5th Workshop of Young Researchers in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Abstract

The 5th Workshop of Young Researchers in Astronomy and Astrophysics was held on 2–4 September 2009 at the Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary. This meeting fits into a conference series which can already be considered a tradition where the younger generation has the opportunity to present their work. The event was also a great opportunity for senior astronomers and physicists to form new connections with the next generation of researchers. The selection of invited speakers concentrated on the researchers currently most active in the field, mostly on a post-doctoral/tenure/fresh faculty position level. A number of senior experts and PhD students were also invited.As the conference focused on people rather than a specific field, various topics from theoretical physics to planetology were covered in three days. The programme was divided into six sections: Physics of the Sun and the Solar System Gravity and high-energy physics Galactic and extragalactic astronomy, cosmology Celestial mechanics and exoplanets Infrared astronomy and young stars Variable stars We had the pleasure of welcoming 10 invited review talks from senior researchers and 42 contributed talks and a poster from the younger generation. Participants also enjoyed the hospitality of the pub Pál at the Pálvölgyi-cave after giving, hearing and disputing countless talks. Brave souls even descended to the unbuilt, adventurous Mátyásvölgyi-cave. Memories of the conference were shadowed though. Péter Csizmadia, one of our participants and three other climbers attempted a first ever ascent to the Ren Zhong Feng peak in Sichuan, China, but they never returned from the mountains. Péter departed to China shortly after the conference, with best wishes from participants and friends. We dedicate this volume to his memory.The organisers thankthe Physics Doctoral School of Eötvös University for its hospitality. The workshop was supported by the Mecenatúra and Polányi Mihály Programmes of the National Office for Research and Technology (NKTH) and the Ministry of Education and Culture (OKM) of Hungary. Emese Forgács-Dajka, Emese Plachy and László Molnár