer Blick ins infrarote Universum”, 

Kinderuniversität Bretten, 30. Nov. 

Ana Uribe: “Planets and protoplanetary disks”, Student’s 

day at Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, March

Haus der Astronomie 

Managing Scientist: Markus Pössel: 

Scientists: Natalie Fischer (since 15. May), Olaf Fischer, 

Carolin Liefke, Alexander Ludwig (since 9. Sep.), Anita 

Mancino (since 1. Sep.), Tobias Schultz (since 9. Sep.), 

Cecilia Scorza, Jakob Staude 

Student Assistants: Stephan Fraß (since 1. Oct.), Sophia 

Haude (since 1. May) 

The House of Astronomy (HdA) is a center for astronomy 

education and public relations at Königstuhl. It was 

founded in late 2008 by the Max Planck Society and 

the Klaus Tschira Foundation. Other partners include 

the University of Heidelberg (in particular the Centre 

for Astronomy of Heidelberg University) and the city of 

Heidelberg. The Klaus Tschira Foundation is developer 

of the spiral galaxy-shaped building of the House of 

Astronomy, which opened in December 2011 ceremony. 

The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy is responsible 

for the content management of the house. 

The HdA will carry the fascination of astronomy to the 

general public and in the schools, promote exchanges 

between scientists and the media and the general public 

make astronomical discoveries through simulations and 

research for Elementarization astronomical concepts 

understandable accessible as possible. In particular, the 

HdA is a forum for research and the promotion of scientific 

exchange, conducts educational work in the field of 

astronomical research (in particular through support of 

school projects, teacher training and the preparation of 

current astronomical research for the teaching of science 

and university education) as well as public relations and 

Media work in the field of astronomy and astrophysics. 

Awards 

Olaf Fischer was awarded the Hans-Ludwig Neumann 

Prize for Teaching and Learning 2011, the Astronomical 

Society. 

Marcel Frommelt did research on youth with his work 

“Nutzungsmöglichkeiten einer Ballonsonde im Rahmen 

einer Mission zum Saturnmond Titan” the first Place in 

the regional competition in the division Nordbaden Earth 

and space sciences, 3 Won place in the state competition 

in Baden-Württemberg and the special prize mobile. 

The Minister for Science, Research and the Arts of Baden- 

Württemberg, Theresia Bauer, has become the patron of 

the EU UNAWE project in Baden-Wuerttemberg. The 

Astronomical Society has become the patron of the EU 

UNAWE project in Germany. 

Teaching Activities 

Haus der Astronomie 117 

Winter Term 2010/2011: 

O. Fischer, C. Liefke, M. Pössel, C. Scorza: “Von unserem 

Sonnensystem zu extrasolaren Planeten” (Seminar 

for medium term) 

Summer Term 2011: 

N. Fischer: “Grundlagen der Astronomie für die Schule” 

(Lecture). Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg. 

O. Fischer, C. Liefke, M. Pössel & Cecilia Scorza: 

“Astronomisches in den Schlagzeilen” (Seminar for medium 

term), Heidelberg University 

Winter Term 2011/2012: 

C. Liefke, O. Fischer: “Die Milchstraße” (Seminar for 

high school teacher), Heidelberg University 

Service in Committees 

Olaf Fischer is a member (Chairman since September 

2011) of the Education Commission of the German 

Astronomical Society. 

Cecilia Scorza is German coordinator of the “European 

Association for Astronomy Education”, German 

Coordinator of EUNAWE program, a member of the 

IAU Education Commission and a member of the school 

committee of the Astronomical Society. 

Jakob Staude is the editor of “Sterne und Weltraum”. 

The Haus der Astronomie is the German node of the “Eso 

Science Outreach Network” (C. Liefke, M. Pössel). 

Further Activities 

Olaf Fischer has supervised the development of 24 WIS 

materials for the upper and middle level car within the 

project “Wissenschaft in die Schulen!” (Cooperation 

with publishing Spektrum der Wissenschaft). 

Carolin Liefke and Markus Pössel have served as part of a 

collaboration with the Hector Seminar Research Projects 

for gifted students, Markus Pössel plus two students of 

the “International Summer Science School Heidelberg”. 

Carolin Liefke has supervised the technical work of the 

student spectroscopy S. Oberholz Werner-Heisenberg- 

Gymnasium Bad Durkheim and the technical work 

Exoplanetentransits the student from S. Graf Nikolaus 

von Weis Gymnasium Speyer. 

Markus Pössel and Carolin Liefke have a supervised internship 

(4 – 15 April). 

Olaf Fischer, Cecilia Scorza, Marcel Frommelt, Tobias 

Schultz and Alexander Ludwig have a total of five

118 Haus der Astronomie 

interns supervised BOGy (14 – 18 March and 2 – 4 

November). 

Carolin Liefke has 2 search campaigns for the Pan-Starrs 

project-IASC (asteroid search with students) coordinated 

a total of 12 German students and supervised groups. 

Olaf Fischer manages a degree thesis “Zur unterrichtlichen 

Verwertung von technischen und wissenschaftlichen 

Herausforderungen beim Sofia-Projekt” (until 20. June) 

and a thesis work on exoplanets. (since 7. Dec.) 

Cecilia Scorza has a (provided by N. Christlieb, LSW) 

degree thesis on “Zustandsgrößen von Sternen und 

die Suche nach metallarmen Sternen” co-supervised 

(September – November 2011). 

Cecilia Scorza and Marcel Frommelt have for the “MINT 

boxes” of the Baden-Württemberg Foundation MINT 15 

boxes made on infrared astronomy for hire. 

Conferences, Scientific, and Popular Talks 

HdA-Events and cooperation events at the HdA: 

Teacher training for the meeting of the Astronomical 

Society in Heidelberg, 23 Sep. (O. Fischer, C. Liefke). 

Four Teacher Trainings on UNAWE MINT-Box “Abenteuer 

Astronomie – Eine Reise durch das Weltall für 

Grundschüler”, 19 Oct., 14 Nov., 16 Nov. and 9 Dec. 

(N. Fischer) 

Students meeting at the Max-Planck-Day, 11 Nov. (O. 

Fischer, C. Liefke, M. Pössel, C. Scorza [Organisation]) 


HdA, 15. Nov. (K. Jäger, M. Pössel, A. M. Quetz, U. 

Reichert, u.a.) 

Information day for partners and cooperation partners of the 

Haus der Astronomie, 25 Nov. 

Information session for participants of 2011 German– 

Japanese Round Table, 1 Dec. (M. Pössel) 

Official Opening Ceremony of the Haus der Astronomie, 

16 Dec. 

Interdisciplinary Teacher Training “Aufbruch zum Mars” 

for teachers from Baden-Württemberg, 19 Dec. (O. 

Fischer, C. Scorza, M. Pössel, T. Schultz, A. Ludwig) 

Eight workshops for students in the lower, middle and upper 

school (C. Scorza, T. Schultz) with a total of 260 participants; 

four workshops for elementary school children 

(N. Fischer); Seven workshops for kindergartners (N. 

Fischer and A. Mancino) with a total of 270 participants. 

Guided tours across the HdA-site and through the HdA for a 

total of about 360 participants, all year round (N. Fischer, 

O. Fischer, C. Liefke, M. Pössel, C. Scorza, J. Staude) 

Natalie Fischer and Cecilia Scorza have developed and 

produced the EU UNAWE MINT Box “Adventure 

Astronomy – a journey through space for elementary 

students“ for the state of Baden-Württemberg, (in cooperation 

with Astronomieschule e.V.) 

Natalie Fischer and Markus Pössel have presented the 

MINT boxes infrared astronomy and elementary school 

astronomy at the event “Mach MINT! Experimente 

zum Anfassen” at the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung in 

Stuttgart (17 October). 

Cecilia Scorza and Alexander Ludwig have developed outreach 

materials for Mars Express, In cooperation with 

the EsoC, Darmstadt. 

Cecilia Scorza writes the monthly sky preview for the 

“Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung”. 

Reviews of / participation in external events: 

3. Conference of NWT-Teachers, Heilbronn, 18 Feb. (C. 

Scorza) 

Level of information and monitoring station, “Lange Nacht 

der Museen”, Planetarium Mannheim, 9 Apr. (C. Liefke, 

M. Pössel) 

MPIA-Girls̓ Day, 14 Apr. (O. Fischer, C. Liefke, C. Scorza, 

M. Pössel) 

Student Program to reward the E-team by Mayor Dr. Eckart 

Würzner, 19 Apr. (O. Fischer, C. Liefke, C. Scorza, M. 

Pössel) 

Workshop “Den Nachthimmel entdecken” for Teacher of 

the Stuttgart Region, 11 May, and as a training course 

for NwT-teachers at the Friedrich Schiller Gymnasium 

Marbach, 16 May (C. Scorza and O. Fischer) 

Experiment stations and observation station to scientific 

experience days “Explore Science” of the Klaus 

Tschira Stiftung in Mannheim, 18 – 22 May (C. 

Liefke [Organisation], N. Fischer [Organisation], O. 

Fischer, M. Pössel, C. Scorza; in Cooperation with the 

Astronomieschule e.V.) 

Teacher training at the training academy Biberach, 19 – 20 

May (C. Scorza und O. Fischer) 

Higher rate “Wir entdecken den Sternenhimmel” for gifted 

elementary school children, Hector-Kinderakademie, 26 

May – 15 Dec. (N. Fischer) 

Training “Sonne, Mond und Sterne” for educators in cooperation 

with the research station Heidelberg, 7 June – 8 

Nov. (N. Fischer) 

Level of information and monitoring station at the “Uni- 

Meile” (Anniversary celebration of the Heidelberg 

University), 25 June (N. Fischer, O. Fischer, C. Liefke, 

M. Pössel, C. Scorza)

Project Days spectroscopy at the Gymnasium Neckargemünd, 

19 – 21 July (C. Liefke) 

Astronomy Course “Sonne oder Treibhausgas. Wer ist verantwortlich 

für den Klimawandel?” of the Deutschen 

Schülerakademie in Rostock, 6 July – 24 Aug. (O. 

Fischer) 

Workshop and lecture in the statewide teacher training 

Astronomy, Jena, 12 July (C. Liefke) 

Astronomy Course “Aufbruch zum Mars – wir erforschen 

den roten Planeten” at the Science Academy Baden- 

Württemberg, Adelsheim, 26 Aug – 8 Sep. (O. Fischer, 

C. Scorza) 

Teacher training “Aufbruch zum Mars” at the Sternwarte 

Sonneberg, 25 – 26 Sep. (O. Fischer und C. Scorza) 

Teacher training for the HdA-DSI-Partner schools, 19 – 21 

Sep. (C. Scorza) 

Open Day of the European Southern Observatory (Eso), 15 

Nov. (C. Liefke) 

E-HOU-Teacher training at the Radio Observatory 

“Astropeiler”, Stockert, 18 – 19 Oct. (C. Scorza und O. 

Fischer) 

Teacher training “Blicke zum Sternenhimmel” at the Institute 

of Space Systems, University of Stuttgart, 24 Nov. (C. 

Scorza und O. Fischer) 

Talks: 

Natalie Fischer: “UNAWE-MINT-Box Abenteuer Astronomie 

– Eine Reise durch das Weltall für Grundschüler”,Mach 

MINT!’ Stuttgart, 17 Oct.; “Teacher training in Germany” 

and “Evaluation: Impact on Children”, EU-UNAWE 

Project Manager Workshop, Leiden, 29 Nov. 

Olaf Fischer: “Wir reisen zum Mars”, Children’s 

Academy Gera, 9 Nov.; “Wissenschaft in die Schulen”, 


HdA, 15. Nov. 

Carolin Liefke: “Stellare Flares”, Starkenburg-Sternwarte, 

Heppenheim, 11 Jan.; “Aktivität von Sternen”, Planetarium 

Mannheim, 15 March; “Pan-Starrs-IASC: Asteroid Search 

with pupils”, 14. Kleinplanetentagung, Heppenheim, 

18 June; “Welche Farbe hat eigentlich die Sonne?”, 

Uni(versum) für alle, Heidelberg, 6 July and EsoC 23 

Aug.; Lecture “Zum Besuch beim Very Large Telescope”, 

Allgäuer Volkssternwarte Ottobeuren, 3 Sep.; “Das 

Haus der Astronomie”, Regional Meeting Astronomy, 

Sternwarte Bellheim 8 Oct.; Lecture “Amateurastronomie 

in Germany”, Sternwarte Neumünster, 5 Nov. 

Anita Mancino: “Evaluation: Impact on Children”, EU- 

UNAWE Project Manager Workshop, Leiden, 29 Nov. 

Markus Pössel: “Kosmologie, Stephen Hawking und der 

Anfang des Universums”, Diözesan-Akademie Stuttgart, 

14 Jan.; “Die häufigsten Missverständnisse über 

Schwarze Löcher”, Uni(versum) für alle, Heidelberg, 

26 Apr.; “Wenn der Weltraum zittert: Astronomie with 

Gravitationswellen”, Uni(versum) für alle, Heidelberg, 

“Gravitationswellen – oder wenn das All vibriert”, DLR- 

Astro Seminar, Cologne, 24 May and Karl-Rahner- 

Haus der Astronomie 119 

Academy, Cologne, 25 May; 9 June; “Das Universum 

expandiert – aber was heißt das?”, Uni(versum) für alle, 

27 June; “Woher kommen wir? Wohin gehen wir? Zwei 

Grundfragen aus astronomischer Sicht”, Occupational 

Health Symposium, Erfurt 22 July; Splinter Meeting 

“Public Outreach in der Astronomie”, Annual Meeting 

of the Astronomical Society, Heidelberg, 21 Sep.; 

“Schwarze Löcher für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene”, 

Planetarium Mannheim, 4 Oct. and Student internship 

at the MPIA, Heidelberg, 25 Oct.; “Das Haus der 

Astronomie”, Commemorative Colloquium for Jakob 

Staude, MPIA/HdA, 15. Nov. . 

Cecilia Scorza: “Das EUNAWE-Netzwerk live: 

Videokonferenz mit südafrikanischen Kindern”, 

EUNAWE-Kick-off event, Brussels, 24 Apr.“Gibt es 

Leben auf dem Mars?”, Uni(versum) für alle, Heidelberg, 

13 May; “Was ist eigentlich ‘die Milchstraße?’”, 

Uni(versum) für alle, Heidelberg, 10 June; “Educational 

resources from EUNAWE-Germany”, EUNAWE- 

Workshop, Leiden, 28 – 30 Nov. 

Publications 

Fischer, O., C. Scorza: “Mars und Erde im Vergleich – 

Sinklöcher und Vulkane”, Wissenschaft in die Schulen! 

2/2011 

Fischer, O.: “Radioteleskope – Konstruktionen mit dem 

“Parabel-Gen”,Wissenschaft in die Schulen! 3/2011 

Fischer, O.: “Tatort Schule – Spektroskopie erleben”,Wissenschaft 

in die Schulen! 7/2011 

Fischer, O.: “Das Sofia-Teleskop aus Sicht des Ingenieurs”,Wissenschaft 

in die Schulen! 7/2011 

Fuhrmeister, B., S. Lalitha, K. Poppenhaeger, N. Rudolf, 

C. Liefke, A. Reiners, J.H.M.M. Schmitt & J.-U. Ness: 

“Multi-wavelength observations of Proxima Centauri” in 

A&A 534, A133 (2011) 

Liefke, C.: “In und über den Wolken – Das Internationale 

Teleskoptreffen ITT 2010” in Sterne und Weltraum 

2/2011, S. 100–102. 

Liefke, C.: “Fernerkundung und Kartografie im Sonnensystem”,Wissenschaft 

in die Schulen! MS 3/2011 

Liefke, C.: “Von Supernovae und Gezeitenschweifen – die 

Strudelgalaxie M 51” in Sterne und Weltraum 8/2011, S. 

75–77. 

Liefke, C.: “Die Flammenhülle von Beteigeuze” in Sterne 

und Weltraum 10/2011, S. 28–29. 

Pössel, M.: “Ein Exoplanet aus einer anderen Galaxie” in 

Sterne und Weltraum 1/2011, S. 28–29. 

Pössel, M.: “Das Haus der Astronomie in Heidelberg” in 

Astronomie und Raumfahrt im Unterricht 48, Ausgabe 

3–4, S. 31–34. 

Pössel, M.: “Einschläge ohne Rhythmus” in Sterne und 

Weltraum 11/2011, S. 36–39. 

Scorza, C., N. Fischer:Abenteuer Astronomie. Eine Reise 

durch das Weltall für Grundschulkinder. 128 Seiten incl. 

Kopiervorlagen (2011) 

Scorza, C.: “Verborgene Sterne aufspüren” in Spektrum 

NEO Nr. 1, “Unser Universum”, S. 66–70 (2011)

120 Publications 

Publications 

In Journals with Referee System 

Absil, O., J. B. Le Bouquin, J. P. Berger, A. M. Lagrange, 

G. Chauvin, B. Lazareff, G. Zins, P. Haguenauer, L. 

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Traub: Searching for faint companions with VLTI/ 

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Bouquin, H. McAlister, F. Millour, S. T. Ridgway, 

A. Spang, T. Ten Brummelaar, M. Wittkowski, N. 

M. Ashok, M. Benisty, J. P. Berger, T. Boyajian, C. 

Farrington, P. J. Goldfinger, A. Merand, N. Nardetto, 

R. Petrov, T. Rivinius, G. Schaefer, Y. Touhami and G. 

Zins: The 2011 outburst of the recurrent nova T Pyxidis. 

Evidence for a face-on bipolar ejection. Astronomy and 

Astrophysics 534, id. L11 (2011) 

Chonis, T. S., D. Martínez-Delgado, R. J. Gabany, S. R. 

Majewski, G. J. Hill, R. Gralak and I. Trujillo: A petal of 

the sunflower: photometry of the stellar tidal stream in 

the halo of Messier 63 (NGC 5055). The Astronomical 

Journal 142, id. 166 (2011) 

Chou, M.-Y., S. R. Majewski, K. Cunha, V. V. Smith, R. J. 

Patterson and D. Martínez-Delgado: First chemical analysis 

of stars in the Triangulum – Andromeda Star Cloud. 


Cieza, L. A., J. Olofsson, P. M. Harvey, C. Pinte, B. Merín, 

J.-C. Augereau, N. J. Evans, J. Najita, T. Henning and 

F. Ménard: herScheL observations of the T Cha transition 

disk: Constraining the outer disk properties. The 

Astrophysical Journal Letters 741, id. L25 (2011) 

Cisternas, M., K. Jahnke, A. Bongiorno, K. J. Inskip, C. 

D. Impey, A. M. Koekemoer, A. Merloni, M. Salvato 

and J. R. Trump: Secular evolution and a non-evolving 

black-hole-to-galaxy mass ratio in the last 7 Gyr. The 


Cisternas, M., K. Jahnke, K. J. Inskip, J. Kartaltepe, A. M. 

Koekemoer, T. Lisker, A. R. Robaina, M. Scodeggio, K. 

Sheth, J. R. Trump, R. Andrae, T. Miyaji, E. Lusso, M. 

Brusa, P. Capak, N. Cappelluti, F. Civano, O. Ilbert, C. 

D. Impey, A. Leauthaud, S. J. Lilly, M. Salvato, N. Z. 

Scoville and Y. Taniguchi: The bulk of the black hole 

growth since z 1 occurs in a secular Universe: No major 

Merger-AGN connection. The Astrophysical Journal 

726, id. 57 (2011) 

Clark, D. M., S. S. Eikenberry, B. R. Brandl, J. C. Wilson, J. 

C. Carson, C. P. Henderson, T. L. Hayward, D. J. Barry, 

A. F. Ptak and E. J. M. Colbert: Multiwavelength study 

of chandra X-ray sources in the Antennae. Monthly 



Clayton, G. C., B. E. K. Sugerman, S. A. Stanford, B. 

A. Whitney, J. Honor, B. Babler, M. J. Barlow, K. D. 

Gordon, J. E. Andrews, T. R. Geballe, H. E. Bond, O. 

De Marco, W. A. Lawson, B. Sibthorpe, G. Olofsson, E. 

Polehampton, H. L. Gomez, M. Matsuura, P. C. Hargrave, 

R. J. Ivison, R. Wesson, S. J. Leeks, B. M. Swinyard and 

T. L. Lim: The circumstellar environment of R Coronae 

Borealis: white dwarf merger or final-helium-shell flash? 


Combes, F., S. García-Burillo, J. Braine, E. Schinnerer, 

F. Walter and L. Colina: Galaxy evolution and star 

Publications 123


formation efficiency at 0.2 z 0.6. Astronomy and 


Comerón, S., B. G. Elmegreen, J. H. Knapen, H. Salo, 

E. Laurikainen, J. Laine, E. Athanassoula, A. Bosma, 

K. Sheth, M. W. Regan, J. L. Hinz, A. Gil de Paz, 

K. Menéndez-Delmestre, T. Mizusawa, J.-C. Muñoz- 

Mateos, M. Seibert, T. Kim, D. M. Elmegreen, D. A. 

Gadotti, L. C. Ho, B. W. Holwerda, J. Lappalainen, 

E. Schinnerer and R. Skibba: Thick disks of edge-on 

galaxies seen through the Spitzer Survey of stellar 

structure in galaxies (S4G): lair of missing baryons? The 


Comerón, S., B. G. Elmegreen, J. H. Knapen, K. Sheth, 

J. L. Hinz, M. W. Regan, A. Gil de Paz, J.-C. Muñoz- 

Mateos, K. Menéndez-Delmestre, M. Seibert, T. Kim, 

T. Mizusawa, E. Laurikainen, H. Salo, J. Laine, E. 

Athanassoula, A. Bosma, R. J. Buta, D. A. Gadotti, L. 

C. Ho, B. Holwerda, E. Schinnerer and D. Zaritsky: 

The unusual vertical mass distribution of NGC 4013 

seen through the Spitzer Survey of stellar structure in 

galaxies (S4G). The Astrophysical Journal Letters 738, 

id. L17, (2011) 

Comerón, S., J. H. Knapen, K. Sheth, M. W. Regan, J. 

L. Hinz, A. Gil de Paz, K. Menéndez-Delmestre, J.-C. 

Muñoz-Mateos, M. Seibert, T. Kim, E. Athanassoula, 

A. Bosma, R. J. Buta, B. G. Elmegreen, L. C. Ho, B. W. 

Holwerda, E. Laurikainen, H. Salo and E. Schinnerer: 

The thick disk in the galaxy NGC 4244 from S4G imaging. 


Commerçon, B., E. Audit, G. Chabrier and J. P. Chièze: 

Physical and radiative properties of the first-core accretion 

shock. Astronomy and Astrophysics 530, id. A13, 


Commerçon, B., P. Hennebelle and T. Henning: Collapse 

of massive magnetized dense cores using radiation magnetohydrodynamics: 

Early fragmentation inhibition. The 


Commerçon, B., R. Teyssier, E. Audit, P. Hennebelle and 

G. Chabrier: Radiation hydrodynamics with adaptive 

mesh refinement and application to prestellar core collapse. 

I. Methods. Astronomy and Astrophysics 529, id. 

A35 (2011) 

Conn, A. R., G. F. Lewis, R. A. Ibata, Q. A. Parker, D. 

B. Zucker, A. W. McConnachie, N. F. Martin, M. J. 

Irwin, N. Tanvir, M. A. Fardal and A. M. N. Ferguson: 

A Bayesian approach to locating the red giant branch 

tip magnitude. I. The Astrophysical Journal 740, id. 69, 


Conn, B. C., A. Pasquali, E. Pompei, R. R. Lane, A.-N. 

Chené, R. Smith and G. F. Lewis: A new collisional ring 

galaxy at z 0.111: Auriga’s Wheel. The Astrophysical 


Cooper, A. P., D. Martínez-Delgado, J. Helly, C. Frenk, S. 

Cole, K. Crawford, S. Zibetti, J. A. Carballo-Bello and 

R. J. GaBany: The formation of shell galaxies similar 

to NGC 7600 in the cold dark matter cosmogony. The 


Costa, E., R. A. Méndez, M. H. Pedreros, M. Moyano, C. 

Gallart and N. Noël: The proper motion of the Magellanic 

Clouds. II. New results for five Small Magellanic Cloud 

Fields. The Astronomical Journal 141, id. 136, (2011) 

Currie, T., C. M. Lisse, A. Sicilia-Aguilar, G. H. Rieke and 

K. Y. L. Su: Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph spectroscopy 

of the 10 Myr Old EF Cha debris disk: Evidence 

for phyllosilicate-rich dust in the terrestrial zone. The 


Currie, T. and A. Sicilia-Aguilar: The transitional protoplanetary 

disk frequency as a function of age: Disk evolution 

in the Coronet Cluster, Taurus, and other 1-8 Myr old 

regions. The Astrophysical Journal 732, id. 24, (2011) 

Damen, M., I. Labbé, P. G. van Dokkum, M. Franx, E. N. 

Taylor, W. N. Brandt, M. Dickinson, E. Gawiser, G. 

D. Illingworth, M. Kriek, D. Marchesini, A. Muzzin, 

C. Papovich and H. W. Rix: The SimpLe Survey: 

Observations, reduction, and catalog. The Astrophysical 


de Pater, I., M. H. Wong, K. de Kleer, H. B. Hammel, 

M. Ádámkovics and A. Conrad: Keck adaptive optics images 

of Jupiter’s north polar cap and Northern Red Oval. 

Icarus 213, 559-563 (2011) 

De Rosa, G., R. Decarli, F. Walter, X. Fan, L. Jiang, J. Kurk, 

A. Pasquali and H. W. Rix: Evidence for non-evolving 

Fe II/Mg II ratios in rapidly accreting z 6 QSOs. The 


de Zeeuw, P. T. and G. van de Ven: Grigori Kuzmin and 

stellar dynamics. Baltic Astronomy 20, 211-220 (2011) 

Deacon, N. R., M. C. Liu, E. A. Magnier, B. P. Bowler, B. 

Goldman, J. A. Redstone, W. S. Burgett, K. C. Chambers, 

H. Flewelling, N. Kaiser, R. H. Lupton, J. S. Morgan, P. 

A. Price, W. E. Sweeney, J. L. Tonry, R. J. Wainscoat and 

C. Waters: Four new T dwarfs identified in Pan-StarrS 1 

commissioning data. The Astronomical Journal 142, id. 


Decarli, R., M. Dotti and A. Treves: Geometry and inclination 

of the broad-line region in blazars. Monthly Notices 

of the Royal Astronomical Society 413, 39-46 (2011) 

Defrère, D., O. Absil, J. C. Augereau, E. di Folco, J. P. 

Berger, V. Coudé Du Foresto, P. Kervella, J. B. Le 

Bouquin, J. Lebreton, R. Millan-Gabet, J. D. Monnier, 

J. Olofsson and W. Traub: Hot exozodiacal dust resolved 

around Vega with iota/ionic. Astronomy and 


Desidera, S., E. Covino, S. Messina, V. D’Orazi D’Orazi, 

J. M. Alcalá, E. Brugaletta, J. Carson, A. C. Lanzafame 

and R. Launhardt: The debris disk host star HD 61005: 

a member of the Argus association? Astronomy and 


Dominik, C. and C. P. Dullemond: Accretion through the 

inner hole of transitional disks: what happens to the dust? 

Astronomy and Astrophysics 531, id. A101, (2011) 

Dong, X.-B., J.-G. Wang, L. C. Ho, T.-G. Wang, X. Fan, 

H. Wang, H. Zhou and W. Yuan: What controls the Fe 

II strength in active galactic nuclei? The Astrophysical 

Journal 736, id. 86, (2011)

Dumas, G., E. Schinnerer, F. S. Tabatabaei, R. Beck, T. 

Velusamy and E. Murphy: The local radio-IR relation in 

M 51. The Astronomical Journal 141, id. 41, (2011) 

Dumusque, X., C. Lovis, D. Ségransan, M. Mayor, S. Udry, 

W. Benz, F. Bouchy, G. Lo Curto, C. Mordasini, F. Pepe, 

D. Queloz, N. C. Santos and D. Naef: The Harps search 

for southern extra-solar planets. XXX. Planetary systems 

around stars with solar-like magnetic cycles and shortterm 

activity variation. Astronomy and Astrophysics 535, 

id. A55, (2011) 

Dunne, L., H. L. Gomez, E. da Cunha, S. Charlot, S. 

Dye, S. Eales, S. J. Maddox, K. Rowlands, D. J. B. 

Smith, R. Auld, M. Baes, D. G. Bonfield, N. Bourne, S. 

Buttiglione, A. Cava, D. L. Clements, K. E. K. Coppin, 

A. Cooray, A. Dariush, G. de Zotti, S. Driver, J. Fritz, J. 

Geach, R. Hopwood, E. Ibar, R. J. Ivison, M. J. Jarvis, L. 

Kelvin, E. Pascale, M. Pohlen, C. Popescu, E. E. Rigby, 

A. Robotham, G. Rodighiero, A. E. Sansom, S. Serjeant, 

P. Temi, M. Thompson, R. Tuffs, P. van der Werf and C. 

Vlahakis: herScheL-atLaS: rapid evolution of dust in 

galaxies over the last 5 billion years. Monthly Notices of 

the Royal Astronomical Society 417, 1510-1533 (2011) 

Dutrey, A., V. Wakelam, Y. Boehler, S. Guilloteau, F. 

Hersant, D. Semenov, E. Chapillon, T. Henning, V. Piétu, 

R. Launhardt, F. Gueth and K. Schreyer: Chemistry in 

disks. V. Sulfur-bearing molecules in the protoplanetary 

disks surrounding LkCa15, MWC480, DM Tauri, and 

GO Tauri. Astronomy and Astrophysics 535, id. A104, 


Dwek, E., J. G. Staguhn, R. G. Arendt, P. L. Capak, A. 

Kovacs, D. J. Benford, D. Fixsen, A. Karim, S. Leclercq, 

S. F. Maher, S. H. Moseley, E. Schinnerer and E. H. 

Sharp: Star and dust formation activities in AzTEC-3, 

a starburst galaxy at z 5.3. The Astrophysical Journal 

738, id. 36, (2011) 

Eisenstein, D. J., D. H. Weinberg, E. Agol, H. Aihara, C. 

Allende Prieto, S. F. Anderson, J. A. Arns, É. Aubourg, 

S. Bailey, E. Balbinot, R. Barkhouser, T. C. Beers, A. A. 

Berlind, S. J. Bickerton, D. Bizyaev, M. R. Blanton, J. J. 

Bochanski, A. S. Bolton, C. T. Bosman, J. Bovy, W. N. 

Brandt, B. Breslauer, H. J. Brewington, J. Brinkmann, 

P. J. Brown, J. R. Brownstein, D. Burger, N. G. Busca, 

H. Campbell, P. A. Cargile, W. C. Carithers, J. K. 

Carlberg, M. A. Carr, L. Chang, Y. Chen, C. Chiappini, 

J. Comparat, N. Connolly, M. Cortes, R. A. C. Croft, K. 

Cunha, L. N. da Costa, J. R. A. Davenport, K. Dawson, 

N. De Lee, G. F. Porto de Mello, F. de Simoni, J. Dean, S. 

Dhital, A. Ealet, G. L. Ebelke, E. M. Edmondson, J. M. 

Eiting, S. Escoffier, M. Esposito, M. L. Evans, X. Fan, B. 

Femenía Castellá, L. Dutra Ferreira, G. Fitzgerald, S. W. 

Fleming, A. Font-Ribera, E. B. Ford, P. M. Frinchaboy, 

A. Elia García Pérez, B. S. Gaudi, J. Ge, L. Ghezzi, B. A. 

Gillespie, G. Gilmore, L. Girardi, J. R. Gott, A. Gould, 

E. K. Grebel, J. E. Gunn, J.-C. Hamilton, P. Harding, D. 

W. Harris, S. L. Hawley, F. R. Hearty, J. F. Hennawi, J. I. 

González Hernández, S. Ho, D. W. Hogg, J. A. Holtzman, 

K. Honscheid, N. Inada, I. I. Ivans, L. Jiang, P. Jiang, J. 

A. Johnson, C. Jordan, W. P. Jordan, G. Kauffmann, 

E. Kazin, D. Kirkby, M. A. Klaene, G. R. Knapp, J.-P. 

Kneib, C. S. Kochanek, L. Koesterke, J. A. Kollmeier, 

R. G. Kron, H. Lampeitl, D. Lang, J. E. Lawler, J.-M. Le 

Goff, B. L. Lee, Y. S. Lee, J. M. Leisenring, Y.-T. Lin, J. 

Liu, D. C. Long, C. P. Loomis, S. Lucatello, B. Lundgren, 

R. H. Lupton, B. Ma, Z. Ma, N. MacDonald, C. Mack, S. 

Mahadevan, M. A. G. Maia, S. R. Majewski, M. Makler, 

E. Malanushenko, V. Malanushenko, R. Mandelbaum, C. 

Maraston, D. Margala, P. Maseman, K. L. Masters, C. K. 

McBride, P. McDonald, I. D. McGreer, R. G. McMahon, 

O. Mena Requejo, B. Ménard, J. Miralda-Escudé, H. 

L. Morrison, F. Mullally, D. Muna, H. Murayama, 

A. D. Myers, T. Naugle, A. Fausti Neto, D. Cuong 

Nguyen, R. C. Nichol, D. L. Nidever, R. W. O’Connell, 

R. L. C. Ogando, M. D. Olmstead, D. J. Oravetz, N. 

Padmanabhan, M. Paegert, N. Palanque-Delabrouille, 

K. Pan, P. Pandey, J. K. Parejko, I. Pâris, P. Pellegrini, J. 

Pepper, W. J. Percival, P. Petitjean, R. Pfaffenberger, J. 

Pforr, S. Phleps, C. Pichon, M. M. Pieri, F. Prada, A. M. 

Price-Whelan, M. J. Raddick, B. H. F. Ramos, I. N. Reid, 

C. Reyle, J. Rich, G. T. Richards, G. H. Rieke, M. J. 

Rieke, H.-W. Rix, A. C. Robin, H. J. Rocha-Pinto, C. M. 

Rockosi, N. A. Roe, E. Rollinde, A. J. Ross, N. P. Ross, 

B. Rossetto, A. G. Sánchez, B. Santiago, C. Sayres, R. 

Schiavon, D. J. Schlegel, K. J. Schlesinger, S. J. Schmidt, 

D. P. Schneider, K. Sellgren, A. Shelden, E. Sheldon, 

M. Shetrone, Y. Shu, J. D. Silverman, J. Simmerer, A. 

E. Simmons, T. Sivarani, M. F. Skrutskie, A. Slosar, S. 

Smee, V. V. Smith, S. A. Snedden, K. G. Stassun, O. 

Steele, M. Steinmetz, M. H. Stockett, T. Stollberg, M. 

A. Strauss, A. S. Szalay, M. Tanaka, A. R. Thakar, D. 

Thomas, J. L. Tinker, B. M. Tofflemire, R. Tojeiro, C. A. 

Tremonti, Vargas Magaña, Mariana, L. Verde, N. P. Vogt, 

D. A. Wake, X. Wan, J. Wang, B. A. Weaver, M. White, 

S. D. M. White, J. C. Wilson, J. P. Wisniewski, W. M. 

Wood-Vasey, B. Yanny, N. Yasuda, C. Yèche, D. G. York, 

E. Young, G. Zasowski, I. Zehavi and B. Zhao: SDSS-III: 

Massive spectroscopic surveys of the distant Universe, 

the Milky Way, and extra-solar planetary systems. The 

Astronomical Journal 142, id. 72, (2011) 

El-Kork, N., F. Huisken and C. von Borczyskowski: 

Dielectric effects on the optical properties of single 

silicon nanocrystals. Journal of Applied Physics 110, 

074312-074312-9 (2011) 

Ellerbroek, L. E., L. Kaper, A. Bik, A. de Koter, M. Horrobin, 

E. Puga, H. Sana and L. B. F. M. Waters: The intermediate-mass 

young stellar object 08576nr292: Discovery of 

a disk-jet system. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 732, 

id. L9 (2011) 

Elmegreen, D. M., B. G. Elmegreen, A. Yau, E. Athanassoula, 

A. Bosma, R. J. Buta, G. Helou, L. C. Ho, D. A. Gadotti, 

J. H. Knapen, E. Laurikainen, B. F. Madore, K. L. 

Masters, S. E. Meidt, K. Menéndez-Delmestre, M. W. 

Regan, H. Salo, K. Sheth, D. Zaritsky, M. Aravena, 

R. Skibba, J. L. Hinz, J. Laine, A. Gil de Paz, J.-C. 

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Publications 125


Erroz Ferrer: Grand design and flocculent spirals in the 

Spitzer Survey of stellar structure in galaxies (S4G). 


Emsellem, E., M. Cappellari, D. Krajnović, K. Alatalo, L. 

Blitz, M. Bois, F. Bournaud, M. Bureau, R. L. Davies, 

T. A. Davis, P. T. de Zeeuw, S. Khochfar, H. Kuntschner, 

P.-Y. Lablanche, R. M. McDermid, R. Morganti, T. 

Naab, T. Oosterloo, M. Sarzi, N. Scott, P. Serra, G. 

van de Ven, A.-M. Weijmans and L. M. Young: The 

atLaS3D project – III. A census of the stellar angular 

momentum within the effective radius of early-type galaxies: 

unveiling the distribution of fast and slow rotators. 

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 

414, 888-912 (2011) 

Enke, H., M. Steinmetz, H.-M. Adorf, A. Beck-Ratzka, F. 

Breitling, T. Brüsemeister, A. Carlson, T. Ensslin, M. 

Högqvist, I. Nickelt, T. Radke, A. Reinefeld, A. Reiser, 

T. Scholl, R. Spurzem, J. Steinacker, W. Voges, J. 

Wambsganß and S. White: AstroGrid-D: Grid technology 

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Ernst, A., A. Just, P. Berczik and C. Olczak: Simulations of 

the Hyades. Astronomy and Astrophysics 536, id. A64 


Falcón-Barroso, J., G. van de Ven, R. F. Peletier, M. Bureau, 

H. Jeong, R. Bacon, M. Cappellari, R. L. Davies, P. T. 

de Zeeuw, E. Emsellem, D. Krajnović, H. Kuntschner, 

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Fallscheer, C., H. Beuther, J. Sauter, S. Wolf and Q. Zhang: 

A high-mass dusty disk cndidate: The case of iraS 

18151-1208. The Astrophysical Journal 729, id. 66, 


Faure, C., T. Anguita, D. Alloin, K. Bundy, A. Finoguenov, 

A. Leauthaud, C. Knobel, J. P. Kneib, E. Jullo, O. Ilbert, 

A. M. Koekemoer, P. Capak, N. Scoville and L. A. M. 

Tasca: On the evolution of environmental and mass properties 

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Fendt, C.: Jet rotation driven by magnetohydrodynamic 

shocks in helical magnetic fields. The Astrophysical 


Fendt, C.: Formation of magnetohydrodynamic jets: flares 

as triggers of internal shocks. Memorie della Societa 

Astronomica Italiana 82, 112-119 (2011) 

Feoli, A. and L. Mancini: A fundamental equation for supermassive 

black holes. International Journal of Modern 

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Flaherty, K. M., J. Muzerolle, G. Rieke, R. Gutermuth, Z. 

Balog, W. Herbst, S. T. Megeath and M. Kun: The highly 

dynamic behavior of the innermost dust and gas in the 

transition disk variable LRLL 31. The Astrophysical 


Flock, M., N. Dzyurkevich, H. Klahr, N. J. Turner and T. 

Henning: Turbulence and steady flows in three-dimensional 

global stratified magnetohydrodynamic simulations 

of accretion disks. The Astrophysical Journal 735, 


Fogel, J. K. J., T. J. Bethell, E. A. Bergin, N. Calvet and D. 

Semenov: Chemistry of a protoplanetary disk with grain 

settling and Lya radiation. The Astrophysical Journal 


Fontanot, F., A. Pasquali, G. De Lucia, F. C. van den Bosch, 

R. S. Somerville and X. Kang: The dependence of AGN 

activity on stellar and halo mass in semi-analytic models. 


957-970 (2011) 

Fontanot, F. and R. S. Somerville: Evaluating and improving 

semi-analytic modelling of dust in galaxies based on 

radiative transfer calculations – II. Dust emission in the 

infrared. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical 


Foppiani, I., J. M. Hill, M. Lombini, G. Bregoli, G. 

Cosentino, E. Diolaiti, T. M. Herbst, G. Innocenti, D. 

Meschke, D. L. Miller, R.-R. Rohloff and L. Schreiber: 

An instrument for commissioning the active and adaptive 

optics of modern telescopes: the Infrared Test Camera for 

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31, 115-130 (2011) 

Foyle, K., H. W. Rix, C. L. Dobbs, A. K. Leroy and F. 

Walter: Observational evidence against long-lived spiral 

arms in galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal 735, id. 101, 


Froebrich, D., C. J. Davis, G. Ioannidis, T. M. Gledhill, 

M. Takami, A. Chrysostomou, J. Drew, J. Eislöffel, A. 

Gosling, R. Gredel, J. Hatchell, K. W. Hodapp, M. S. N. 

Kumar, P. W. Lucas, H. Matthews, M. G. Rawlings, M. 

D. Smith, B. Stecklum, W. P. Varricatt, H. T. Lee, P. S. 

Teixeira, C. Aspin, T. Khanzadyan, J. Karr, H. J. Kim, 

B. C. Koo, J. J. Lee, Y. H. Lee, T. Y. Magakian, T. A. 

Movsessian, E. H. Nikogossian, T. S. Pyo and T. Stanke: 

UWISH2 – the uKirt widefield infrared survey for H 2 . 


480-492 (2011) 

Fu, H., A. D. Myers, S. G. Djorgovski and L. Yan: Mergers 

in double-peaked [O III] active galactic nuclei. The 


Fu, H., Z.-Y. Zhang, R. J. Assef, A. Stockton, A. D. Myers, 

L. Yan, S. G. Djorgovski, J. M. Wrobel and D. A. 

Riechers: A kiloparsec-scale binary active galactic nucleus 

confirmed by the Expanded Very Large Array. The 


Gadallah, K. A. K., H. Mutschke and C. Jäger: UV irradiated 

hydrogenated amorphous carbon (HAC) materials as 

a carrier candidate of the interstellar UV bump at 217.5 

nm. Astronomy and Astrophysics 528, id. A56 (2011) 

Gennaro, M., W. Brandner, A. Stolte and T. Henning: 

Mass segregation and elongation of the starburst cluster 

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Kirkpatrick, J. A., D. J. Schlegel, N. P. Ross, A. D. Myers, 

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Köhler, R.: The orbit of GG Tauri A. Astronomy and 


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Krasnokutski, S. A. and F. Huisken: Low-temperature 

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Kritsuk, A. G., Å. Nordlund, D. Collins, P. Padoan, M. L. 

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Lestrade, J.-F., C. L. Carilli, K. Thanjavur, J.-P. Kneib, D. A. 

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Li, H.-B., R. Blundell, A. Hedden, J. Kawamura, S. Paine 

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Li, H.-B. and T. Henning: The alignment of molecular cloud 

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Liu, M. C., N. R. Deacon, E. A. Magnier, T. J. Dupuy, K. 

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Liu, Y., L. Wu, C.-H. Zhang, S. A. Krasnokutski and D.-S. 

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Nguyen Luong, Q., F. Motte, F. Schuller, N. Schneider, 

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Nicol, M.-H., K. Meisenheimer, C. Wolf and C. Tapken: Redsequence 

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Nilsson, K. K., O. Möller-Nilsson, P. Rosati, M. Lombardi, 

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Oliveira, I., J. Olofsson, K. M. Pontoppidan, E. F. van 

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Pasetto, S., E. K. Grebel, P. Berczik, C. Chiosi and R. 

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Pavlyuchenkov, Y. N., D. S. Wiebe, A. M. Fateeva and 

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Peletier, R. F., E. Kutdemir, G. van der Wolk, J. Falcón- 

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Perryman, M. A. C. and T. Schulze-Hartung: The barycentric 

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Pitann, J., M. Hennemann, S. Birkmann, J. Bouwman, O. 

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Porth, O.: Simulations and synchrotron radiation from the 

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Potrick, K., T. Schmidt, S. Bublitz, C. Mühlig, W. Paa and F. 

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Quanz, S. P., H. M. Schmid, K. Geissler, M. R. Meyer, 

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Ragan, S. E., E. A. Bergin and D. Wilner: Very Large 

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Rahman, N., A. D. Bolatto, T. Wong, A. K. Leroy, F. Walter, 

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Ramos Almeida, C., D. Dicken, C. Tadhunter, A. Asensio 

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Ramos Almeida, C., C. N. Tadhunter, K. J. Inskip, R. 

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Rand, R. J., K. Wood, R. A. Benjamin and S. E. Meidt: 

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Regály, Z., Z. Sándor, C. P. Dullemond and L. L. Kiss: 

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Ricci, D., J. Poels, A. Elyiv, F. Finet, P. G. Sprimont, 

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Ricci, L., L. Testi, J. P. Williams, R. K. Mann and T. 

Birnstiel: The mm-colors of a Young Binary Disk System 

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Richardson, J. C., M. J. Irwin, A. W. McConnachie, N. F. 

Martin, A. L. Dotter, A. M. N. Ferguson, R. A. Ibata, S. 

C. Chapman, G. F. Lewis, N. R. Tanvir and R. M. Rich: 

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Rochau, B., W. Brandner, A. Stolte, T. Henning, N. Da 

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Rolffs, R., P. Schilke, F. Wyrowski, C. Dullemond, K. M. 

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Rouillé, G., M. Steglich, C. Jäger, F. Huisken, T. Henning, 

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Sánchez, S. F., F. F. Rosales-Ortega, R. C. Kennicutt, B. D. 

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Sándor, Z., W. Lyra and C. P. Dullemond: Formation of planetary 

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Schewtschenko, J. A. and A. V. Macciò: Comparing galactic 

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Schmidt, W. and C. Federrath: A fluid-dynamical subgrid 

scale model for highly compressible astrophysical turbulence. 


Schneider, N., S. Bontemps, R. Simon, V. Ossenkopf, C. 

Federrath, R. S. Klessen, F. Motte, P. André, J. Stutzki 

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Schrinner, M., L. Petitdemange and E. Dormy: Oscillatory 

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Schruba, A., A. K. Leroy, F. Walter, F. Bigiel, E. Brinks, 

W. J. G. de Blok, G. Dumas, C. Kramer, E. Rosolowsky, 

K. Sandstrom, K. Schuster, A. Usero, A. Weiss and H. 

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Ségransan, D., M. Mayor, S. Udry, C. Lovis, W. Benz, F. 

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F. Pepe, D. Queloz and N. Santos: The harpS search for 

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HD 104067, HD 125595, and HIP 70849. Astronomy and 


Selier, R., M. Heydari-Malayeri and D. A. Gouliermis: An 

interesting candidate for isolated massive-star formation 

in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Astronomy and 


Semenov, D. and D. Wiebe: Chemical evolution of turbulent 

protoplanetary disks and the solar nebula. The 

Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 196, id. 25, 


Shetty, R., S. C. Glover, C. P. Dullemond and R. S. Klessen: 

Modelling CO emission – I. CO as a column density 

tracer and the X factor in molecular clouds. Monthly 



Shetty, R., S. C. Glover, C. P. Dullemond, E. C. Ostriker, A. 

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The physical characteristics that determine the X factor 

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Shirley, Y. L., T. L. Huard, K. M. Pontoppidan, D. J. 

Wilner, A. M. Stutz, J. H. Bieging and N. J. Evans: 

Observational constraints on submillimeter dust opacity. 


Sicilia-Aguilar, A., T. Henning, C. P. Dullemond, N. Patel, 

A. Juhász, J. Bouwman and B. Sturm: Dust properties 

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Cep OB2: grain growth, settling, gas and dust mass, and 

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Sicilia-Aguilar, A., T. Henning, J. Kainulainen and V. 

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age, evolution, and cluster structure. The Astrophysical 


Silverman, J. D., P. Kampczyk, K. Jahnke, R. Andrae, S. 

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M. Carollo, T. Contini, G. Coppa, O. Cucciati, S. de la 

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A. Iovino, C. Knobel, A. M. Koekemoer, K. Kovač, F. 

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A. Finoguenov, H. Fu, R. Gilli, H. Hao, L. C. Ho and

M. Salvato: The impact of galaxy interactions on active 

galactic nucleus activity in zcoSmoS. The Astrophysical 


Skemer, A. J., L. M. Close, L. Szűcs, D. Apai, I. Pascucci 

and B. A. Biller: Evidence against an edge-on disk 

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Skibba, R. A., C. W. Engelbracht, D. Dale, J. Hinz, S. 

Zibetti, A. Crocker, B. Groves, L. Hunt, B. D. Johnson, 

S. Meidt, E. Murphy, P. Appleton, L. Armus, A. Bolatto, 

B. Brandl, D. Calzetti, K. Croxall, M. Galametz, K. D. 

Gordon, R. C. Kennicutt, J. Koda, O. Krause, E. Montiel, 

H.-W. Rix, H. Roussel, K. Sandstrom, M. Sauvage, E. 

Schinnerer, J. D. Smith, F. Walter, C. D. Wilson and M. 

Wolfire: The emission by dust and stars of nearby galaxies 

in the herScheL KinGfiSh survey. The Astrophysical 


Skibba, R. A. and A. V. Macciò: Properties of dark matter 

haloes and their correlations: the lesson from principal 

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Skibba, R. A., F. C. van den Bosch, X. Yang, S. More, H. 

Mo and F. Fontanot: Are brightest halo galaxies central 

galaxies? Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical 


Slater, C. T., E. F. Bell and N. F. Martin: Andromeda 

XXVIII: a dwarf galaxy more than 350 kpc from 

Andromeda. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 742, id. 


Sluse, D., R. Schmidt, F. Courbin, D. Hutsemékers, G. 

Meylan, A. Eigenbrod, T. Anguita, E. Agol and J. 

Wambsganss: Zooming into the broad line region of 

the gravitationally lensed quasar QSO 2237 + 0305≡ 

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structure of the Civ and Ciii] emitting regions using microlensing. 

Astronomy and Astrophysics 528, id. A100 


Smolčić, V., P. Capak, O. Ilbert, A. W. Blain, M. Salvato, 

I. Aretxaga, E. Schinnerer, D. Masters, I. Morić, D. A. 

Riechers, K. Sheth, M. Aravena, H. Aussel, J. Aguirre, 

S. Berta, C. L. Carilli, F. Civano, G. Fazio, J. Huang, D. 

Hughes, J. Kartaltepe, A. M. Koekemoer, J. P. Kneib, 

E. LeFloc’h, D. Lutz, H. McCracken, B. Mobasher, 

E. Murphy, F. Pozzi, L. Riguccini, D. B. Sanders, M. 

Sargent, K. S. Scott, N. Z. Scoville, Y. Taniguchi, D. 

Thompson, C. Willott, G. Wilson and M. Yun: The redshift 

and nature of AzTEC/coSmoS 1: a starburst galaxy 

at z 4.6. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 731, id. 

L27, (2011) 

Smolčić, V., A. Finoguenov, G. Zamorani, E. Schinnerer, M. 

Tanaka, S. Giodini and N. Scoville: On the occupation 

of X-ray-selected galaxy groups by radio active galactic 

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Astronomical Society 416, L31-L35 (2011) 

Sollima, A., D. Martínez-Delgado, D. Valls-Gabaud and J. 

Peñarrubia: Discovery of tidal tails around the distant 

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Sollima, A., D. Valls-Gabaud, D. Martinez-Delgado, J. 

Fliri, J. Penarrubia and H. Hoekstra: A deep view of the 

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extra-galactic origin. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 


Steglich, M., J. Bouwman, F. Huisken and T. Henning: Can 

neutral and ionized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons be 

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interstellar bands? The Astrophysical Journal 742, id. 2 


Steglich, M., F. Huisken, J. E. Dahl, R. M. K. Carlson and 

T. Henning: Electronic spectroscopy of FUV-irradiated 

damondoids: a combined experimental and theoretical 

study. The Astrophysical Journal 729, id. 91 (2011) 

Stumpf, M. B., K. Geißler, H. Bouy, W. Brandner, B. 

Goldman and T. Henning: Resolving the L/T transition 

binary SDSS J2052-1609 AB. Astronomy and 


Szalai, T., J. Vinkó, Z. Balog, A. Gáspár, M. Block and L. 

L. Kiss: Dust formation in the ejecta of the type II-P 

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Tadhunter, C., J. Holt, R. González Delgado, J. Rodríguez 

Zaurín, M. Villar-Martín, R. Morganti, B. Emonts, C. 

Ramos Almeida and K. Inskip: Starburst radio galaxies: 

general properties, evolutionary histories and triggering. 


960-978 (2011) 

Tatulli, E., M. Benisty, F. Ménard, P. Varnière, C. Martin- 

Zaïdi, W. F. Thi, C. Pinte, F. Massi, G. Weigelt, K. H. 

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Teske, J. K., J. R. Najita, J. S. Carr, I. Pascucci, D. Apai 

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Thalmann, C., M. Janson, E. Buenzli, T. D. Brandt, J. P. 

Wisniewski, A. Moro-Martín, T. Usuda, G. Schneider, 

J. Carson, M. W. McElwain, C. A. Grady, M. Goto, L. 

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Fukue, T. Golota, O. Guyon, J. Hashimoto, Y. Hayano, 

M. Hayashi, S. Hayashi, T. Henning, K. W. Hodapp, 

M. Ishii, M. Iye, R. Kandori, G. R. Knapp, T. Kudo, N. 

Kusakabe, M. Kuzuhara, T. Matsuo, S. Miyama, J. I. 

Morino, T. Nishimura, T. S. Pyo, E. Serabyn, H. Suto, 

R. Suzuki, Y. H. Takahashi, M. Takami, N. Takato, 

H. Terada, D. Tomono, E. L. Turner, M. Watanabe, 

T. Yamada, H. Takami and M. Tamura: Images of 

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HR 4796 A. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 743, id. 


Thalmann, C., T. Usuda, M. Kenworthy, M. Janson, E. 

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Hayano, T. Henning, P. M. Hinz, Y. Minowa and M. 

Tamura: Piercing the glare: a direct imaging search for 

planets in the Sirius system. The Astrophysical Journal 

Letters 732, id. L34 (2011) 

Thi, W. F., F. Ménard, G. Meeus, C. Martin-Zaïdi, P. Woitke, 

E. Tatulli, M. Benisty, I. Kamp, I. Pascucci, C. Pinte, 

C. A. Grady, S. Brittain, G. J. White, C. D. Howard, G. 

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Trump, J. R., C. D. Impey, B. C. Kelly, F. Civano, J. M. 

Gabor, A. M. Diamond-Stanic, A. Merloni, C. M. Urry, 

H. Hao, K. Jahnke, T. Nagao, Y. Taniguchi, A. M. 

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Trump, J. R., T. Nagao, H. Ikeda, T. Murayama, C. D. Impey, 

J. T. Stocke, F. Civano, M. Elvis, K. Jahnke, B. C. Kelly, 

A. M. Koekemoer and Y. Taniguchi: Spectropolarimetric 

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Tsalmantza, P., R. Decarli, M. Dotti and D. W. Hogg: A 

systematic search for massive black hole binaries in the 

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Umbreit, S., R. Spurzem, T. Henning, H. Klahr and S. 

Mikkola: Disks around brown dwarfs in the ejection 

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Uribe, A. L., H. Klahr, M. Flock and T. Henning: Threedimensional 

magnetohydrodynamic simulations of planet 

migration in turbulent stratified disks. The Astrophysical 


Vaidya, B., C. Fendt, H. Beuther and O. Porth: Jet formation 

from massive young stars: magnetohydrodynamics 

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Valtchanov, I., J. Virdee, R. J. Ivison, B. Swinyard, P. van 

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Physical conditions of the interstellar medium of highredshift, 

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van der Laan, T. P. R., E. Schinnerer, F. Boone, S. García- 

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van der Wel, A., A. N. Straughn, H. W. Rix, S. L. Finkelstein, 

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van der Werf, P. P., A. Berciano Alba, M. Spaans, A. F. 

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van Dokkum, P. G., G. Brammer, M. Fumagalli, E. Nelson, 

M. Franx, H.-W. Rix, M. Kriek, R. E. Skelton, S. Patel, 

K. B. Schmidt, R. Bezanson, F. Bian, E. da Cunha, D. 

K. Erb, X. Fan, N. Förster Schreiber, G. D. Illingworth, 

I. Labbé, B. Lundgren, D. Magee, D. Marchesini, P. 

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D. Wake, K. E. Whitaker and A. Williams: First results 

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Vasyunin, A. I., D. S. Wiebe, T. Birnstiel, S. Zhukovska, T. 

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Vasyunina, T., H. Linz, T. Henning, I. Zinchenko, H. 

Beuther and M. Voronkov: Chemistry in infrared dark 

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Verhoeff, A. P., M. Min, E. Pantin, L. B. F. M. Waters, A. G. 

G. M. Tielens, M. Honda, H. Fujiwara, J. Bouwman, R. 

van Boekel, S. M. Dougherty, A. de Koter, C. Dominik 

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Vollmer, B. and A. K. Leroy: Sustaining star formation rates 

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Walter, F., K. Sandstrom, G. Aniano, D. Calzetti, K. Croxall, 

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C. Kennicutt, M. Wolfire, L. Armus, P. Beirão, A. D. 

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Leroy, S. Meidt, E. J. Murphy, N. Rahman, H. W. Rix, 

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M 81 triplet. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 726, id. 


Walter, F., A. Weiß, D. Downes, R. Decarli and C. Henkel: 

A survey of atomic carbon at high redshift. The 


Wang, J., G. Fabbiano, M. Elvis, G. Risaliti, M. Karovska, 

A. Zezas, C. G. Mundell, G. Dumas and E. Schinnerer: 

A deep chandra ACIS study of NGC 4151. III. The line 

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Wang, J., G. Fabbiano, G. Risaliti, M. Elvis, M. Karovska, 

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A deep chandra ACIS study of NGC 4151. I. The 

X-ray morphology of the 3 kpc diameter circum-nuclear 

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Wang, R., J. Wagg, C. L. Carilli, R. Neri, F. Walter, A. 

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Cox, M. A. Strauss, X. Fan and L. Jiang: Far-infrared 

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Wang, R., J. Wagg, C. L. Carilli, F. Walter, D. A. Riechers, 

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A. Strauss, J. Bergeron, T. Forveille, K. M. Menten and 

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Wang, W., S. Boudreault, B. Goldman, T. Henning, J. A. 

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Wang, Y., H. Beuther, A. Bik, T. Vasyunina, Z. Jiang, E. 

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Different evolutionary stages in the massive star-forming 

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Wardlow, J. L., I. Smail, K. E. K. Coppin, D. M. Alexander, 

W. N. Brandt, A. L. R. Danielson, B. Luo, A. M. 

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J. S. Dunlop, E. Gawiser, R. J. Ivison, K. K. Knudsen, 

A. Kovács, C. G. Lacey, K. M. Menten, N. Padilla, H. 

W. Rix and P. P. van der Werf: The Laboca survey of 

the Extended chandra Deep Field-South: a photomet- 

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Warren, S. R., D. R. Weisz, E. D. Skillman, J. M. Cannon, 

J. J. Dalcanton, A. E. Dolphin, R. C. Kennicutt, Jr., B. 

Koribalski, J. Ott, A. M. Stilp, S. D. Van Dyk, F. Walter 

and A. A. West: The formation of kiloparsec-scale H I 

holes in dwarf galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal 738, 


Watson, L. C., E. Schinnerer, P. Martini, T. Böker and 

U. Lisenfeld: Properties of bulgeless disk galaxies. I. 

Atomic gas. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement 

Series 194, id. 36 (2011) 

Wijesinghe, D. B., E. da Cunha, A. M. Hopkins, L. Dunne, 

R. Sharp, M. Gunawardhana, S. Brough, E. M. Sadler, 

S. Driver, I. Baldry, S. Bamford, J. Liske, J. Loveday, P. 

Norberg, J. Peacock, C. C. Popescu, R. Tuffs, E. Andrae, 

R. Auld, M. Baes, J. Bland-Hawthorn, S. Buttiglione, A. 

Cava, E. Cameron, C. J. Conselice, A. Cooray, S. Croom, 

A. Dariush, G. Dezotti, S. Dye, S. Eales, C. Frenk, J. 

Fritz, D. Hill, R. Hopwood, E. Ibar, R. Ivison, M. Jarvis, 

D. H. Jones, E. van Kampen, L. Kelvin, K. Kuijken, S. 

J. Maddox, B. Madore, M. J. Michałowski, B. Nichol, 

H. Parkinson, E. Pascale, K. A. Pimbblet, M. Pohlen, 

M. Prescott, G. Rhodighiero, A. S. G. Robotham, E. E. 

Rigby, M. Seibert, S. Sergeant, D. J. B. Smith, P. Temi, 

W. Sutherland, E. Taylor, D. Thomas and P. van der 

Werf: Gama/H-atLaS: the ultraviolet spectral slope and 

obscuration in galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal 


Windmark, F., L. Lindegren and D. Hobbs: Using Galactic 

Cepheids to verify Gaia parallaxes. Astronomy and 


Witzel, G., A. Eckart, R. M. Buchholz, M. Zamaninasab, 

R. Lenzen, R. Schödel, C. Araujo, N. Sabha, M. Bremer, 

V. Karas, C. Straubmeier and K. Muzic: The instrumental 

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Wong, T., A. Hughes, J. Ott, E. Muller, J. L. Pineda, J.-P. 

Bernard, Y.-H. Chu, Y. Fukui, R. A. Gruendl, C. Henkel, 

A. Kawamura, U. Klein, L. W. Looney, S. Maddison, 

Y. Mizuno, D. Paradis, J. Seale and D. E. Welty: The 

Magellanic Mopra Assessment (maGma). I. The molecular 

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Woods, P. M., J. M. Oliveira, F. Kemper, J. T. van Loon, 

B. A. Sargent, M. Matsuura, R. Szczerba, K. Volk, A. A. 

Zijlstra, G. C. Sloan, E. Lagadec, I. McDonald, O. Jones, 

V. Gorjian, K. E. Kraemer, C. Gielen, M. Meixner, R. D. 

Blum, M. Sewiło, D. Riebel, B. Shiao, C. H. R. Chen, 

M. L. Boyer, R. Indebetouw, V. Antoniou, J. P. Bernard, 

M. Cohen, C. Dijkstra, M. Galametz, F. Galliano, K. D. 

Gordon, J. Harris, S. Hony, J. L. Hora, A. Kawamura, 

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B. Lawton, J. M. Leisenring, S. Madden, M. Marengo, 

C. McGuire, A. J. Mulia, B. O’Halloran, K. Olsen, 

R. Paladini, D. Paradis, W. T. Reach, D. Rubin, K. 

Sandstrom, I. Soszyński, A. K. Speck, S. Srinivasan, A. 

G. G. M. Tielens, E. van Aarle, S. D. van Dyk, H. van 

Winckel, U. P. Vijh, B. Whitney and A. N. Wilkins: The 

SAGE-Spec Spitzer Legacy programme: the life-cycle 

of dust and gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud – Point 

source classification I. Monthly Notices of the Royal 


Worseck, G., J. X. Prochaska, M. McQuinn, A. Dall’Aglio, 

C. Fechner, J. F. Hennawi, D. Reimers, P. Richter and 

L. Wisotzki: The end of Helium reionization at z 2.7 

inferred from cosmic variance in HST/COS He II Lya 

absorption spectra. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 


Wu, R., D. W. Hogg and J. Moustakas: The aromatic features 

in very faint dwarf galaxies. The Astrophysical 


Wu, X.-B., R. Wang, K. B. Schmidt, F. Bian, L. Jiang and 

X. Fan: Discovering the missing 2.2 z 3 quasars by 

combining optical variability and optical/near-infrared 

colors. The Astronomical Journal 142, id. 78 (2011) 

Wuyts, S., N. M. Förster Schreiber, A. van der Wel, B. 

Magnelli, Y. Guo, R. Genzel, D. Lutz, H. Aussel, G. 

Barro, S. Berta, A. Cava, J. Graciá-Carpio, N. P. Hathi, 

K.-H. Huang, D. D. Kocevski, A. M. Koekemoer, K.-S. 

Lee, E. Le Floc’h, E. J. McGrath, R. Nordon, P. Popesso, 

F. Pozzi, L. Riguccini, G. Rodighiero, A. Saintonge and 

L. Tacconi: Galaxy structure and mode of star formation 

in the SFR-mass plane from z 2.5 to z 0.1. The 


Xue, X.-X., H.-W. Rix, B. Yanny, T. C. Beers, E. F. Bell, 

G. Zhao, J. S. Bullock, K. V. Johnston, H. Morrison, C. 

Rockosi, S. E. Koposov, X. Kang, C. Liu, A. Luo, Y. S. 

Lee and B. A. Weaver: Quantifying kinematic substructure 

in the Milky Way’s stellar halo. The Astrophysical 


Yang, Y., A. Zabludoff, K. Jahnke, D. Eisenstein, R. Davé, 

S. A. Shectman and D. D. Kelson: Gas kinematics in Lya 

nebulae. The Astrophysical Journal 735, id. 87 (2011) 

Zapatero Osorio, M. R., V. J. S. Béjar, B. Goldman, J. A. 

Caballero, R. Rebolo, J. A. Acosta-Pulido, A. Manchado 

and K. Peña Ramírez: Near-infrared linear polarization 

of ultracool dwarfs. The Astrophysical Journal 740, id. 


Zeimann, G. R., R. L. White, R. H. Becker, J. A. Hodge, S. 

A. Stanford and G. T. Richards: Discovery of a radioselected 

z 6 quasar. The Astrophysical Journal 736, id. 


Zhang, X., W. Gaessler, A. R. Conrad, T. Bertram, C. 

Arcidiacono, T. M. Herbst, M. Kuerster, P. Bizenberger, 

D. Meschke, H.-W. Rix, C. Rao, L. Mohr, F. Briegel, F. 

Kittmann, J. Berwein, J. Trowitzsch, L. Schreiber, R. 

Ragazzoni and E. Diolaiti: First laboratory results with 

the Linc-nirvana high layer wavefront sensor. Optics 

Express 19, 16087-16095 (2011) 

Zhao-Geisler, R., A. Quirrenbach, R. Köhler, B. Lopez and 

C. Leinert: The mid-infrared diameter of W Hydrae. 


Zibetti, S. and B. Groves: Resolved optical-infrared spectral 

energy distributions of galaxies: universal relations and 

their break-down on local scales. Monthly Notices of the 


Zsom, A., C. W. Ormel, C. P. Dullemond and T. Henning: 

The outcome of protoplanetary dust growth: pebbles, 

boulders, or planetesimals? III. Sedimentation driven 

coagulation inside the snowline. Astronomy and 


Zsom, A., Z. Sándor and C. P. Dullemond: The first stages 

of planet formation in binary systems: how far can dust 

coagulation proceed? Astronomy and Astrophysics 527, 


Conference Proceedings and Books: 

Lemke, D.: Im Himmel über Heidelberg. Archiv zur 

Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin 2011, 

360 p 

Perryman, M.: The exoplanet handbook. Cambridge 

University Press, Cambridge 2011, X, 410p 

Invited Papers und Reviews: 

Fendt, C., B. Vaidya, O. Porth and S. S. Nezami: MHD 

simulations of jet formation – protostellar jets & applications 

to AGN jets. In: Jets at all Scales, (Eds.) Romero, 

G. E., R. A. Sunyaev, T. M. Belloni. IAU Symp. 275, 

Cambridge Univ. Press, 383-391 (2011) 

Henning, T. and G. Meeus: Dust processing and mineralogy 

in protoplanetary accretion disks. In: Physical Processes 

in Circumstellar Disks around Young Stars, (Ed.) Garcia, 

P. J. V. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago 2011, 114-148 

Jäger, C., H. Mutschke, T. Henning, F. Huisken and A. G. 

G. M. Tielens: From PAHs to solid carbon. In: PAHs and 

the Universe, (Ed.) Joblin, C. EAS Publications Series 

46, EDP Sciences, 293-304 (2011) 

Jäger, C., H. Mutschke, T. Henning, R. Simon, V. Ossenkopf 

and J. Stutzki: Laboratory astrophysics of dust. In: The 

5 th Zermatt ISM-Symposium: Conditions and Impact of 

Star Formation: New results with herScheL and beyond, 

(Eds.) Röllig, M., R. Simon, V. Ossenkopf, J. Stutzki. 

EAS Publications Series 52, EDP Sciences, 245-250 


Kaltenegger, L.: Biomarkers of habitable worlds – superearths 

and earths. In: The Molecular Universe, (Eds.) 

Cernicharo, J., R. Bachiller. IAU Symp. 280, Cambridge 

Univ. Press, 302-312 (2011) 

Kaltenegger, L., A. Segura, S. Mohanty, M. G. Lattanzi 

and A. P. Boss: Super-Earths and life – a fascinating 

puzzle: example GJ 581d. In: The Astrophysics of 

Planetary Systems: Formation, Structure, and Dynamical 

Evolution, (Eds.) Sozzetti, A., M. G. Lattanzi, A. P. Boss. 

IAU Symp. 276, Cambridge Univ. Press, 376-384 (2011) 

Pagani, L., A. Bacmann, J. Steinacker, A. Stutz, T. Henning, 

R. Simon, V. Ossenkopf and J. Stutzki: Coreshine: the

ubiquity of micron-size grains in star-forming regions. 

In: The 5 th Zermatt ISM-Symposium: Conditions and 

Impact of Star Formation: New results with herScheL 

and beyond, (Eds.) Röllig, M., R. Simon, V. Ossenkopf, 

J. Stutzki. EAS Publications Series 52, EDP Sciences, 

225-228 (2011) 

Schartmann, M., K. Meisenheimer, H. Klahr, M. Camenzind, 

S. Wolf, T. Henning, A. Burkert and M. Krause: 

Hydrodynamic studies of turbulent AGN tori. In: Jenam 

2008: Grand Challenges in Computational Astrophysics, 

(Eds.) Wozniak, H., G. Hensler. EAS Publications Series 


Semenov, D. A.: Chemical evolution of a protoplanetary 

disk. In: The Molecular Universe, (Eds.) Cernicharo, J., 

R. Bachiller. IAU Symp. 280, Cambridge Univ. Press, 

114-126 (2011) 

Wyrowski, F., F. Schuller, K. M. Menten, L. Bronfman, T. 

Henning, C. M. Walmsley, H. Beuther, S. Bontemps, 

R. Cesaroni, Y. Contreras, L. Deharveng, G. Garay, F. 

Herpin, B. Lefloch, H. Linz, D. Mardones, V. Minier, S. 

Molinari, F. Motte, Q. Nguyen Luong, L. Å. Nyman, V. 

Reveret, C. Risacher, D. Russeil, P. Schilke, N. Schneider, 

J. Tackenberg, L. Testi, T. Troost, T. Vasyunina, M. 

Wienen, A. Zavagno, R. Simon, V. Ossenkopf and 

J. Stutzki: atLaSGaL: the apex Telescope Large 

Area Survey of the Galaxy. In: The 5 th Zermatt ISM- 

Symposium: Conditions and Impact of Star Formation : 

New results with herScheL and beyond, (Eds.) Röllig, 

M., R. Simon, V. Ossenkopf, J. Stutzki. EAS Publications 

Series, 52, EDP Sciences, 129-134 (2011) 

Congtributed Papers: 

Bagetakos, I., E. Brinks, F. Walter, W. J. G. de Blok, A. 

Usero, A. K. Leroy, J. W. Rich, R. C. Kennicutt, R. 

Simon, V. Ossenkopf and J. Stutzki: The porosity of 

the neutral ISM in 20 thinGS galaxies. In: The 5 th 

Zermatt ISM-Symposium: Conditions and Impact of Star 

Formation : New results with herScheL and beyond, 




Bailer-Jones, C. A. L., A. Accomazzi, D. J. Mink and 

A. H. Rots: Bayesian inference of stellar parameters 

and interstellar extinction with heterogeneous data. In: 

Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XX, 

(Eds.) Evans, I. N., A. Accomazzi, D. J. Mink, A. H. 

Rots. ASP Conf. Ser. 442, ASP, 475-478 (2011) 

Bergfors, C., W. Brandner, T. Henning, S. Daemgen, M. 

G. Lattanzi and A. P. Boss: Stellar companions to exoplanet 

host stars with Astralux. In: The Astrophysics of 




Beuther, H.: Formation and early evolution of massive stars. 

In: The multi-wavelength view of hot, massive stars, 

(Eds.) Rauw, G., M. De Becker, Y. Nazé, J.-M. Vreux, P. 

Williams. Bulletin de la Societe Royale des Sciences de 

Liege 80, Soc. Royale des Sciences de Liège, 200-210 


Bigiel, F., A. Leroy, F. Walter, B. G. Elmegreen, J. M. Girart 

and V. Trimble: Scaling relations between gas and star 

formation in nearby galaxies. In: Computational star formation, 

(Eds.) Alves, J., B. G. Elmegreen, J. M. Girart, 

V. Trimble. IAU Symp. 270, Cambridge Univ. Press, 

327-334 (2011) 

Bik, A., T. Henning, A. Stolte, W. Brandner, D. Gouliermis, 

M. Gennaro, A. Pasquali, B. Rochau, H. Beuther and 

Y. Wang: Dissecting high-mass star-forming regions; 

tracing back their complex formation history. In: Stellar 

Clusters & Associations: A RIA Workshop on Gaia, 

(Eds.) Alfaro Navarro, E. J., A. T. Gallego Calvente, M. 

R. Zapatero Osorio. 210-214 (2011 online) 

Brasseur, C., H. W. Rix, N. Martin, P. Prugniel and I. 

Vauglin: Andromeda and the Seven Dwarfs. In: CRAL – 

2010: A Universe of Dwarf Galaxies, (Eds.) Koleva, M., 

P. Prugniel, I. Vauglin. EAS Publications Series 48, EDP 

Sciences, 353-354 (2011) 

Casasola, V., S. García-Burillo, F. Combes, L. K. Hunt, M. 

Krips, E. Schinnerer, A. J. Baker, F. Boone, A. Eckart, 

S. Léon, R. Neri and L. J. Tacconi: New views on bar 

pattern speeds from the nuGa survey. Memorie della 

Societa Astronomica Italiana Supplementi 18, 43-46 


Ceyhan, U., T. Henning, F. Fleischmann, D. Hilbig and 

D. Knipp: Measurements of aberrations of aspherical 

lenses using experimental ray tracing. In: Optical 

Measurement Systems for Industrial Inspection VII, 

(Eds.) Lehmann, P. H., W. Osten, K. Gastinger. SPIE 

8082, SPIE, 80821K-80821K-8, (2011) 

Chizhik, A. I., T. Schmidt, A. M. Chizhika, F. Huisken 

and A. J. Meixner: Dynamical effects of defect photoluminescence 

from single SiO 2 and SiO 2 nanoparticles. 

Physics Procedia 13, 28-32 (2011) 

Commerçon, B., P. Hennebelle, E. Audit, G. Chabrier, R. 

Teyssier, B. G. Elmegreen, J. M. Girart and V. Trimble: 

Radiative, magnetic and numerical feedbacks on smallscale 

fragmentation. In: Computational Star Formation, 

(Eds.) Alves, J., B. G. Elmegreen, J. M. Girart, V. 

Trimble. IAU Symp. 270, Cambridge Univ. Press, 227- 


Conrad, A., I. de Pater, M. Kürster, T. Herbst, L. Kaltenegger, 

M. Skrutskie, P. Hinz: Observing Io at high resolution 

from the ground with LBT. In: EPSC Abstracts 6, EPSC- 

DPS2011-795 (2011) 

Decarli, R., M. Dotti, F. Haardt and S. Zibetti: BH masses 

in NLS1: the role of the broad-line region geometry. In: 

Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies and their place in the 

Universe, (Ed.) Foschini, L., id.41, (2011 online) 

Döllinger, M. P., A. P. Hatzes, L. Pasquini, E. W. Guenther, 

M. Hartmann, J. Setiawan, L. Girardi, J. R. de Medeiros, 

L. da Silva, H. Drechsel and U. Heber: Exoplanets around 

G – K giants. In: Planetary Systems Beyond the Main 

Sequence, (Eds.) Schuh, S., H. Drechsel, U. Heber. AIP 

Conference Proceedings 1331, Springer, 79-87 (2011) 

Publications 139


Dzyurkevich, N., N. J. Turner, W. Kley, H. Klahr, T. 

Henning, M. G. Lattanzi and A. P. Boss: 3D global simulations 

of proto-planetary disk with dynamically evolving 

outer edge of dead zone. In: The Astrophysics of 




Falcón-Barroso, J., G. van de Ven, R. Bacon, M. Bureau, M. 

Cappellari, R. L. Davies, P. T. de Zeeuw, E. Emsellem, 

D. Krajnovic, H. Kuntschner, R. M. McDermid, R. F. 

Peletier, M. Sarzi, R. C. E. van den Bosch, P. Prugniel 

and I. Vauglin: The fundamental plane of early-type 

galaxies. In: CRAL – 2010 : A Universe of Dwarf 

Galaxies (Eds.) Koleva, M., P. Prugniel, I. Vauglin. EAS 

Publications Series 48, EDP Sciences, 411-412 (2011) 

Flock, M., N. Turner, N. Dzyurkevich, H. Klahr, M. G. 

Lattanzi and A. P. Boss: Long-term stability of the deadzone 

in proto-planetary disks. In: The Astrophysics of 




Fuhrmann, L., E. Angelakis, I. Nestoras, T. P. Krichbaum, 

N. Marchili, R. Schmidt, J. A. Zensus, H. Unberechts, 

A. Sievers, D. Riquelme, L. Foschini, G. Ghisellini, G. 

Ghirlanda, G. Tagliaferri, F. Tavecchio, L. Maraxchi, 

M. Giroletti, G. Calderone, M. Colpi and R. Decarli: 

Gamma-ray NLSy1s and “classical” blazars: are they different 

at radio cm/mm bands? In: Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 

Galaxies and their Place in the Universe, (Ed.) Foschini, 

L., id.26, (2011 online) 

Gabany, R. J. and D. Martinez-Delgado: Good science 

with modest instruments. In: 30 th Annual Symposium 

on Telescope Science, (Eds.) Warner, B. D., J. Foote, 

R. Buchheim. Society for Astronomical Sciences, 1-12 


Galametz, M., M. Albrecht, R. Kennicutt, F. Bertoldi, F. 

Walter, A. Weiss, D. Dale, B. Draine, G. Aniano, C. 

Engelbracht, J. Hinz, H. Roussel, K. Belkacem, R. 

Samadi and D. Valls-Gabaud: Mapping the dust properties 

of nearby galaxies with herScheL and Laboca. In: 

SF2A-2011: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the 

French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics, (Eds.) 

Alecian, G., K. Belkacem, R. Samadi, D. Valls-Gabaud. 

French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 119-123 


Groenewegen, M. A. T., C. Waelkens, M. J. Barlow, F. 

Kerschbaum, P. Garcia-Lario, J. Cernicharo, J. A. D. L. 

Blommaert, J. Bouwman, M. Cohen, N. Cox, L. Decin, 

K. Exter, W. K. Gear, H. L. Gomez, P. C. Hargrave, T. 

Henning, D. Hutsemékers, R. J. Ivison, A. Jorissen, O. 

Krause, D. Ladjal, S. J. Leeks, T. L. Lim, M. Matsuura, 

Y. Nazé, G. Olofsson, R. Ottensamer, E. Polehampton, T. 

Posch, G. Rauw, P. Royer, B. Sibthorpe, B. M. Swinyard, 

T. Ueta, C. Vamvatira-Nakou, B. Vandenbussche, G. C. 

van de Steene, S. van Eck, P. A. M. van Hoof, H. van 

Winckel, E. Verdugo, R. Wesson, T. Lebzelter and R. F. 

Wing: Results from the herScheL Key Program MESS. 

In: Why Galaxies Care about AGB Stars II: Shining 

Examples and Common Inhabitants, (Ed.) Kerschbaum, 

F. ASP Conf. Ser. 445, ASP 567-575 (2011) 

Hart, M., S. Rabien, L. Busoni, L. Barl, U. Bechmann, 

M. Bonaglia, Y. Boose, J. Borelli, T. Bluemchen, L. 

Carbonaro, C. Connot, M. Deysenroth, R. Davies, O. 

Durney, M. Elberich, T. Ertl, S. Esposito, W. Gaessler, 

V. Gasho, H. Gemperlein, P. Hubbard, S. Kanneganti, 

M. Kulas, K. Newman, J. Noenickx, G. de Xivry, A. 

Qirrenback, M. Rademacher, C. Schwab, J. Storm, V. 

Vaitheeswaran, G. Weigelt and J. Ziegleder: The Large 

Binocular Telescope’s arGoS ground-layer AO system. 

In: The Large Binocular Telescope’s arGoS groundlayer 

AO system, (Ed.) Ryan, S., The Maui Economic 

Development Board, E23, (2011 online) 

Hart, M., S. Rabien, L. Busoni, L. Barl, U. Beckmann, 

M. Bonaglia, Y. Boose, J. L. Borelli, T. Bluemchen, L. 

Carbonaro, C. Connot, M. Deysenroth, R. Davies, O. 

Durney, M. Elberich, T. Ertl, S. Esposito, W. Gaessler, 

V. Gasho, H. Gemperlein, P. Hubbard, S. Kanneganti, 

M. Kulas, K. Newman, J. Noenickx, G. Orban de Xivry, 

D. Peter, A. Quirrenbach, M. Rademacher, C. Schwab, 

J. Storm, V. Vaitheeswaran, G. Weigelt and J. Ziegleder: 

Status report on the Large Binocular Telescope’s arGoS 

ground-layer AO system. In: Astronomical Adaptive 

Optics Systems and Applications IV, (Eds.) Tyson, R. K., 

M. Hart. SPIE 8149, SPIE, 81490J-81490J-11, (2011) 

Hogg, D. W. and D. Lang: Telescopes don’t make catalogues! 

In: Gaia: At the Frontiers of Astrometry, (Eds.) 

Turon, C., F. Meynadier, F. Arenou. EAS Publications 

Series 45, EDP Sciences, 351-358 (2011) 

Holmes, R., U. Grözinger, P. Bizenberger and O. Krause: 

A filter mount for the eucLid mission. In: UV/Optical/ 

IR Space Telescopes and Instruments: Innovative 

Technologies and Concepts V, (Ed.) Tsakalakos, L. SPIE 

8146, SPIE, 814611-814611-8 (2011) 

Huisken, F., G. Rouillé, Y. Carpentier, M. Steglich and T. 

Henning: Absorption spectroscopy of astrophysically relevant 

molecules in supersonic jets. In: 27 th International 

Symposium on Rarefied Gas Dynamics, (Eds.) Levin, 

D. A., I. J. Wysong, A. L. Garcia, H. Abarbanel. AIP 

Conference Proceedings 1333, AIP, 819-824 (2012) 

Jäger, C., T. Posch, H. Mutschke, S. Zeidler, A. Tamanai and 

B. L. de Vries: Recent results of solid-state spectroscopy. 

In: The Molecular Universe, (Eds.) Cernicharo, J., R. 

Bachiller. IAU Symp. 280, Cambridge Univ. Press, 416- 


Jin, S., N. F. Martin, P. Prugniel and I. Vauglin: The 

Hercules satellite: a stellar stream in the Milky Way halo? 

In: CRAL-2010: A Universe of Dwarf Galaxies, (Ed.) 

Koleva, M. EAS Publications Series 48, EDP Sciences, 

361-362 (2011) 

Johansen, A., H. Klahr, T. Henning, M. G. Lattanzi and 

A. P. Boss: High-resolution simulations of planetesimal 

formation in turbulent protoplanetary discs. In: 

The Astrophysics of Planetary Systems: Formation, 

Structure, and Dynamical Evolution, (Eds.) Sozzetti, A.,

M. G. Lattanzi, A. P. Boss. IAU Symp. 276, Cambridge 


Johnson, L. C., A. C. Seth, J. J. Dalcanton, N. Caldwell, 

D. A. Gouliermis, P. W. Hodge, S. S. Larsen, K. A. G. 

Olsen, I. San Roman, A. Sarajedini, D. R. Weisz and C. 

Phat: Stellar clusters in M 31 from phat: survey overview 

and first results. In: Stellar Clusters & Associations: 

A RIA Workshop on Gaia, (Eds.) Alfaro Navarro, E. J., 

A. T. Gallego Calvente, M. R. Zapatero Osorio. 129-132 


Julio Carballo-Bello, A., D. Martínez-Delgado, A. Sollima, 

P. Prugniel and I. Vauglin: Searching for tidal remnants in 

the Milky Way: Photometric survey of galactic globular 

clusters. In: CRAL-2010: A Universe of Dwarf Galaxies 

(Ed.) Koleva, M. EAS Publications Series 48, EDP 

Sciences 351-352 (2011) 

Karim, A., E. Schinnerer, J. Lu, Z. Luo, Z. Yang, H. 

Hua and Z. Chen: A Constant Characteristic Mass for 

Star Forming Galaxies since z–3 Revealed by Radio 

Emission in the coSmoS Field. In: Galaxy Evolution: 

Infrared to Millimeter Wavelength Perspective, (Eds.) 

Wang, W., Z. Yang, J. Lu, H. Hua, L. Zhijian, Z. Chen. 

ASP Conf. Ser. 446, ASP, 269-274 (2011) 

Karim, A., E. Schinnerer, J. Lu, Z. Luo, Z. Yang, H. Hua 

and Z. Chen: A constant characteristic mass for star 

forming galaxies since z 3 revealed by radio emission 

in the coSmoS field. In: Galaxy Evolution: Infrared to 

Millimeter Wavelength Perspective, (Eds.) Wang, W., Z. 

Yang, J. Lu, H. Hua, Z. Luo, Z. Chen. ASP Conf. Ser. 

446, ASP, 269-274 (2011) 

Klement, R. J., J. Setiawan, T. Henning, H.-W. Rix, 

B. Rochau, J. Rodmann, T. Schulze-Hartung, M. G. 

Lattanzi and A. P. Boss: The visitor from an ancient 

galaxy: A planetary companion around an old, metalpoor 

red horizontal branch star. In: The Astrophysics of 




Kontizas, M., I. Bellas-Velidis, B. Rocca-Volmerange, E. 

Kontizas, P. Tsalmantza, E. Livanou, A. Dapergolas and 

A. Karampelas: The unresolved galaxies with Gaia. In: 

Gaia: At the Frontiers of Astrometry (Eds.) Turon, C., F. 

Meynadier, F. Arenou. EAS Publications Series 45, EDP 

Sciences 337-342 (2011) 

Kuiper, R., H. Klahr, H. Beuther and T. Henning: Radiation 

pressure feedback in the formation of massive stars. 

Bulletin de la Societe Royale des Sciences de Liege 80, 

211-216 (2011) 

Kuiper, R., H. Klahr, H. Beuther, T. Henning, B. G. 

Elmegreen, J. M. Girart and V. Trimble: The role of 

accretion disks in the formation of massive stars. In: 

Computational Star Formation, (Eds.) Alves, J., B. G. 

Elmegreen, J. M. Girart, V. Trimble. IAU Symp. 270, 

Cambridge University Press, 215-218 (2011) 

Laureijs, R., J. Amiaux, S. Arduini, J. L. Auguères, J. 

Brinchmann, R. Cole, M. Cropper, C. Dabin, L. Duvet, 

A. Ealet, B. Garilli, P. Gondoin, L. Guzzo, J. Hoar, H. 

Hoekstra, R. Holmes, T. Kitching, T. Maciaszek, Y. 

Mellier, F. Pasian, W. Percival, J. Rhodes, G. Saavedra 

Criado, M. Sauvage, R. Scaramella, L. Valenziano, 

S. Warren, R. Bender, F. Castander, A. Cimatti, O. Le 

Fèvre, H. Kurki-Suonio, M. Levi, P. Lilje, G. Meylan, R. 

Nichol, K. Pedersen, V. Popa, R. Rebolo Lopez, H. W. 

Rix, H. Rottgering, W. Zeilinger, F. Grupp, P. Hudelot, R. 

Massey, M. Meneghetti, L. Miller, S. Paltani, S. Paulin- 

Henriksson, S. Pires, C. Saxton, T. Schrabback, G. 

Seidel, J. Walsh, N. Aghanim, L. Amendola, J. Bartlett, 

C. Baccigalupi, J. P. Beaulieu, K. Benabed, J. G. Cuby, 

D. Elbaz, P. Fosalba, G. Gavazzi, A. Helmi, I. Hook, M. 

Irwin, J. P. Kneib, M. Kunz, F. Mannucci, L. Moscardini, 

C. Tao, R. Teyssier, J. Weller, G. Zamorani, M. R. Zapatero 

Osorio, O. Boulade, J. J. Foumond, A. Di Giorgio, P. 

Guttridge, A. James, M. Kemp, J. Martignac, A. Spencer, 

D. Walton, T. Blümchen, C. Bonoli, F. Bortoletto, C. 

Cerna, L. Corcione, C. Fabron, K. Jahnke, S. Ligori, F. 

Madrid, L. Martin, G. Morgante, T. Pamplona, E. Prieto, 

M. Riva, R. Toledo, M. Trifoglio, F. Zerbi, F. Abdalla, M. 

Douspis, C. Grenet, S. Borgani, R. Bouwens, F. Courbin, 

J. M. Delouis, P. Dubath, A. Fontana, M. Frailis, A. 

Grazian, J. Koppenhöfer, O. Mansutti, M. Melchior, M. 

Mignoli, J. Mohr, C. Neissner, K. Noddle, M. Poncet, M. 

Scodeggio, S. Serrano, N. Shane, J. L. Starck, C. Surace, 

A. Taylor, G. Verdoes-Kleijn, C. Vuerli, O. R. Williams, 

A. Zacchei, B. Altieri, I. Escudero Sanz, R. Kohley, T. 

Oosterbroek, P. Astier, D. Bacon, S. Bardelli, C. Baugh, 

F. Bellagamba, C. Benoist, D. Bianchi, A. Biviano, E. 

Branchini, C. Carbone, V. Cardone, D. Clements, S. 

Colombi, C. Conselice, G. Cresci, N. Deacon, J. Dunlop, 

C. Fedeli, F. Fontanot, P. Franzetti, C. Giocoli, J. Garcia- 

Bellido, J. Gow, A. Heavens, P. Hewett, C. Heymans, A. 

Holland, Z. Huang, O. Ilbert, B. Joachimi, E. Jennins, E. 

Kerins, A. Kiessling, D. Kirk, R. Kotak, O. Krause, O. 

Lahav, F. van Leeuwen, J. Lesgourgues, M. Lombardi, 

M. Magliocchetti, K. Maguire, E. Majerotto, R. Maoli, 

F. Marulli, S. Maurogordato, H. McCracken, R. McLure, 

A. Melchiorri, A. Merson, M. Moresco, M. Nonino, P. 

Norberg, J. Peacock, R. Pello, M. Penny, V. Pettorino, 

C. Di Porto, L. Pozzetti, C. Quercellini, M. Radovich, A. 

Rassat, N. Roche, S. Ronayette, E. Rossetti, B. Sartoris, 

P. Schneider, E. Semboloni, S. Serjeant, F. Simpson, C. 

Skordis, G. Smadja, S. Smartt, P. Spano, S. Spiro, M. 

Sullivan, A. Tilquin, R. Trotta, L. Verde, Y. Wang, G. 

Williger, G. Zhao, J. Zoubian and E. Zucca: eucLid 

Definition Study Report. ArXiv e-prints 1110, 116 (2011) 

Lenz, L. F., A. Reiners, M. Kürster: A Search for Star- 

Planet Interactions in Chromospheric Lines. In: ASP 

Conference Series 448, S. 1173-1177 (2011) 

Meyer, E. and M. Kürster: Deriving the true mass of an 

unresolved Brown Dwarf companion to an M-Dwarf 

with AO aided astrometry. In: Deriving the true mass of 

an unresolved Brown Dwarf companion to an M-Dwarf 

with AO aided astrometry, (Eds.) Martin, E. L., J. Ge, 

W. Lin. EPJ Web of Conferences 16, EDP Sciences, id. 

04005, (2011 online) 

Publications 141


Mordasini, C., Y. Alibert, H. Klahr and W. Benz: Theory 

of planet formation and comparison with observation. 

In: Theory of planet formation and comparison with 

observation, (Eds.) Bouchy, F., R. Díaz, C. Moutou EPJ 

Web of Conferences 11, EDP Sciences, id. 04001, (2011 

online) 

Mordasini, C., K.-M. Dittkrist, Y. Alibert, H. Klahr, W. Benz, 

T. Henning, M. G. Lattanzi and A. P. Boss: Application 

of recent results on the orbital migration of low mass 

planets: convergence zones. In: The Astrophysics of 




Müller, A., G. Wuchterl and M. Sarazin: Measuring the night 

sky brightness with the lightmeter. Revista Mexicana de 

Astronomía y Astrofísica. Serie de Conferencias 41, 46- 


Nikolov, N., M. Moyano, T. Henning, S. Dreizler and 

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Laiwo, (Eds.) Bouchy, F., R. Díaz, C. Moutou EPJ Web 

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Oklopčić, A., V. Smolčić, S. Giodini, G. Zamorani, L. 

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S. Lilly, A. Koekemoer and N. Z. Scoville: A wide-angle 

tail galaxy at z 0.53 in the coSmoS field. Memorie 

della Societa Astronomica Italiana 82, 161-164 (2011) 

Olczak, C., R. Spurzem, T. Henning, A. S. Brun, M. S. 

Miesch and Y. Ponty: Rapid mass segregation in young 

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H., S. A. Brun, M. S. Miesch, Y. Ponty. IAU Symp. 271, 


Olczak, C., R. Spurzem, T. Henning, T. Kaczmarek, S. 

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Panić, O., T. Birnstiel, R. Visser, E. van Kampen, M. G. 

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regions. In: The Astrophysics of Planetary Systems: 

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Pasetto, S., E. K. Grebel, P. Berczik, C. Chiosi, R. Spurzem, 

W. Dehnen, P. Prugniel and I. Vauglin: Chemodynamics 

of the galaxies: from cuspy to dark matter density 

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Paumard, T., S. Gillessen, W. Brander, A. Eckart, J. Berger, P. 

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P. Carvas, F. Cassaing, E. Choquet, Y. Clénet, C. Collin, 

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N. Kudryavtseva, S. Lacour, V. Lapeyrene, W. Laun, R. 

Lenzen, B. Le Ruyet, J. M. A. Lima, M. Marteaud, T. 

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Ziegleder, D. Ziegler, Q. D. Wang and F. Yuan: Science 

with Gravity, the NIR Interferometric Imager. In: The 

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Porth, O., E. de Gouveia Dal Pino and A. G. Kosovichev: 

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radiation of the parsec-scale AGN jet. In: Advances in 

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dal Pino, A. G. Kosovichev. IAU Symp. 274, Cambridge 


Quirrenbach, A., P. J. Amado, J. A. Caballero, H. Mandel, R. 

Mundt, A. Reiners, I. Ribas, M. A. Sánchez Carrasco, W. 

Seifert, M. G. Lattanzi and A. P. Boss: carmeneS: Calar 

Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths 

with Near-infrared and optical Echelle Spectrographs. 

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Quirrenbach, A., R. Geisler, T. Henning, R. Launhardt, N. 

Elias, F. Pepe, D. Queloz, S. Reffert, D. Ségransan and J. 

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Re Fiorentin, P., M. G. Lattanzi, R. L. Smart, A. Spagna, C. 

A. L. Bailer-Jones, T. C. Beers and T. Zwitter: Hunting 

for stellar streams in the solar neighbourhood with the 

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Frontiers of Astrometry, (Eds.) Turon, C., F. Meynadier, 

F. Arenou. EAS Publications Series 45, EDP Sciences, 

203-208 (2011) 

Regály, Z., L. Kiss, Z. Sándor, C. P. Dullemond, M. G. 

Lattanzi and A. P. Boss: High-resolution spectroscopic 

view of planet formation sites. In: The Astrophysics of 




Rochau, B., W. Brandner, A. Stolte, T. Henning, N. da Rio, 

M. Gennaro, F. Hormuth, E. Marchetti and P. Amico:

VLT-MAD observations of Trumpler 14. In: Stellar 

Clusters & Associations: A RIA Workshop on Gaia, 

(Eds.) Alfaro Navarro, E. J., A. T. Gallego Calvente, M. 

R. Zapatero Osorio. 239-243 (2011 online) 

Roelfsema, R., D. Gisler, J. Pragt, H. M. Schmid, A. Bazzon, 

C. Dominik, A. Baruffolo, J.-L. Beuzit, J. Charton, K. 

Dohlen, M. Downing, E. Elswijk, M. Feldt, M. de Haan, 

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A. Pavlov, P. Puget, S. Rochat, B. Salasnich, P. Steiner, 

C. Thalmann, R. Waters and F. o. Wildi: The zimpoL 

high contrast imaging polarimeter for Sphere: sub-system 

test results. In: Techniques and Instrumentation for 

Detection of Exoplanets V, (Ed.) Shaklan, S. SPIE 8151, 

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Röll, T., A. Seifahrt, R. Neuhäuser, R. Köhler and J. Bean: 

Ground based astrometric search for extrasolar planets 

in stellar multiple systems. In: Gaia: At the Frontiers of 

Astrometry, (Eds.) Turon, C., F. Meynadier, F. Arenou. 



Sandstrom, K. M., A. D. Bolatto, B. T. Draine, C. Bot, 

S. Stanimirovic and A. G. G. M. Tielens: The Spitzer 

Surveys of the Small Magellanic Cloud: Insights into 

the Life-Cycle of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. 

In: PAHs and the universe, (Eds.) Joblin, C., A. G. G. 

M. Tielens. EAS Publications Series 46, EDP Sciences, 

215-221 (2011) 

Schneider, N., F. Motte, S. Bontemps, M. Hennemann, P. 

Tremblin, V. Minier, E. Audit, J. di Francesco, P. André, 

T. Hill, T. Csengeri, Q. Ngyuen-Luong, R. Simon, V. 

Ossenkopf and J. Stutzki: Star formation in the Rosette 

molecular cloud under the influence of NGC 2244. In: 

The 5 th Zermatt ISM-Symposium, (Eds.) Röllig, M., R. 

Simon, V. Ossenkopf, J. Stutzki. EAS Publications Series 


Seemann, U., A. Reiners, A. Seifahrt, M. Kürster: The 

Activity and Rotation Limit in the Hyades. In: ASP 

Conference Series 448, 313-319 (2011) 

Setiawan, J., R. Klement, T. Henning, H.-W. Rix, B. 

Rochau, T. Schulze-Hartung, J. Rodmann, H. Drechsel 

and U. Heber: A planetary companion around a metal-poor 

star with extragalactic origin. In: Planetary 

Sytems Beyond the Main Sequence, (Eds.) Schuh, S., H. 

Drechsel, U. Heber. AIP Conference Proceedings 1331, 

AIP, 182-189 (2011) 

Sordo, R., A. Vallenari, R. Tantalo, C. Liu, K. Smith, F. 

Allard, R. Blomme, J. C. Bouret, I. Brott, P. de Laverny, 

B. Edvardsson, Y. Frémat, U. Heber, E. Josselin, O. 

Kochukhov, A. Korn, A. Lanzafame, C. Martayan, F. 

Martins, B. Plez, A. Schweitzer, F. Thévenin and J. 

Zorec: Stellar libraries for Gaia. Journal of Physics 

Conference Series 328, 012006, (2011) 

Staguhn, J. G., D. Benford, R. G. Arendt, D. J. Fixsen, 

A. Karim, A. Kovacs, S. Leclercq, S. F. Maher, T. M. 

Miller, S. H. Moseley, E. J. Wollack, R. Simon, V. 

Ossenkopf and J. Stutzki: Latest results from GiSmo: a 

2-mm bolometer camera for the iram 30-m Telescope. 

In: The 5 th Zermatt ISM-Symposium: Conditions and 

Impact of Star Formation : New results with herScheL 

and beyond, (Eds.) Röllig, M., R. Simon, V. Ossenkopf, 

J. Stutzki. EAS Publications Series 52, EDP Sciences, 

267-271 (2011) 

Steinacker, J., T. Henning and A. Bacmann: Radiative 

transfer modeling of simulation and observational data. 

In: Computational Star Formation, (Eds.) Alves, J., B. 

G. Elmegreen, J. M. Girart, V. Trimble. IAU Symp. 270, 


Sturm, E., A. Poglitsch, A. Contursi, J. Graciá-Carpio, J. 

Fischer, E. González-Alfonso, R. Genzel, S. Hailey- 

Dunsheath, D. Lutz, L. Tacconi, J. Dejong, A. Sternberg, 

A. Verma, S. Madden, L. Vigroux, D. Cormier, U. Klaas, 

M. Nielbock, O. Krause, J. Schreiber, M. Haas, R. 

Simon, V. Ossenkopf and J. Stutzki: Star formation and 

the ISM in infrared bright galaxies – ShininG. In: The 5 th 

Zermatt ISM-Symposium: Conditions and Impact of Star 

Formation : New results with herScheL and beyond, 


EAS Publications Series 52, EDP Sciences, 55-61 (2011) 

Theis, C., G. Jungwirth, H. Petsch and F. Walter: Modeling 

Interacting Galaxies: NGC 4449 revisited. In: Jenam 

2008: Grand Challenges in Computational Astrophysics, 

(Eds.) Wozniak, H., G. Hensler. EAS Publications Series 


Tinetti, G., J. Y. K. Cho, C. A. Griffith, O. Grasset, L. Grenfell, 

T. Guillot, T. T. Koskinen, J. I. Moses, D. Pinfield, J. 

Tennyson, M. Tessenyi, R. Wordsworth, A. Aylward, 

R. van Boekel, A. Coradini, T. Encrenaz, I. Snellen, M. 

R. Zapatero-Osorio, J. Bouwman, V. C. du Foresto, M. 

Lopez-Morales, I. Mueller-Wodarg, E. Pallé, F. Selsis, A. 

Sozzetti, J.-P. Beaulieu, T. Henning, M. Meyer, G. Micela, 

I. Ribas, D. Stam, M. Swain, O. Krause, M. Ollivier, E. 

Pace, B. Swinyard, P. A. R. Ade, N. Achilleos, A. Adriani, 

C. B. Agnor, C. Afonso, C. A. Prieto, G. Bakos, R. J. 

Barber, M. Barlow, P. Bernath, B. Bézard, P. Bordé, L. R. 

Brown, A. Cassan, C. Cavarroc, A. Ciaravella, C. Cockell, 

A. Coustenis, C. Danielski, L. Decin, R. De Kok, O. 

Demangeon, P. Deroo, P. Doel, P. Drossart, L. N. Fletcher, 

M. Focardi, F. Forget, S. Fossey, F. Pascal, J. Frith, M. 

Galand, P. Gaulme, J. I. G. Hernández, D. Grassi, M. J. 

Griffin, U. Grözinger, M. Guedel, P. Guio, O. Hainaut, R. 

Hargreaves, P. H. Hauschildt, K. Heng, D. Heyrovsky, R. 

Hueso, P. Irwin, L. Kaltenegger, P. Kervella, D. Kipping, 

G. Kovacs, A. L. Barbera, H. Lammer, E. Lellouch, 

G. Leto, M. L. Morales, M. A. L. Valverde, M. Lopez- 

Puertas, C. Lovi, A. Maggio, J.-P. Maillard, J. M. Prado, 

J.-B. Marquette, F. J. Martin-Torres, P. Maxted, S. Miller, 

S. Molinari, D. Montes, A. Moro-Martin, O. Mousis, N. 

N. Tuong, R. Nelson, G. S. Orton, E. Pantin, E. Pascale, S. 

Pezzuto, E. Poretti, R. Prinja, L. Prisinzano, J.-M. Réess, 

A. Reiners, B. Samuel, J. S. Forcada, D. Sasselov, G. 

Savini, B. Sicardy, A. Smith, L. Stixrude, G. Strazzulla, 

G. Vasisht, S. Vinatier, S. Viti, I. Waldmann, G. J. White, 

T. Widemann, R. Yelle, Y. Yung, S. Yurchenko, M. G. 

Lattanzi and A. P. Boss: The science of EChO. In: The 

Publications 143


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and Dynamical Evolution, (Eds.) Sozzetti, A., M. G. 

Lattanzi, A. P. Boss. IAU Symp. 276, Cambridge Univ. 

Press, 359-370 (2011) 

Uribe, A., H. Klahr, M. Flock, T. Henning, M. G. Lattanzi 

and A. P. Boss: 3D MHD simulations of planet migration 

in turbulent stratified disks. In: The Astrophysics of 




van den Bosch, R.: A Survey of Nearby Massive Galaxies. 

In: Fornax, Virgo, Coma et al., Stellar Systems in High 

Density Environments, eSo, id. 32, (2011 online) 

Wang, W., S. Boudreault, J. Caballero, C. A. L. Bailer- 

Jones, B. Goldman and T. Henning: The stellar and 

substellar mass function in central region of the old open 

cluster Praesepe from deep LBT observations. In: The 

stellar and substellar mass function in central region of 

the old open cluster Praesepe from deep LBT observations, 

(Eds.) Martin, E. L., J. Ge, W. Lin. EPJ Web of 

Conferences 16, EDP Sciences, 06011, (2011 online) 

Watson, L., P. Martini, T. Böker, U. Lisenfeld, E. Schinnerer, 

M. H. Wong, T. Wyder, J. Neill, M. Seibert and J. Lee: 

Testing the star formation law in bulgeless disk galaxies. 

In: UP2010: Have Observations Revealed a Variable 

Upper End of the Initial Mass Function?, (Eds.) Treyer, 

M., T. K. Wyder, J. D. Neill, M. Seibert, J. C. Lee. ASP 

Conf. Ser. 440, ASP, 393-396 (2011) 

Watson, L., P. Martini, T. Böker, U. Lisenfeld, E. Schinnerer, 

M. H. Wong, T. Wyder, J. Neill, M. Seibert and J. Lee: 

Testing the star formation law in bulgeless disk galaxies. 

In: UP2010: Have Observations Revealed a Variable 

Upper End of the Initial Mass Function?, (Eds.) Treyer, 

M., T. K. Wyder, J. D. Neill, M. Seibert. ASP Conf. Ser. 

440, ASP, 393-396 (2011) 

Wildi, F., J. L. Beuzit, M. Feldt, D. Mouillet, K. Dohlen, P. 

Puget, A. Baruffolo, J. Charton, A. Bocaletti, R. Claudi, 

A. Costille, P. Feautrier, T. Fusco, R. Gratton, M. Kasper, 

M. Langlois, P. Martinez, D. Mesa, D. Le Mignant, 

A. Pavlov, C. Petit, J. Pragt, P. Rabou, S. Rochat, R. 

Roelfsema, J.-F. Sauvage, H. M. Schmid, E. Stadler and 

C. Moutou: The performance of the Sphere sub-systems 

in the integration lab. In: Techniques and Instrumentation 

for Detection of Exoplanets V, (Ed.) Shaklan, S. SPIE 

8151, SPIE, 81510M-81510M-12 (2011) 

Yang, P., J. Xu, J. Zhu and S. Hippler: Transmission 

sphere calibration and its current limits. In: Optical 

Measurement Systems for Industrial Inspection VII, 

(Eds.) Lehmann, P. H., W. Osten, K. Gastinger. SPIE 

8082, SPIE, 80822L-80822L-8, (2011) 

PhD Thesis: 

Burtscher, L.: Mid-infrared interferometry of AGN cores, 

Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg University, 2011 

Cisternas, M.: Galaxies and supermassive black holes evolving 

in a secular universe, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg 

University, 2011 

Fang, M.: The disks and accretion behavior of young stellar 

objects, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg University, 2011 

Flock, M.: MHD turbulence in proto-planetary disks, 

Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena, 2011 

Follert, R.: The atmospheric piston simulator for Lincnirvana 

and interferometric observations of massive 

young stellar objects, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg 


Gennaro, M.: Massive clusters revealed in the near infrared, 


Holmes, R.: The near-infrared imaging channel for the 

eucLid Dark Energy Mission, Ruprecht-Karls- 

Heidelberg University, 2011 

Karim, A.: Star formation in the coSmoS field: a radio view 

on the build-up of stellar mass over 12 billion years, 


Moyano, M.: A search for transiting extrasolar planets 

with the Laiwo instrument, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg 


Nikolov, N. K.: A photometric study of transiting extrasolar 

planets, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg University, 2011 

Porth, O.: Formation of relativistic jets, Ruprecht-Karls- 


Rochau, B.: Young massive star clusters as probes for stellar 

evolution, cluster dynamics and long term survival, 


Ruhland, C.: Signposts of hierarchial merging, Ruprecht- 

Karls-Heidelberg University, 2011 

Schmalzl, M.: The earliest stages of isolated low-mass star 

formation, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg University, 2011 

Schruba, A.: The molecular interstellar medium of nearby 

star-forming galaxies, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg 


Vaidya, B.: Theory of disks and outflows around massive young 

stellar objects, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg University, 2011 

Wang, H.-H.: Gas evolution in disk galaxies, Ruprecht- 


Zechmeister, M.: Precision radial velocity surveys for exoplanets, 


Diploma Thesis: 

Dittkrist, K.-M.: The influence of new migration models for 

low mass planets in planet population synthesis calculations 


Fiedler, P. M.: Untersuchung des Potenzgesetzes des 

Synchrotron-Spektrums des Jets von M 87, Ruprecht- 


Schneider, N.: Charakterisierung von Targetsternen für 

die Exoplanetensuche, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg 


Bachelor Thesis: 

Chira, R.-A.: Charactersation of infrared dark clouds, 


Mollière, P.: The evolution of deuterium burning in giant 

gaseous planets forming via the core accretion scenario, 

Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg University, 2011

Pohl, A.: Outflows of brown dwarfs, Ruprecht-Karls- 


Voggel, K.: The effect of AGN in size measurements of massive, 

high-redshift galaxies, Ruprecht-Karls-Heidelberg 


Popular Articles: 

Beuther, H.: Riesenschmiede – Die Entstehung der massereichsten 

Sterne. Sterne und Weltraum 49, 1, 32-40 

(2010) 

Brandner, W.: Kepler 11 – ein Planetensystem an der 

Grenze zum Chaos. Sterne und Weltraum 50, 4, 27-29 


Eisenhauer, F., G. Perrin, W. Brandner, C. Straubmeier, 

K. Perraut, A. Amorim, M. Schöller, S. Gillessen, P. 

Kervella, M. Benisty, C. Araujo-Hauck, L. Jocou, J. 

Lima, G. Jakob, M. Haug, Y. Clénet, T. Henning, A. 

Eckart, J. P. Berger, P. Garcia, R. Abuter, S. Kellner, T. 

Paumard, S. Hippler, S. Fischer, T. Moulin, J. Villate, 

G. Avila, A. Gräter, S. Lacour, A. Huber, M. Wiest, 

A. Nolot, P. Carvas, R. Dorn, O. Pfuhl, E. Gendron, 

S. Kendrew, S. Yazici, S. Anton, Y. Jung, M. Thiel, É. 

Choquet, R. Klein, P. Teixeira, P. Gitton, D. Moch, F. 

Vincent, N. Kudryavtseva, S. Ströbele, S. Sturm, P. 

Fédou, R. Lenzen, P. Jolley, C. Kister, V. Lapeyrère, 

V. Naranjo, C. Lucuix, R. Hofmann, F. Chapron, 

U. Neumann, L. Mehrgan, O. Hans, G. Rousset, J. 

Ramos, M. Suarez, R. Lederer, J. M. Reess, R. R. 

Rohloff, P. Haguenauer, H. Bartko, A. Sevin, K. 

Wagner, J. L. Lizon, S. Rabien, C. Collin, G. Finger, 

R. Davies, D. Rouan, M. Wittkowski, K. Dodds-Eden, 

D. Ziegler, F. Cassaing, H. Bonnet, M. Casali, R. 

Genzel and P. Lena: Gravity: observing the universe 

in motion. The Messenger 143, 16-24 (2011) 

Lemke, D.: anitas Zufallsentdeckung. Sterne und 

Weltraum 50, 5, 22-23 (2011) 

Lemke, D.: Die Vermessung der Erde. Sterne und 


Quanz, S. P., H. M. Schmid, S. M. Birkmann, D. Apai, 

S. Wolf, W. Brandner, M. R. Meyer and T. Henning: 

Resolving the inner regions of circumstellar discs with 

VLT/naco polarimetric differential imaging. The 

Messenger 146, 25-27 (2011) 

Steinacker, J.: Leuchtende Dunkelwolken. Sterne und 


Publications 145

A656 

B 37 

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Eppelheim 

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Henry- 

Siedlung E 35 

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B 535 

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Neckar 

K 9702 

E 35 

A5 

E 35 

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E 35 

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Wieblingen 

K 9701 

E 35 

A5 

E 35 

A5 

L 543 

Pfaffengrund 

E 35 

A5 

K 4243 

K 9700 

K 9701 

A656 

B 37 

L 600a 

Henkel-Teroson-Straße 

Kurpfalzring 

L 600 

Bruchhausen 

Neckar 

K 9706 

Pleikartsförsterhof 

K 4149 

K 4242 

L 600a 

Kirchheimer Hof 

Sandhausen 

Dossenheim 

Kirchheim 

L 598 

L 531 

Handschuhsheim 

Ruprecht-Karls- 

Universität 

Heidelberg 

Mannheimer Straße Vangerowstraße 

B 535 

L 598 

B 37 

L 600 

B 3 

Central Station 

Eppelheimer Straße Czernyring 

L 600a 

Speyerer Straße Ringstraße 

St. Ilgen 

Dossenheimer Landstraße Berta-Benz-Straße Steubenstraße 

L 598 

B 3 

Berliner Straße 

B 3 

Neckar 

Heidelberg 

B 3 

L 600 

Uferstraße 

Südstadt 

Neuenheim 

B 3 

L 534 

Burgenstraße Schumannstraße Burgenstraße Am Hackteufel 

Kurfürsten-Anlage 

L 598 

B 3 

Römerstraße 

Bertha-Benz-Straße 

B 3 

B 3 

Rohrbacher Straße 

Bertha-Benz-Straße 

Rohrbach 

L 594 

L 594 

Leimen 

L 594 

K 9710 

Speyrerhof 

MPI für 

MPI für 

Astronomie 

Kernphysik 

K 9708 

Bierhelderhof 

Boxberg 

Emmertsgrund 

L 600 

K 9710 


B 37 

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Heidelberg 

Lingental 

Neckar 

Schlierbacher Landstraße 

Neuenheimer Landstraße Ziegelhäuser Landstraße In der Neckarhelle 

Kohlhöfer weg 

Chaisenweg 

Drei - Eichen-Weg 

K 9708 

K 4161 

Königstuhl 

Ziegelhausen 

Schlierbach 

-Ziegelhausen 

Kohlhof 

Gaiberger Weg 

L 600 

L 534 

K 9710 

Gaiberg 

Ochsenbach

The Max Planck Society 

The Max Planck Society for the Promotion of Sciences was founded in 1948. It 

operates at present 93 Institutes and other facilities dedicated to basic and applied 

research. With an annual budget of around 1.46 billion € in the year 2012 and thirdparty 

funds in addition, the Max Planck Society has about 17 000 employees, of 

which 5400 are scientists. In addition, annually about 4800 junior and visiting scientists 

are working at the Institutes of the Max Planck Society. 

The goal of the Max Planck Society is to promote centers of excellence at the forefront 

of the international scientific research. To this end, the Institutes of the Society 

are equipped with adequate tools and put into the hands of outstanding scientists, who 

have a high degree of autonomy in their scientific work. 

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V. 

Public Relations Office 

Hofgartenstr. 8 

80539 München 

Tel.: 089/2108-1275 or -1277 

Fax: 089/2108-1207 

Internet: www.mpg.de

Annual Report 2011 Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

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