Ernazar Abdikamalov	Three-dimensional simulations of core-collapse supernovae Despite decades of effort, the explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae is still not well understood. Spherically-symmetric models fail to explode, suggesting that multi-dimensional effects are of crucial importance. Studies in axisymmetry (2D) reveal that the standing accretion shock instability (SASI) and neutrino-driven convection are pivotal ingredients for successful explosions. Axisymmetry, however, is a rather poor approximation of this scenario. 3D studies, on the other hand, are still in their infancy and employ crude approximations. As a result, the exact role of the SASI and convection is still not well established. In this talk, I will present results from our new 3D simulations.
Joshua Adams	Dark Matter Profiles in Late-type Dwarf Galaxies from Stellar Kinematics Measurements of dark matter (DM) halo radial profiles over a variety of masses and spatial scales are crucial to testing the recipes of structure growth and feedback in cosmological simulations. In particular, low mass galaxies are frequently observed from gaseous kinematics to have constant density DM cores while N-body simulations instead predict a cuspy profile. We present spectral observations of the integrated light in seven nearby late-type dwarf galaxies taken in order to measure their dark matter density profiles. Our focus is on measuring and modeling the stellar kinematics. We preliminarily conclude that late-type dwarfs possess a range of DM density slopes, as found earlier in the gas, but with several cases of one-to-one disagreement between the two tracers. The disagreements seem to happen when the galaxies possess triaxiality, to which the colder gas tracers are more sensitive. Recent simulations have favored strong feedback models to create cored profiles, and our future work will look for correlations in chemical, structural, and kinematic properties that may validate or falsify such simulations.
Katey Alatalo	AGN Feedback and SF Quenching in Nearby Galaxy NGC 1266 NGC 1266 is an early-type galaxy that was observed in multiple wavelengths as part of the Atlas3D effort remarkably hosts 10^9 solar masses of molecular gas and has a spectrum that exhibits extended wings up to +/-400 km/s. High resolution CARMA observations have revealed that the bulk of the gas is concentrated within 100 pc of the nucleus, leading to gas surface densities consistent with ULIRGs, yet NGC 1266 exhibits no clear evidence of having undergone an interaction. Recent SED modeling for NGC 1266 seems to reveal that the star formation rate (SFR) in the dense nuclear disk appears to fall off the Kennicutt-Schmidt (K-S) relation. The presence of an AGN combined with the molecular gas outflowing faster than the escape velocity suggests that this galaxy might be a local candidate for AGN feedback. The fact that the SFR is unable to support such a high energy outflow strengthens this claim. NGC 1266 is the first example of molecular feedback into the IGM from a relatively normal, non-interacting galaxy. How the gas fell deeply into the potential well, and the exact nature of the driving mechanism behind the expulsion of the gas remain mysteries.
Roberto Assef	Studying Active Galactic Nuclei with NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) launched into low-Earth orbit on 14 December 2009 and completed mapping the entire sky in four mid-infrared passbands six months later. I present criteria for selecting AGN using the full-sky WISE data. Simple mid-infrared criteria that identify ~120 robust AGN candidates per square degree at W2<17.11, nearly six times the surface density of quasars from optical surveys such as Sloan, despite both WISE and Sloan being sensitive to sources of comparable luminosity. The difference is that WISE identifies both obscured and unobscured AGN. I discuss the general properties of WISE-selected AGN using the deep data available in the COSMOS and NDWFS Bootes extragalactic fields, highlighting the inferred distribution of dust extinction in AGN.
Christoph Baranec	Laser-adaptive-optics imaging of thousands of stars at visible wavelengths with Robo-AO Robo-AO has completed over 5,600 robotic observations, over 51 nights, at the Palomar Observatory 60-inch telescope. A review of the instrument, current science programs and future directions will be presented.
Eric Bellm	The Zwicky Transient Facility The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is a next-generation optical transient survey. A new 35-square degree CCD camera on the Palomar 48-inch Schmidt telescope will open a new sector of transient phase space in a search for rare, fast-decaying transients. I will describe the survey's science goals, the design of the new camera, and the planned survey strategy.
Guillermo Blanc	Wide Field Integral Field Spectroscopy: From Nearby Galaxies to the High Redshift Universe Wide field of view optical IFUs are allowing large and efficient studies of spatially resolved nearby galaxies and large samples of emission line selected galaxies at high redshift. In this talk I will present a collection of results regarding the properties of galaxies at different redshifts from studies conducted using the Mitchell Spectrograph (a.k.a. VIRUS-P) IFU. In particular, I will discuss observations of nearby spiral galaxies taken as part of the VIRUS-P Exploration of Nearby Galaxies (VENGA), and [OII] emitters at 0
Ann Marie Cody	CSI: 2264 - The hard evidence on wild young stars Variability is a signature feature of young stars. Among the well known light curve phenomena are periodic variations attributed to surface spots and irregular changes associated with accretion or circumstellar disk material. While decades of photometric monitoring have provided a framework for classifying young star variability, we still know surprisingly little about its underlying mechanisms and connections to the surrounding disks. The Coordinated Synoptic Investigation of NGC 2264 ("CSI 2264") is now revolutionizing our view of young stars in the time domain. I will present a selection of optical and infrared time series from CSI 2264, which involved 30 days of photometric monitoring with the Spitzer, CoRoT, and MOST space telescopes. The campaign has led to new classes of optical/infrared behavior, as well as light curves that defy explanation. Our efforts to tie observed variability features to physical models will provide insights into the inner disk environment at a time when planet formation may be underway.
Francis-Yan Cyr-Racine	How Much do we Really Know about Neutrinos? Novel Cosmological Constraints on Neutrino Interactions In the standard cosmological paradigm, neutrinos are assumed to have free-streamed through the Universe since they decoupled from the primeval plasma at a temperature near 1 MeV. However, the presence of new physics in the neutrino sector could dramatically alter this simple picture and effectively prohibit neutrino free-streaming until a much later epoch. In this work, we use observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background to constrain the visibility function of neutrinos. We argue that the recent improvement in accuracy of CMB measurements made possible by the South Pole Telescope and the Planck satellite is critical in obtaining this constraint. We show that Cosmic Microwave Background data allows neutrinos free-streaming to be delayed until the Universe has cooled to a temperature close to 25 eV, almost five orders of magnitude lower than in the standard cosmological paradigm. We discuss scenarios in which such a late onset of neutrino free-streaming could occur and study the interplay between this novel constraint and the effective number of relativistic specie present in the early Universe.
Roland de Putter	Constraining Fundamental Physics with Cosmological Large Scale Structure Current and upcoming surveys of the large scale structure of the universe have a unique capability of probing properties of neutrinos, dark energy and potential modifications of general relativity on large scales. In this talk, I will give a brief overview of some of my work in this field, focusing on what current cosmological data can tell us about neutrino mass and the existence of sterile neutrinos, and on what upcoming surveys of galaxy clustering and weak lensing can teach us about dark energy.
Tanio Diaz-Santos	The regulation of the star formation in Luminous Infrared Galaxies I will be presenting the latest results from a Herschel/PACS study of the main far-IR emission lines in a complete sample of Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs) in the local Universe. These lines, when put in context together with the emission of dust in the mid- and far-IR, provide a global picture regarding the regulation the heating and cooling of the gas in the inter-stellar medium; the gas out of which future stars will form. I will focus the talk on the main far-IR emission line, [CII] at 158um, and what can we learn from it.
Michal Drahus	Line variability in comets: What does it tell us about the nucleus? Millimeter spectroscopy is a powerful tool with which to investigate comets. The technique is sensitive to cometary molecules through their rotational transitions and therefore has been widely used to measure the composition of cometary atmospheres. However, time-resolved millimeter spectroscopy is a completely new and potentially revolutionary angle of research in cometary astronomy. That is because temporal resolution, when added to the traditionally-available excellent resolution in radial velocity, makes it possible to observe periodic modulation of the emission line profiles caused by the rotation of cometary jets. The modulation can be used to determine the nucleus rotation period and also the poorly established characteristic timescale on which it evolves under the action of the outgassing torques. This timescale is of particular importance because it is a proxy for lifetime, considering centripetal disruption as the primary destruction process of comets. Moreover, we can link the observed line variations with the properties of different regions of the nucleus, successively exposed to sunlight over the course of rotation. In this way, we can determine the compositional structure of the body, which is a fingerprint of its formation and evolution. I will illustrate these concepts with my recent observations of comet 103P/Hartley 2, for which detailed information on the rotational dynamics and compositional structure were obtained.
Chad Galley	Caustic echoes and their astrophysical applications A source of waves (scalar, electromagnetic, or gravitational) near the event horizon of a black hole leads to the formation of a caustic on the other side of the horizon. The caustic forms from the trapping of energy by strong curvature effects near the horizon and leads to echoes of the source that may have astrophysical consequences. In this talk, I briefly review the main features of these caustic echoes and discuss some potential astrophysical applications.
Leon Harding	A Search for Kuiper Belt Objects using the CHIMERA Multi-Color Photometer at Prime Focus of the 200-inch The CHIMERA (Caltech HIgh-speed Multi color camERA) photometer was commissioned in August 2012 at prime focus of the Hale 200-inch. It was designed as an ultra high-speed photometer, capable of achieving >30 fps over its full field (currently 3' x 3'). The instrument has been funded for an upgrade where the new optical design will achieve a much larger FOV (10' x 10'). CHIMERA was designed to characterize the photometric signatures from optical transient sources (e.g. brown dwarfs, flare stars, AM CVns, transiting exoplanets). The motivation of CHIMERA's upgrade is largely in the pursuit of occultations of stars by sub-km sized objects in our outer Solar System - Kuiper Belt Objects. I will briefly discuss the instrument upgrade and this targeted science in my talk.
Nimish Hathi	Exploring the Universe through Hubble's Ultraviolet Eye The Lyman break technique is widely used to select high redshift (z>3) galaxies, but the lack of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z<3 due to the requirement of highly sensitive space-based ultraviolet (UV) observations, has limited our understanding of these lower redshift LBGs. Their detailed study is vital for understanding star formation processes in galaxies at this significant time in cosmic history. These LBGs at z=1-3 can also shed light on the physical properties of higher redshift LBGs, whose spectroscopic and photometric studies are very challenging because of their faint magnitudes and lack of high resolution rest-frame optical data. The peak epoch of the global star-formation rate at z=1-3 is now accessible using the dropout technique with the HST/WFC3 UVIS channel. We have selected LBG candidates at z=1-3 using the WFC3 UVIS filters in the GOODS-S/ERS field. I will present results from our studies of rest-UV luminosity functions and SED analysis of these LBGs, and infer possible evolutionary trends.
Natalie Hinkel	Stellar Abundances in the Solar Neighborhood I have compiled spectroscopic abundance determinations for 46 elements across 2836 stars within 150 pc of the Sun from 50 literature sources to produce the Hypatia Catalog. The goal of the Hypatia Catalog is to examine nearby stars and regions in the solar neighborhood for chemical abundance trends which may provide additional information, for example, in the search for exoplanets. For the 215 confirmed exoplanet hosts within the Hypatia Catalog, I find that exoplanet hosts are enriched in [Fe/H] as compared to non-hosts, per the Planet- Metallicity Correlation. However, this trend does not hold for any of the other elements found within the catalog.
Assaf Horesh	Exploring the dynamic radio sky Abstract TBA
Oliver King	Multi-wavelength linear polarization monitoring of blazars RoboPol is a project to monitor the optical linear polarization of >100 blazars with high cadence using a telescope at the Skinakas Observatory in Crete. We have built a novel imaging polarimeter to allow high-efficiency automated observing and data reduction throughout the 3-year project. KuPol is a new 15 GHz radio instrument for the 40 m telescope at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory. It will be used to monitor the total intensity and linear polarization of >1800 radio-loud blazars twice per week. I will describe my involvement in both projects and their status.
Edwin Kite	Rocky planet environmental histories - Mars and exoplanets Abstract TBA
Nick Konidaris	TBA Abstract TBA
Sarah Miller	Understanding the Dark Matter - Baryon Connection Through Disk Galaxy Assembly Spinning galaxies present us with one of the few observable connections between baryons and dark matter in the universe. I will explain how our recent measurements of galaxy rotation curves over two-thirds of the age of the universe reveal how galaxies have been evolving, using deep exposures from both Keck and the Hubble Space Telescope. Specifically, evolution in the stellar mass Tully-Fisher relation (our most directly observable stellar-to-halo mass relation), challenges some of our favored models of how mass has been assembling since the early formation of galaxies.
Philip Moesta	Jet propagation in magneto-rotationally driven core collapse supernovae I will present ongoing work from simulations of stellar core collapse from rapidly spinning progenitors with strong magnetic fields. I will discuss the magneto-rotational explosion mechanism and the propagation of jet-driven outflows to the stellar surface.
Philip Muirhead	The Cool KOI Program I will discuss a program to follow-up and characterize M dwarf stars with transiting exoplanets detected by the Kepler Mission. The stellar classification and parameter estimation techniques employed by the Kepler Mission are most appropriate for Sun-like stars, and predict inconsistent radii, masses and effective temperatures for low-mass stars. The Cool KOI program is a campaign to report accurate stellar parameters for the low-mass stars in the Kepler sample which show planetary transit signals, aka the Cool Kepler Objects of Interest, or Cool KOIs. I will discuss results for two systems: KOI 254 and KOI 961, which together contain both the largest (KOI 254.01, 0.96 RJ) and the smallest (KOI 961.03, 0.57 RE) validated exoplanets ever discovered around M dwarfs.
Drew Newman	The Assembly History of Quiescent Galaxies I am interested in the assembly history of quiescent galaxies from high redshift to the present, particularly the relatively poorly explored but exciting interval z~1 - 2.5. This includes understanding the substantial structural and size evolution undergone by these red galaxies, measuring their internal stellar dynamics, and quantifying the influence of mergers and the environment. These observations rely heavily on near-infrared data from the new generation of spectrographs as well as WFC3 on HST. I also work on measuring the small-scale dark matter distribution across a range of mass scales (in dwarfs galaxies, galaxy groups, and massive clusters) and physically understanding deviations of the dark matter density slope away from the characteristic slope of CDM halos.
Daniel Perley	Gamma-Ray Bursts, Dust, and the High-Redshift Universe Long-duration gamma-ray bursts are extremely luminous, multi-wavelength transients produced by the deaths of massive stars. These attributes make them extremely well-suited, in principle, to studying early star-forming galaxies and for measuring the star-formation rate density as a function of redshift and host environment. However, special attention must be paid to events within dusty environments which tend to obscure the optical light from the burst, making it harder to study. I will describe some recent results focusing on this dust-obscured GRB and host-galaxy population and compare the view of the high-redshift universe traced by GRBs with other star-formation tracers.
Anthony Pullen	LSS Systematics in Quasar Clustering Primordial non-Gaussianity of local type is predicted to lead to enhanced halo clustering on very large scales. Photometric quasars, which can be seen from cosmological redshifts $z>2$ even in wide-shallow optical surveys, are promising tracers for constraining non-Gaussianity using this effect. However, large-scale systematics can also mimic this signature of non-Gaussianity. In order to assess the contribution of systematic effects, we cross-correlate overdensity maps of photometric quasars from the {\it Sloan Digital Sky Survey} (SDSS) Data Release 6 (DR6) in different redshift ranges. We find that the maps are significantly correlated on large scales, even though we expect the angular distributions of quasars at different redshifts to be uncorrelated. The SDSS quasar catalog exhibits spurious number density fluctuations of $\sim$2\% rms, and we need a contamination level less than 1\% (0.6\%) in order to measure values of $\fnl$ less than 100 (10). Properly dealing with these systematics will be paramount for future large scale structure surveys that seek to constrain non-Gaussianity.
Marc Rafelski	The Star Formation Rate Efficiency and Metallicity Evolution of Neutral Atomic-dominated Hydrogen Gas at High Redshift We present highlights of various studies of neutral atomic-dominated hydrogen gas at high redshift, also known as Damped Lyman-alpha systems. Current observational evidence suggests that the star formation rate (SFR) efficiency of this HI gas at z~3 is more than a factor of 10 lower than predicted by the local Kennicutt-Schmidt relation. There are multiple possible causes of the reduced SFR efficiency, such as the reduced metallicity of HI gas at high redshift, a varying background radiation field, and the role of molecular versus atomic hydrogen gas in star formation. In order to differentiate them, we are measuring the evolution of the SFR efficiency of neutral atomic-dominated HI gas over time, using new ultraviolet observations of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. We are also measuring chemical abundances of DLA gas in order to determine the evolution of the cosmic metallicity of neutral gas, and find a continued decrease in the metallicity of DLAs with increasing redshift. In addition, we find a possible break in the metallicity evolution of DLAs at z>4.7 which could be due to the decrease in the background radiation field resulting in an increased occurrence of cold flows with sufficient gas densities, or galaxies remaining neutral out to larger radii. Lastly, we'll show that the metallicity distribution and the alpha/Fe ratios of z>2 DLAs are consistent with those of halo stars, making it possible that the halo stars in the Milky Way formed out of DLA gas.
Alessandro Rettura	Evolution in the Structural Properties of Early-Type Brightest Cluster Galaxies over the past 10 billion years. We derive stellar masses and sizes of massive early-type Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCG) drawn from the SpARCS cluster survey at 0.8 < z < 1.7 and compare them with those measured in large, similarly selected samples of BCGs in the Local Universe (0.04 < z< 0.3). We find that, on average, the stellar mass of BCGs at fixed cluster mass grows by a factor of two between z = 0.9 and z = 0.2. On the other hand, the size of BCGs grows by a factor of five between the z = 1.6 and z = 0.1. We will present the results of our analysis and explain why these trends are most easily understood if early-type BCGs grew from many (dry) minor mergers. Only in such scenario can BCGs at z~0 be the descendants of our z~1.6 sample, as we demonstrates that major merging is not an important process in the late-time evolution of these systems.
Melissa Rice	Mars through the eyes of the rovers: Imaging science from the Opportunity and Curiosity missions The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover landed on Mars last August, and the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been actively exploring Mars for almost ten years. Both rovers have some capability for spectroscopic imaging with their mast-mounted cameras, which can tell us about the iron mineralogy and distribution of hydrated materials on the surface. Here I will present an overview of the instrumentation, technique, and major results from the cameras on both missions.
Jeffrey Rich	Kinematics of luminous and ultraluminous galaxies I will discuss an integral field spectroscopic study of radiative shocks in 27 nearby ultraluminous and luminous infrared galaxies (U/LIRGs) from the Great Observatory All-sky LIRG Survey. The analysis of the resolved spectroscopic data from the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) focuses on determining the detailed properties of the emission line gas, including a careful treatment of multi-component emission line profiles. The resulting information obtained from the spectral fits map the kinematics of the gas, sources of ionizing radiation and feedback present in each system. The resulting properties are tracked as a function of merger stage. Emission line flux ratios and velocity dispersion analysis shows evidence of widespread, extended shock excitation in many local U/LIRGs. These low-velocity shocks become an increasingly important component of the optical emission lines as a merger progresses. We find that shocks may account for half of the H-alpha luminosity in the latest-stage mergers in our sample. We discuss the implications of our results and also consider the presence and effects of AGN in our sample.
Carmen Rodriguez Gonzalvez	Improved mass estimation of galaxy clusters from Planck using high resolution SZ data Lying at the exponential tail of the dark matter mass function, clusters of galaxies are extremely sensitive to cosmic evolution. By measuring their abundance as a function of mass and redshift (out to z~1) and comparing this to theoretical predictions, one can constrain cosmological parameters, such as Omega_m, Sigma_8. The all-sky Planck SZ survey has been designed to identify all massive clusters out to high z. But its poor resolution requires follow-up data to determine cluster properties, such as mass, at the level required for precision cosmology. I will outline two high-resolution SZ follow-up programs of Planck-selected clusters.
Leslie Rogers	Formation, Interior Structure, and Habitable Zone of Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune Exoplanets Super-Earth and sub-Neptune exoplanets are a critical missing link in our understanding of planet formation, evolution, and interior structure. Though absent from the Solar System, planets with radii intermediate between Earth and Neptune are abundant around other stars. Eighty percent of the 2,740 transiting planet candidates identified by the Kepler Mission have radii in this regime. What is the nature of these planets (scaled-up terrestrial planets, scaled-down ice-giants, or something completely different)? How did they form? Could they have surface liquid water oceans? In this talk, I will describe how my research is seeking the answers to these questions at the intersection of physics, astronomy, planetary science, and statistics.
Gwen Rudie	The Content and Properties of Gas within and surrounding High-Redshift Galaxies My work focuses on the baryons surrounding star-forming galaxies at z=2-3, the universal peak of star formation, as well as the physical properties of the galaxies themselves. With collaborators, I have completed a large galaxy redshift survey in the fields of background high-z hyperluminous QSOs. I use classic QSO absorption line techniques to measure the content and properties of gas surrounding these early forming galaxies. In addition to this, with the new wave of high-sensitivity NIR spectrographs (e.g. MOSFIRE and FIRE), I have begun to study the properties of the HII regions within the same galaxies using a variety of nebular emission line diagnostics. Together, these projects are aimed to understand how baryonic processes affect the formation and evolution of galaxies.
Andreas Schruba	Gas and Star Formation in Nearby Galaxies Toward understanding star formation and galaxy evolution, I am studying the molecular, atomic, and dusty properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) and their relation to star formation in nearby galaxies. Over the last years a number of dedicated multi-wavelength surveys have provided a detailed resolved view of 100 galaxies across the entire energy spectrum. I will highlight some of the recent results that emerged from these efforts, describe our current understanding of the star formation process on galactic scales, and mention open questions for future studies.
Vicky Scowcroft	TBA Abstract TBA
Branimir Sesar	Looking for ultra-faint and disrupted structures in the Galactic halo I will describe how RR Lyrae stars can be used to efficiently trace structures in the Galactic halo, such as disrupted dwarf spheroidal galaxies, even if such structures are faint and spread over dozens of square degrees on the sky. Following that, I will show how red giant branch stars associated with disrupted structures can be identified using imaging and what information can be gained from spectroscopic observations of such giants.
Yue Shen	Hunting binary SMBHs on <~kpc scales I will talk about our ongoing efforts to search for binary supermassive black holes on <~kpc scales, using spectroscopic selection from large samples of SDSS and follow-up observations with ground- and space-based facilities. Our searches so far have led to new discoveries of kpc-scale binary AGNs, and are providing meaningful constraints on the frequency of sub-pc close SMBH binaries.
Avi Shporer	The beaming effect in stellar binaries The beaming effect causes the measured flux from a star to vary following a variation in it's radial velocity. For stars in binary systems, this will cause a periodic flux modulation, which can be used to identify their binary nature. One of the exciting applications is using the high-quality Kepler Mission data to look for binary companions that are brown dwarfs, rare intermediate mass objects, between that of planets and stars.
Jennifer Siegal-Gaskins	Constraints on decays of sterile neutrino dark matter from the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor The right-handed (sterile) neutrino has been proposed as a dark matter candidate. The sterile neutrino can radiatively decay to an active neutrino and a photon, producing photon line emission at the energy of half the sterile neutrino mass. I will present new constraints on sterile neutrino dark matter models from a search for keV photon lines using data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. Constraints on decays of sterile neutrino dark matter from the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor
Jon Swift	The formation of compact planetary and telescope systems: The Kepler Space Telescope has shown that the Galaxy is positively teaming with planets. I will show some recent results regarding the formation of compact planetary systems around the smallest stars. The high planet occurrence from these studies imply that there are undiscovered planets sitting right next door. I will briefly describe the progress of Project Minerva based out of Caltech that will be a dedicated observatory to detect these systems that are most amenable for follow up study.
Sumin Tang	A Mysterious Twin of Epsilon-Aurigae With 436 dedicated papers, Epsilon Aurigae is probably the most extensively studied star in the sky (besides our Sun). It goes into a 2-year eclipse every 27.1 years. It is suggested that the system consists of a yellow supergiant, and a mysterious companion enshrouded by a huge opaque disk extended to a few AU. Thus far, Epsilon Aurigae has been the only such system, and its evolutionary history is still unclear. Here I present our recent discovery of a mysterious twin of Epsilon-Aurigae from DASCH. It showed a 4 mag decline which lasted for 3 years in 1940s, and now, 68 years later, is at decline phase again. The magnitude changes in optical and NIR bands are comparable, indicating opaque bodies are blocking the light rather than dust extinction. We suggest that it is an eclipsing binary system, similar to Epsilon-Aurigae, probably caught in a short stage in binary evolution. I will describe the DASCH discovery data, our current follow-up observations, and a model for the system and its evolution.
Christopher Tibbs	Microwave Emission from Spinning Dust Grains Microwave observations throughout our Galaxy have identified the existence of a new Galactic emission mechanism. This anomalous microwave emission, has been found to be spatially correlated with the mid-IR dust emission, and one of the most promising candidates to explain this emission is electric dipole radiation from rapidly rotating very small dust grains, commonly referred to as spinning dust. In this talk I will provide a brief overview of the anomalous microwave emission and discuss recent results that have helped to improve our understanding of this enigmatic emission mechanism.
Marco Viero	99% Invisible: Uncovering the dusty galaxies which lie beneath the confusion noise floor The vast majority of the infrared-emitting galaxies which make up the cosmic infrared background are unresolved due to confusion noise. I will present techniques to uncover key properties of this confused population, namely their average flux densities and clustering behavior, and show recent results from Herschel and SPT.
Sarah Vigeland	A Bayesian Approach to Pulsar Timing Abstract TBA