Title: Cosmic Fireworks: A Cambridge Extragalactic Transients Workshop
Date: 28th January 2026
Location: Kavli Institute Martin Ryle Seminar Room
Organisers: Lisa Kelsey, Matt Grayling, Nikhil Sarin
Extragalactic transients are some of the most spectacular and informative events, transforming our view of the universe. The landscape of cosmic explosions, from supernovae and tidal disruption events, to gamma-ray bursts, fast radio bursts and the electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves, is ever-growing, and will continue to do so in this new large survey era. Cambridge is home to a thriving community working across these areas, spanning multiple research groups with a wide range of expertise.
Cosmic Fireworks is a one-day meeting to celebrate this expertise, and bring together Cambridge researchers who study (or are curious about) any aspect of extragalactic time-domain astrophysics, whether rapid transients, longer-term variability, or the tools and theory that underpin them. We hope that this day will spark new conversations, highlight the breadth of research, and inspire new collaborations across communities.
Schedule
|
Time |
Speaker |
Talk Title |
|
9:15 - 9:30 |
Welcome and Introduction |
|
|
9:30 - 9:45 |
Roundtable |
|
|
9:45 - 10:45 |
Nikhil Sarin, Matt Grayling, Lisa Kelsey |
Overview of Transient Astronomy |
|
10:45 - 11:15 |
Coffee |
|
|
11:15 - 11:30 |
People |
Transient Surveys and Facilities |
|
11:30 - 11:55 |
Avishai Gilkis |
From binaries to fireworks: mapping transient diversity from massive stars |
|
11:55 - 12:20 |
Or Graur |
Core-collapse supernova rates from the Dark Energy Survey |
|
12:20 - 12:45 |
Ben Boyd |
Accounting for Selection Effects in Supernova Cosmology with Simulation-Based Inference and Hierarchical Bayesian Modelling |
|
12:45 - 13:45 |
Lunch |
|
|
13:45 - 14:10 |
Madeleine Ginolin |
Type Ia Supernovae for cosmology with the ZTF SN Ia DR2 sample |
|
14:10 - 14:35 |
Erin Hayes |
The Case for Space: Optimising Follow-up Strategies for Gravitationally Lensed Supernovae with Glimpse |
|
14:35 - 15:00 |
Namu Kroupa |
The global structure of the time delay likelihood |
|
15:00 - 15:25 |
Júlia Laguna-Miralles |
AGN Variability as the Slow Transient Background in the Time-Domain Sky |
|
15:25 - 16:00 |
Coffee |
|
|
16:00 - 16:45 |
Discussion - Current and Future Transient Activities in Cambridge |
|
