2027 IAU Symposium 413

AGN Jets from Gamsberg to the Multi-Messenger Frontier

Windhoek, Namibia, 18 – 22 January 2027

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About IAU Symposium 413

Relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei are among the Universe’s most extreme particle accelerators. Blazars, with jets pointed toward Earth, show dramatic multiwavelength variability and gamma-ray flares, offering unique insights into particle acceleration, jet dynamics, and magnetic field structure. Yet key processes, such as jet formation, the location of high-energy emission, and the mechanisms driving flares, remain poorly understood.

This symposium brings together theorists, observers, and instrument scientists to address these challenges, focusing on universal jet physics across systems, including jet launching and collimation, particle acceleration, magnetic-field evolution, multi-band flaring and polarisation signatures, and multimessenger links involving neutrinos.

Comparative insights from other jetted sources, such as GRBs, TDEs, and Galactic accreting systems, will broaden the scientific perspective. Building on the progress surrounding the African Millimetre Telescope in Namibia and the continued success of H.E.S.S., MAGIC, VERITAS, MeerKAT, EHT, SALT, and Fermi, and the upcoming SKA, Vera C. Rubin Observatory, CTAO, and ASTRI Mini-Array, this meeting will advance multimessenger studies, foster international collaboration, and engage early-career researchers and the growing African astronomy community.

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Topics for the symposium

The 2027 IAUS 413 will focus on recent studies in these fields and potential future prospects and synergies among them. During this meeting, the topics we will discuss include:
  • Universal dynamics & modelling: Identify fundamental processes of jet formation, composition, and acceleration across AGN, GRBs, and XRBs by employing advanced RMHD and PIC simulations to unify observed universal jet behaviours.
  • Emission & localisation: Characterise high-energy emission zones within relativistic outflows by analysing jet structure and magnetic-field evolution across diverse accretion and power regimes, from Galactic sources to the most distant quasars.
  • Multimessenger synergy: Evaluate the physical connections between flaring activity, neutrino production, and candidate multimessenger sources to build integrated theoretical frameworks for jet phenomena across all mass scales.
  • Comparative astrophysics & scaling laws: Conduct cross-system studies (TDEs, AGN, and Galactic XRBs) to determine if particle acceleration and energy dissipation mechanisms are truly scale-invariant or fundamentally altered by the local environment.

Details

The 2027 IAUS413 will be held between January 18th – 22nd, 2027, in Windhoek, Namibia, making it the 5th African country ever to host such an event. The abstract submission/travel grant application deadline is July 15th and the registration deadline August 15th 2026. For more information, contact the organisers via gfpara@utu.fi.

Further information, including the IAU Code of Conduct, and on IAU travel grants can be found on the following website:
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LOC (UNAM)

  • L. N. Frans (chair)
  • H. Davids (chair)
  • E. K. Kasai (chair)
  • M. Backes
  • H. I. Katjaita
  • J. N. S. Shapopi
  • R. Steenkamp

SOC Members

  • Georgios F. Paraschos (FINCA/MRO/MPIfR, chair)
  • Elina Lindfors (Univ. of Turku, chair)
  • Michael Backes (UNAM/NWU, chair)
  • Athira Bharathan (NWU)
  • Hayley Bignall (Manly Astro.)
  • Markus Böttcher (NWU)
  • Elisabete de Gouveia Dal Pino (Univ. São Paulo)
  • Charles Gammie (Univ. Urbana-Champaign)
  • Daryl Haggard (McGill Univ.)
  • Michael Johnson (Harvard CfA)
  • Dongjin Kim (CSIRO)
  • Sthabile Kolwa (UNISA)
  • Shoko Koyama (Niigata Univ.)
  • Ioannis Liodakis (FORTH)
  • Yosuke Mizuno (Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ.)
  • Rodrigo Nemmen (Univ. São Paulo)
  • Erin O’Sullivan (Univ. of Uppsala)