XXI Texas Symposium - REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! (fwd)

Wto, 21 Maj 2002, 13:12:48 CEST

Hi everyone,
  I'm not that eager to go to an "expensive hotel chain" meeting,
but if I miss the northern summer cosmo meetings then at least I 
could go to one big cosmo meeting this calendar year... 

Czeææ
Boud

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 17:44:37 +0200 (CEST)
> From: XXI Texas Symposium <texaflor w arcetri.astro.it>
> Subject: XXI Texas Symposium - REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
> 
Texas in Tuscany
XXI Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics
Florence, Italy, December 9-13, 2002

FIRST CIRCULAR (May 2002)

Introduction

The XXI Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics will be organized in
Florence, 9-13 December 2002, by the National Institute of Astrophysics -
Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, in collaboration with the National Institute
of Nuclear Physics and other scientific Institutions (the complete list will
appear in a subsequent announcement).  The meeting will be held in the Palazzo
dei Congressi, in the historic center of the city, and will consist of Invited
Review Talks (IT) in the morning (each lasting about 40 minutes) and Joint
Discussions (JD) during the afternoon. Invited Talks will review recent
developments in various fields in Astrophysics, Cosmology and related issues of
Physics of Gravitation and Elementary Particles. Joint Discussions will cover
specific areas with a number of shorter invited talks (about 20 minutes each).
In addition, participants will be able to propose poster papers covering their
recent research. The goal of the meeting is to provide a general review of the
status and the prospects of research for a diversified audience of
astrophysicists and physicists.

How to reach Florence

Florence can be reached directly by airplane from several major European
cities. Alternative airports with international connections are Bologna or Pisa
(both about 1 hour train ride from Florence). Another alternative is Rome (the
train ride from the Rome Central Station Termini to Florence can be as  short
as 95 minutes) or Milan (the train ride from the Milan Central Station to
Florence takes almost 3 hours). Please note, however, that both in Milan and in
Rome the trip from the Airport to the Central Station will take about one
additional hour.

Accommodation

The Organizers have selected a travel agency in Florence to handle all the
problems connected with accommodation. The Organizers will not be able to help
in any other way with this matter. Block reservations in various hotels are
being made, which will be assigned on a first-come-first-served basis until
November 15, 2002. Participants who want to arrange directly their own
accommodation, or to contact a different travel agency are of course free to do
so; they are however advised to book their accommodation as soon as possible,
given the strong touristic pressure on Florence.  Booking will be firm after a
deposit equal to the cost of the first night in the chosen hotel. The quoted
costs include breakfast, and all applicable taxes. The deposit will be
acknowledged in the final bill, to be paid by the participant directly at the
hotel upon leaving. Participants who want to leave earlier than initially
arranged must notify the hotel at least 24 hours in advance.  Cancellations
will be possible only until November 15, 2002; in these cases the deposit will
be returned less a 30% handling fee.  The accommodation form is now available
at http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~texaflor/accommodation_first.html

Registration

The registration fee for the Symposium will be 300 Euros if paid by November 1
and 400 Euros thereafter. This will cover participation, coffee breaks and a
personal copy of the Proceedings.  The registration form is now available at
http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~texaflor/registration_first.html

Program

The following topics will be covered by Invited Talks and (in some cases)
additional Joint Discussions:

- PHYSICS AROUND THE BIG BANG

- THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE

- COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETERS 

- THE DAWN OF LIGHT IN THE UNIVERSE 

- COSMOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 

- DARK MATTER AND GRAVITATIONAL LENSES 

- LARGE SCALE STRUCTURES AND CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES 

- GAMMA RAY BURSTS 

- ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI 

- SUPERNOVAE, REMNANTS AND COLLAPSED STARS 

- BLACK HOLES 

- GRAVITATIONAL WAVES 

- COSMIC-RAY AND GAMMA-RAY ASTRONOMY 

- NEUTRINO PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY 

Invited speakers

A partial list of invited speakers includes: R. Blandford, C. Cesarsky,
A. Fabian, F. Halzen, A. Lasenby, B. Leibundgut, P. Madau, I. Novikov,
B. Schutz, P. Steinhardt, V. Trimble, G.  Veneziano, M. Vietri, S. White. The
program with the complete list of speakers and convenors of the Joint
Discussions will appear on the web at
http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~texaflor/program.html.
The Proceedings of the Symposium will include the invited reviews and the
presentations at the joint discussions (no posters).

Scientific Organizing Committee

F. Pacini (Chair, Italy), M. Baldo Ceolin (Italy), M. Rees (UK), R. Barbieri
(Italy), V. Rubin (USA), C. Cesarsky (ESO), G. Setti (Italy), A. Gimenez (ESA),
J. Silk (UK), G.  Hasinger (Germany), M. Tavani (Italy), R. Kolb (USA),
Y. Totsuka (Japan), R. Manchester (Australia), V. Trimble (USA),
I. Novikov (Denmark), G. Veneziano (CERN), A.  Olinto (USA), L. Woltjer (France)

Local Organizing Committee

M. Salvati (Chair), R. Bandiera, L. Falai, R. Maiolino, F. Mannucci,
A. Marconi, E. Masini, N. Nagar.

Further information:

http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~texaflor/
e-mail: texas_florence w arcetri.astro.it
fax ++ 39 055 220039