Despite their general importance for understanding the evolution of galaxies at all redshifts, there remain considerable uncertainties about the physical mechanisms involved in triggering starbursts, and also how such events relate to the general properties of the host galaxies and their nuclei. Over the last decade there has been considerable observational progress in studying starbursts with the current generation of ground- and space-based facilities, particularly in uncovering heavily dust-obscured regions, studying the stellar populations in the host galaxies, and pushing the envelope of studies of starbursts to ever higher redshifts; this rate of progress is set to increase even further with the new generation of facilities such as JWST, Herschel, ALMA, eVLA and eMerlin, At the same time it has become possible to undertake detailed hydrodynamical simulations of star formation in galaxies under various circumstances as they evolve. Therefore the aim of the Granada workshop is to bring together observers and theorists to review the latest results.

The following key issues in the study of extreme starbursts will be addressed in the Granada 2010 workshop:

1. ✴What are the main modes of triggering extreme starbursts in the local Universe?
   

2. ✴How efficiently are stars formed in extreme starbursts?
   

3. ✴What are the star formation histories of local starburst galaxies?
   

4. ✴How well do the theoretical simulations model the observations?
   

5. ✴What can we learn about starbursts in the distant Universe through studies of their local counterparts?
   

6. ✴How important is the role of extreme starbursts in the hierarchical assembly of galaxies?
   

7. ✴How are extreme starbursts related to the triggering of AGN in the nuclei of galaxies?
   

8. 
   

9. The workshop is designed with an emphasis on discussion. In addition to the review talks, and invited contributions, several daily discussion sessions will be in the program.
   

10. 
    

11. Due to auditorium capacity constraints, attendance to this workshop is by direct invitation only.  The total number of participants foreseen is of order 60.
    

Almudena Alonso-Herrero, Rosa González Delgado

Javier Rodríguez-Zaurín & Clive Tadhunter

Starbursts2010@gmail.com