Invited seminar at the Unidad Asociada CAB-UAM

Title of the talk: The SKA: a one-million square meter telescope to answer one-billion EUR worth questions

Abstract: The Square Kilometre Array SKA will be a revolutionary instrument in the study of our Universe. Initially planned as an extremely powerful "H I machine", it was later re-discovered as "the" telescope to shed new light on the "Dark Ages/Epoch of Reionization" and on the General relativity via pulsar studies. In the last years, many astrophysicists have started to pay more and more attentions to this million-square meter radio telescope.

Indeed, its  enormous sensitivity (<= 1 microJy/beam),  angular resolution (close to milliarcsecond),  and frequency ranges covered (350 MHz to 10 GHz at least), warrant that the SKA will have a transformational impact in essentially all astrophysical research areas.

In this talk, I will present what is SKA, its current status and will try to show you just some science cases where its contribution is likely to be transformational. I will also emphasize that the time is ripe now for Spanish researchers (and for Spain) to enter the SKA world and start contributing in the Key Science Projects that will be submitted by January 2018.  

Don't be afraid by the word "radio interferometry", book your tickets now and don't miss the SKA train. If you do, you're likely to regret it sooner than later.