We highlight differences in spectral types and intrinsic colors observed in pre-main sequence (pre-MS) stars. Spectral types of pre-MS stars are wavelength-dependent, with near-infrared spectra being 3-5 spectral sub-classes later than the spectral types determined from optical spectra. In addition, the intrinsic colors of young stars differ from that of main-sequence stars at a given spectral type. We caution observers to adopt optical spectral types over near-infrared types, since Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram positions derived from optical spectral types provide consistency between dynamical masses and theoretical evolutionary tracks. We also urge observers to deredden pre-MS stars with tabulations of intrinsic colors specifically constructed for young stars, since their unreddened colors differ from that of main sequence dwarfs. Otherwise, V-band extinctions as much as ~0.6 mag erroneously higher than the true extinction may result, which would introduce systematic errors in the H-R diagram positions and thus bias the inferred ages.

The majority of Fermi-LAT detected (2FGL) sources are AGN, mostly blazars. However, the second largest category in the 2FGL are unassociated sources (~30% or 575 sources), whose multi-wavelength counterpart is either inconclusive or absent. Follow-up observations and archival data at X-ray, optical, and radio frequencies suggest that many unassociated 2FGL sources are strong candidates to be AGN. Typical observed characteristics of 2FGL detected AGN include variability at all frequencies and a spectral energy distribution (SED) with two “bumps”; a low-frequency synchrotron peak in the radio to optical/X-ray region and a high-frequency peak, possibly due to synchrotron self-Compton or Inverse Compton processes, that extends up to TeV energies. We present optical follow-up observations of a sample of Fermi unassociated sources with one or more potential X-ray counterparts detected within the LAT error circle.

Cosmological weak lensing is the powerful probe of cosmology. Here we address one of the most fundamental, statistical questions inherent in weak lensing cosmology: whether or not we can recover the initial Gaussian information content of large-scale structure by combining the weak lensing observables, here focused on the weak lensing power spectrum and bispectrum. To address this question we fully take into account correlations between the power spectra of different multipoles and the bispectra of different triangle configurations, measured from a finite area survey. In particular we show that super-survey modes whose length scale is larger than or comparable with the survey size cause significant sample variance in the weak lensing correlations via the mode-coupling with sub-survey modes due to nonlinear gravitational clustering – the so-called super-sample variance. In this paper we discuss the origin of the super-sample variance and then study the information content inherent in the weak lensing correlation functions up to three-point level.

The meeting was called to order by the Chair, who followed the agenda that had been sent to the membership prior to the meeting. The membership of the Commission stands at approximately 220 members, excluding the new members who will join the commission at the end of this General Assembly.

The presence of enhanced ultraviolet (UV) emission in early-type galaxies, which are dominated by old stellar populations, has been a puzzle for more than 40 years. The observed UV flux plausibly contains contributions from both evolved stars (traditionally referred to as the 'UV upturn' phenomenon) and young stars. While the UV upturn is well-characterised observationally, a firm understanding of its origin still eludes us. Similarly, while recent results from GALEX and deep optical surveys strongly indicate the presence of small mass fractions of young stars across low and intermediate redshift, the exact mechanism (e.g. stellar mass loss, minor mergers) that drives this star formation is not fully understood. The role of active galactic nuclei in regulating the low-level star formation at late epochs also remains relatively unexplored in galaxy formation models.

KMOS is a cryogenic infrared spectrograph fed by twentyfour deployable integral field units that patrol a 7.2 arcminute diameter field of view at the Nasmyth focus of the ESO VLT. It is well suited to the study of galaxy clusters at 1 < z < 2 where the well understood features in the restframe V-band are shifted into the KMOS spectral bands. Coupled with HST imagining, KMOS offers a window on the critical epoch for galaxy evolution, 7-10 Gyrs ago, when the key properties of cluster galaxies were established. We aim to investigate the size, mass, morphology and star formation history of galaxies in the clusters. Here we describe the instrument, discuss the status of the observations and report some preliminary results.

Radar observations are a powerful technique to study near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). Goldstone's 3.75 m resolution capability is invaluable when attempting to image NEAs with diameters smaller than 140 m. The small NEAs are a very diverse population in which we continue to discover unusual objects.

This paper highlights very recent advances concerning the identification of new mechanisms that introduce polarization in spectral lines, which turn out to be key for understanding some of the most enigmatic scattering polarization signals of the solar visible spectrum. We also show a radiative transfer prediction on the scattering polarization pattern across the Mg iih & k lines, whose radiation can only be observed from space.

We have carried out photometry and spectroscopy on a sample of 10 cD galaxies. The photometry shows, in general, fairly flat and red profile colours, implying an envelope with the same stellar population as the central galaxy. This may indicate a possible primordial origin for both structures, consistent with ideas of downsizing. Preliminary spectroscopic results are generally in agreement with the photometry, with for example younger populations at large radii for A2199, but A2589 has only younger populations.

The Sydney–AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey is an ongoing project to obtain integral field spectroscopic observations of ∼3400 galaxies by mid-2016. Including the pilot survey, a total of ∼1000 galaxies have been observed to date, making the SAMI Galaxy Survey the largest of its kind in existence. This unique dataset allows a wide range of investigations into different aspects of galaxy evolution.

The first public data from the SAMI Galaxy Survey, consisting of 107 galaxies drawn from the full sample, has now been released. By giving early access to SAMI data for the entire research community, we aim to stimulate research across a broad range of topics in galaxy evolution. As the sample continues to grow, the survey will open up a new and unique parameter space for galaxy evolution studies.

C46 is a Commission of the Executive Committee of the IAU under Division XII Union-Wide Activities. Aiming at improvement of astronomy education and research at all levels worldwide (through the various projects it initiates),maintains, develops, as well as through the dissemination of information. C46 has 332 members and it was managed by the Organizing Committee, formed by the Commission President (Rosa M. Ros, from Spain), the Vice-Presiden (John Hearnshaw, from New Zealand), the Retiring President (Magda Stavinschi, from Romania), the Vice-President of the IAU (George Miley, from Netherland) and the PG chairs:

• • Worldwide Development of Astronomy WWDA: John Hearnshaw

• • Teaching Astronomy for Development TAD: Edward Guinan and Laurence A. Marshall

• • International Schools for Young Astronomers ISYA; chair: Jean-Pierre de Greve

• • Network for Astronomy School Education NASE: Rosa M. Ros and Beatriz Garcia

• • Public Understanding at the times of Solar Eclipses and transit Phenomena PUTSE: Jay Pasachoff

• • National Liaison and Newsletter: Barrie Jones

• • Collaborative Programs: Hans Haubold

The total density profiles of elliptical galaxies can be fit by a single power law, i.e., ρtot ∝ rγ with γ ≈ −2. While strong lensing observations show a tendency for the slopes to become flatter with increasing redshift, simulations indicate an opposite trend. To understand this discrepancy, we study a set of simulated spheroids formed within the cosmological framework. From our simulations we find that the steepness of the total density slope correlates with the compactness of the stellar component within the half-mass radius, and that spheroidal galaxies tend to be more compact at high redshifts than their present-day counterparts. While both these results are in agreement with observations, the observed trend of the total density slope with redshift remains in contradiction to the results from simulations.

We investigate the impact of starspots on the evolution of late-type stars during the pre-main sequence (pre-MS). We find that heavy spot coverage increases the radii of stars by 4–10%, consistent with inflation factors in eclipsing binary systems, and suppresses the rate of pre-MS lithium depletion, leading to a dispersion in zero-age MS Li abundance (comparable to observed spreads) if a range of spot properties exist within clusters from 3-10 Myr. This concordance with data implies that spots induce a range of radii at fixed mass during the pre-MS. These spots decrease the luminosity and Teff of stars, leading to a displacement on the HR diagram. This displacement causes isochrone derived masses and ages to be systematically under-estimated, and can lead to the spurious appearance of an age spread in a co-eval population.

We present detailed study of the physical properties of the molecular gas in a sample of 18 gas-rich early-type galaxies -ETGs- from the ATLAS3D sample. Our goal is to better understand the star formation processes occurring in those galaxies, starting in this work by determining the properties of their molecular star-forming gas. Such study has never been performed before for ETGs and open a new window for exploring the star formation processes in the Universe. We use here the 12CO(1-0, 2-1), 13CO(1-0, 2-1), HCN(1-0) and HCO+(1-0) transitions already obtained (Krips et al. 2010 and Crocker et al. 2012 and new detections of the 12CO(3-2) line that we present too (see Bayet et al. 2012, re-submitted). From this dataset, we derive the average H2 kinetic temperature, H2 volume density and column density of the emitting gas using a non-Local Thermodynamical Equilibrium theoretical approach. For most of the gas-rich ETGs included in our sample, the CO transitions can be reproduced by gas kinetic temperatures between 10-20 K, densities of 103−4 cm−3 and CO column densities of 1018–20 cm−2. Since the CO lines trace different physical conditions than those required to emit the HCN and HCO+ lines, they are treated separately. The physical parameters corresponding to the HCN and HCO+ gas component suffer from large uncertainties and have to be considered as indicative only. In this study, for the first time, we also compare the predicted CO spectral line energy distributions of our gas-rich ETGs and their gas properties with those of a sample of nearby well-studied disc galaxies. The gas excitation conditions in 12/18 early-type galaxies appear analogous to those in the center fo Milky Way, hence the star formation activity driving these conditions may be of a similar strength and nature. The conclusions drawn have to be nevertheless considered carefully since they are based only on a limited number of observations. We show from our models that the 12CO(6-5) line emission is particularly useful for improving these results.

Asteroid disk-integrated sparse-in-time photometry can be used for determination of shapes and spin states of asteroids by the lightcurve inversion method. To clearly distinguish the correct solution of the rotation period from other minima in the parameter space, data with good photometric accuracy are needed. We show that if the low-quality sparse photometry obtained from ground-based astrometric surveys is combined with data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite, the correct rotation period can be successfully derived. Although WISE observed in mid-IR wavelengths, we show that for the period and spin determination, these data can be modelled as reflected light. The absolute fluxes are not required since only relative variation of the flux over the rotation is sufficient to determine the period. We also discuss the potential of combining all WISE data with the Lowell photometric database to create physical models of thousands of asteroids.

In the statistical framework of likelihood-free inference, the posterior distribution of model parameters is explored via simulation rather than direct evaluation of the likelihood function, permitting inference in situations where this function is analytically intractable. We consider the problem of estimating cosmological parameters using measurements of the weak gravitational lensing of galaxies; specifically, we propose the use a likelihood-free approach to investigate the posterior distribution of some parameters in the ΛCDM model upon observing a large number of sheared galaxies. The choice of summary statistic used when comparing observed data and simulated data in the likelihood-free inference framework is critical, so we work toward a principled method of choosing the summary statistic, aiming for dimension reduction while seeking a statistic that is as close as possible to being sufficient for the parameters of interest.

The extensive literature on the physics of polarized scattering may give the impression that we have a solid theoretical foundation for the interpretation of spectro-polarimetric data. This theoretical framework has however not been sufficiently tested by experiments under controlled conditions. While the solar atmosphere may be viewed as a physics laboratory, the observed solar polarization depends on too many environmental factors that are beyond our control. The existence of a symmetric polarization peak at the center of the solar Na D1 line has remained an enigma for two decades, in spite of persistent efforts to explain it with available quantum theory. A decade ago a laboratory experiment was set up to determine whether this was a problem for solar physics or quantum physics. The experiment revealed a rich polarization structure of D1 scattering, although available quantum theory predicted null results. It has now finally been possible to formulate a well-defined and self-consistent extension of the theory of quantum scattering that can reproduce in great quantitative detail the main polarization structures that were found in the laboratory experiment. Here we give a brief overview of the new physical ingredients that were missing before. The extended theory reveals that multi-level atomic systems have a far richer coherence structure than previously believed.

We present the kinematic morphology-density relation in three galaxy clusters, Abell 85, 168 and 2399, using data from the SAMI Pilot Survey. We classify the early-type galaxies in our sample as fast or slow rotators (FRs/SRs) according to a measured proxy for their projected specific stellar angular momentum. We find each cluster contains both fast and slow rotators with and average fraction of SRs in the sample of fSR=0.15 ± 0.04. We investigate this fraction within each cluster as a function of local projected galaxy density. For Abell 85 we find that fSR increases at high local density but for Abell 168 and 2399 this trend is not seen. We find SRs not just at the centres of our clusters but also on the outskirts and hypothesise that these SRs may have formed in group environments eventually accreted to the larger cluster.

We previously reported discovering that blazars have distinctive infrared colors as seen in the WISE mission. Of particular note are γ-ray blazars, the locus of whose colors roughly overlaps with QSOs contours but which is more tightly delimited and bluer than ULIRGs and Seyferts. Since a large fraction of γ-ray sources are unassociated with any point source, but are expected to be blazars, identifying a WISE-candidate blazar in the γ-ray source field enables efficient followup studies. In an effort to better understand why blazars have these colors, we reduced and analyzed Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) measurements on 73 blazars of varying types, some at several epochs. These spectra can be used to study the continuum emission (non-thermal), and search for atomic or other spectral features.

Evolutionary population synthesis (EPS) models play an important role in many studies on the formation and evolution of galaxy. The poorly calibration for some stellar evolution stages in EPS models can lead to uncertainty of the parameter determinations for galaxies. By means of the HyperZ code and a set of theoretical galaxy template, which are built on the EPS models with and without binary interactions, we present photometric redshift (photo-z) estimates for passive galaxy sample at redshift z ~ 2.0. The passive galaxy sample is selected from Fang et al., and they also provide the redshift for these passive galaxies. By comparing the photo-z determined from EPS models with and without binary interactions, we find that the binary interactions have little effect in the photo-z determinations.