IAU e-Newsletter - Volume 2006 n°3
Sent electronically to Individual Members on June 20, 2006
by Oddbjørn Engvold, General Secretary
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Proceedings of IAU Scientific Meetings in 2004 and 2005
Proceedings of all IAU Symposia and Colloquia held in 2004 and in 2005 are on-line here .
Hardback volumes can be ordered here .
Proceedings of Regional IAU Meetings are listed here.
Post Meeting Reports of all IAU Scientific Meetings held in 2004 and in 2005 are on-line here .
Future IAU Scientific Meetings are listed here .
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IAU Scientific Meetings in 2006
IAU scientific meetings to be held at the XXVIth IAU General Assembly in Prague, 14-25 August 2006, are listed here .
IAU Symposia, including those held outside the GA, are listed here (for past ones) and here (for future ones).
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IAU Scientific Meetings in 2007
Nine IAU Symposia and one Regional IAU Meeting to be held in 2007 are listed here .
Those are:
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IAU Symposium No. 242
ASTROPHYSICAL MASERS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS
March 12-16, 2007, Alice Springs, Australia
Contact: Jessica M. Chapman Jessica.Chapman@csiro.au
Objectives:
This meeting will be the third international symposium on astronomical masers. The first was held in Virginia, US in March 1992, while the second was held in Brazil as an IAU Symposium in March 2001. The meeting will bring together observational astronomers and theoreticians who study masers and their surrounding environments and will address a broad range of astrophysical problems.
Topics:
Maser theory; Polarization and magnetic fields; Surveys; Masers and star formation; Stellar masers, circumstellar winds and supernovae remnants; Masers, galactic structure and the Galactic Centre; Masers in AGN environments; Masers and starburst activity; Diagnostics and interpretation in extragalactic environments; New mm and sub-mm masers and future facilities.
Venue:
Alice Springs is located in the "Red Centre" of Australia, in an area of outstanding natural beauty next to the MacDonnell Ranges and Simpson Desert. -
IAU Symposium No. 243
STAR-DISK INTERACTION IN YOUNG STARS
(URL to be determined)
May 21-25, 2007, Grenoble, France
Contact: Jérôme Bouvier Jerome.Bouvier@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
Rationale:
Disk accretion and jet outflows are intimately associated with the formation of stars and planets. One central issue raised by recent observational studies is the origin of the physical connection between accretion and wind/jet processes. It has become clear that the physical connection takes place within 1 AU of the central star, in a region where the interaction between the star and the inner disk is still poorly understood. The conference intends to review the observational constraints available on the physical processes thought to be at work at the star-disk interface, to confront them with the predictions of the latest numerical and analytical MHD models of star-disk-jet systems, and to explore the consequences of these processes for stellar angular momentum evolution and inner disk structure.
Objectives:
The aim of the conference is to gather astronomers from around the world to critically review the MHD processes which are thought to take place within 1 AU of young stellar objects. It will focus on the structure and variability of the inner magnetized disk, the magnetospheric cavity, and the jet launching region. Understanding the structure and evolution of the star-disk interaction region in young stars is critical to our understanding of the star and planetary system formation process.
Topics:
A historical perspective; Magnetic field origin and topology; The magnetospheric accretion flow; Jet launching and outflows; Angular momentum transport; Varying the boundary conditions; Summary and concluding remarks. -
IAU Symposium No. 244
DARK GALAXIES AND LOST BARYONS
June 25-29, 2007, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Contact: Jonathan I. Davies jid@astro.cf.ac.uk
Justification:
Given the standard cosmological model there is far more dark matter than baryonic matter in the Universe. Just where this dark matter resides has been open to speculation and observation since Zwicky first showed that the Coma cluster contains more mass than can be accounted for by the luminosity of its galaxies. Later astronomers have tried to quantify the difference between the mass distribution of the Universe as measured by the location of galaxies compared to that of the underlying mass. The current consensus is that the light from galaxies traces the underlying mass reasonably well, but we have little information on the form of the dark mass that must be associated with the known galaxies. If we are to accept the currently favoured Cold Dark Matter models then we must assume, there are many small dark matter halos within and around larger luminous structures. Given that relatively few are optically detected, one is drawn to the conclusion that the majority of self-gravitating mass concentrations in the Universe remain dark.
Objectives:
In this IAU symposium we propose to address the theoretical aspects of dark galaxy formation/evolution and the observational constraints that can be placed on the existence of such elusive objects. A dark galaxy may have reached its current invisible state through one of three pathways. First, it may never have had baryons or it may have lost them all. Second, it may contain baryons, but these have not turned into stars. Third, stars may have formed, but they are now very difficult to detect because their total numbers are very low and/or they are spread out over a large area. In each case the galaxy did not receive or it has lost a fraction of its baryon quota. Each of the above types of dark galaxy offer a different observational and theoretical challenge as to its nature and its role in the grand scheme. The objective of the symposium is to bring together many disjoint observations and models' predictions to reach some consensus on the existence and abundance of dark galaxies.
Topics:
Theoretical predictions that dark galaxies exist; Theoretical predictions about the nature of dark galaxies; Quasar absorption features in relation to dark galaxies; Weak lensing and its implications for dark galaxies; X-ray observations and dark masses; Disturbed galaxies interpreting the data; The SZ effect and the detection of optically dark structures; 21cm surveys - implications for gas rich optically dark galaxies; The numbers and properties of dark matter dominated dwarf galaxies; Using and developing new instruments and techniques. -
IAU Symposium No. 245
FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF GALAXY BULGES
July 16-20, 2007, Oxford, United Kingdom
Contact: Martin Bureau bureau@astro.ox.ac.uk
Objectives:
The Symposium will attempt to build a coherent view of galaxy and more specifically bulge formation by combining the currently dominant but somewhat disjoint hierarchical and secular formation scenarios. The Symposium is thus designed to bring together astronomers who work on cosmological simulations and those who focus on internal dynamical processes, astronomers who advocate observations at high redshift and those who favor present-day galaxies, astronomers who study the structure and dynamics of galaxies and those who probe their stellar populations.
Topics:
Classical, hierarchical, and secular bulge formation and evolution models; star formation and gas flows; black holes and nuclear activity; integrated and resolved stellar populations; surveys and the high-redshift universe. -
IAU Symposium No. 246
DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF DENSE STELLAR SYSTEMS
Sept. 5-9, 2007, Capri, Italy
Contact: Enrico Vesperini vesperin@physics.drexel.edu
Topics:
Stellar cluster formation and early evolution; Properties of cluster stellar populations; Stellar clusters in starburst galaxies and mergers; Few-body stellar systems; Open clusters; Globular clusters; Galactic and extra-galactic globular cluster systems; Exotic stellar populations in dense stellar systems; Interplay between binary dynamics and evolution and stellar cluster dynamical evolution; Computational aspects of simulations of dense stellar systems. -
IAU Symposium No. 247
WAVES AND OSCILLATIONS IN THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE: HEATING AND MAGNETO-SEISMOLOGY
Sept. 17-22, 2007, Porlamar, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela
Contact: César A. Mendoza-Briceñoi cesar@ula.ve
Objectives:
The goal of this symposium is to gather together specialists observationally studying solar and stellar lower atmospheric and coronal phenomena in the (E)UV, radio, visible light and X-ray bands and the theorists developing modelling (both analytical and numerical) of (magneto)hydrodynamic (MHD) waves and oscillations in structured media, lower atmospheric and coronal heating and atmospheric magneto-seismology to discuss the current trends of the research in the field both in the context of solar and stellar physics. The emphasis is on wave and oscillation observations in different observational bands, consolidation of the theory and the observational findings, observations with new and future solar mission, RHESSI, Solar B, STEREO and SDO.
Topics:
Waves and oscillations in solar and stellar interior (dynamo waves); Coupling of global solar and stellar motions into the lower atmosphere; Seismology of the lower solar atmosphere (e.g. small-scale fields); Seismology of open vs. closed magnetic structures; Prominence oscillations; Dynamical processes and coupling in the magnetic atmosphere of stars; Global solar and stellar atmospheric/coronal seismology; Fundamental physical processes in coronae: waves, turbulence, reconnection; Waves and instabilities in atmospheric plasmas; Wave-particle interactions in magnetized plasmas. -
IAU Symposium No. 248
A GIANT STEP: FROM MILLI- TO MICRO-ARCSECOND ASTROMETRY
Oct. 15-19, 2007, Shanghai, PR. China
Contact: Imants Platais imants@pha.jhu.edu
Topics:
Hipparcos Catalogue: 10th anniversary and its legacy; Post-Hipparcos advances in ground-based astrometry; Second-generation astrometric satellites: The Gaia and SIM missions; Astrometry with interferometers (optical & radio); Celestial reference frames at multi-wavelengths; Towards a reference frame at the microarcsecond level; Astrometry in the age of large surveys and virtual observatories; Galactic structure and evolution; Astrometric education and outreach. -
IAU Symposium No. 249
EXOPLANETS: DETECTION, FORMATION AND DYNAMICS
Oct. 22-26, 2007, Suzhou, PR. China
Contact: Ji-Lin Zhou zhoujl@nju.edu.cn
Objectives:
In this conference wide topics related to the observations, physics and dynamics of exoplanets and planetary systems will be discussed. Noteworthy, the first results from CoRoT and Kepler missions are highly expected and may highlight this conference. This meeting will be a forum for the discussion of the existing results on the Physics and the Dynamics of exoplanets and exoplanetary systems.
Topics:
Terrestrial planet detection (CoRoT and Kepler); Transits of planets across the stars; Determination of orbits and physical parameters; Physical modelling (atmosphere, structure, evolution); Star-Hot Jupiter interactions (tides, evaporation, magnetic fields); Planetary formation; Disk-planet interaction: theory and simulations; Planetary migration; Dynamics of multi-planet systems; Planets in binary stars; Planetary habitability.
Venue:
The conference site, Suzhou, a town near Shanghai, is famous for its garden architecture and Chinese traditional culture. The local host will be colleagues form Nanjing University and Soochow University. -
LARIM-2007
12TH LATIN-AMERICAN REGIONAL IAU MEETING
(URL to be determined)
November 26-30, 2006, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela
Contact: Gustavo A. Bruzual bruzual@cida.ve
Topics:
Stellar astronomy (theory and observations); Galactic astronomy (including galactic structure, astrometry, ISM); Solar and solar system physics; Star formation in different environments. Extra solar planets; Stellar evolution. Stellar remnants; Galaxies in the Local Group and nearby galaxies; Distant galaxies and cosmology. Numerical simulations of universe; Radio astronomy and space astronomy (IR, UV, X-ray, gamma); Instrumentation and telescopes. New projects (regional and abroad). -
IAU Symposium No. 250
MASSIVE STARS AS COSMIC ENGINES
Dec. 10-14, 2007, Kauai, Hawaii, USA
Contact: Paul A. Crowther Paul.Crowther@sheffield.ac.uk
Topics:
New observational studies of massive stars; New theoretical atmospheric developments; Massive star evolution of single and binary stars: rotation, magnetic fields, Z-dependence; Colliding wind effects in massive binaries, dust formation; Interactions with ISM; wind-blown bubbles, feedback and superwinds; stars versus AGN; Core-collapse SN, GRBs, and their host galaxies at high redshift; Massive stellar populations in the Local Group and beyond, super star clusters, starbursts; Nucleosynthesis in massive stars and their role in the early chemical evolution of galaxies; Formation of Population III stars, re-ionization and early enrichment; Stellar populations in high-z galaxies selected at optical, IR and sub-mm wavelengths.
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Grants for IAU Scientific Meetings in 2007
Information on IAU Grants for participating in the above meetings is available here .
The IAU Grant Application Form is available here .
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Call for Proposals for IAU Symposia in 2008
The IAU welcomes Letters of Intent (LoI) for Proposals for IAU Symposia to be held in 2008, following the rules and guidelines given here .
For practical details, please see the IAU Scientific Meetings Proposal website .
Deadline for Letters of Intent (LoI): September 15, 2006. .
Deadline for submitting Proposals: December 1, 2006.
