Conference aims

With the advent of the Herschel Space Observatory, and the gradual buildup of ALMA, the coverage of the infrared to submillimeter spectral range becomes extensive. We now routinely observe most astrophysical objects in this range, from cold molecular clouds in our Galaxy to active galactic nuclei in the distant universe, including galaxies of all star formation intensities. However we often overlook the fact that all the information extracted from observables, such as interstellar medium properties, star formation rates, and AGN geometry, is shaped by a very complex medium that we do not perfectly understand, namely interstellar dust. The purpose of the meeting is to reverse the above perspective and use the recent observations of vastly different dusty environments to deduce new constraints on this ubiquitous interstellar medium phase. In particular, the meeting will address the following topics:

• What are the actual observational constraints that can be placed on the physical properties of dust ?
• What is the evidence for changes in dust properties as a function of cosmological time ?
• How is chemical evolution, as traced through the gaseous phase of the ISM, reflected in the dust properties ?
• Do we understand the life-cycle of dust in the ISM, and over cosmological timescales ?
• How much of the observed variation in dust properties is reproduced, and explained, by dust models ?
• Are dust-based tracers (of star formation rates, molecular gas masses, AGN properties, etc) robust with respect to uncertainties in dust properties ?
• What are the uncertainties in bolometric luminosities of galaxies from infrared measurements, and the implications for galaxy evolution models ?