UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors June 2007 o News, Views and Gossip o Congratulations o RHESSI Science Nuggets o News from S-cubed o Input Requested for East o Opening of the HELAS website o HAO Spectral Diagnostic Package for Emitted Radiation o Conferences, Workshops, Meetings o Course on "Turbulence and Waves in Space Plasmas" o 12th Geant4 Collaboration Workshop, Hebden Bridge o First Hinode Science Meeting, 20-24 August, Dublin o Time-Distance Helioseismology Workshop, Stanford, August 6-9 o Low degree and low frequency modes HELAS NA3-2, La Palma? o SOHO-20 August 27-31 2007 Gent, Second Announcement o Positions Vacant o POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER: MHD simulations of stellar and planetary interiors, UC Santa Cruz o Temporary Lecturer in Astrophysics, QUB o Temporary Lecturer in Astronomy, Glasgow o Monash University 5-yr Fellowship o Editors' Notes Dear Colleague, Here are a few items which have come to our attention since the last Newsletter. You can find this newsletter also at the UKSP website: http://www.uksolphys.org Lyndsay (lyndsay@astro.gla.ac.uk) Duncan (duncan@mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk) *********************************************************************** * * * News, Views and Gossip * * * *********************************************************************** From: The editors Congratulations are due to Prof. Valery Nakariakov who has been elected to the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society. Well done Valery! **************************************** From: Steven Christe News from S-cubed. The newly formed Solar System Science (S-cubed) group (see S-cubed: Solar System Science, Astronomy and Geophysics 47 (4), 4.39) met at the National Astronomy Meeting hosted by UCLan at Preston in April. The meeting was well attended and many pressing issues were discussed reflecting a productive first year. Gemma Attrill informed us that she was now representing S-cubed on the RAS scientific groups committee. Jim Wild reported on the well-received interactions between S-cubed and Keith Mason and stated that a report on this topic was published in the February issue of A&G (Abel, Wild and Denton (2007) Taking issue with PPARC over STP, Astronomy & Geophysics 48 (1), 1.08-1.09.). Discussions were held on the future direction of S-cubed building upon the successful first year. It was decided that for the moment S-cubed should predominantly remain a forum for Early Career Scientists but that we should encourage input and interaction with our more established and experienced colleagues in the Solar System community. Communication from postgraduate students to those at the top of the field and back again, should be of paramount importance. S-cubed could provide support and a united voice for PDRAs in the face of continuing difficulties in the current employment system; both the RAS and the Institute of Physics are particularly interested in this at the moment, though a somewhat negative view on the issue was reported from the funding councils. It was decided that the current ad-hoc coordination of S-cubed, driven through urgent need and albeit successful, was not sustainable and unrepresentative. Therefore nominations will be sought for an elected committee of three members to represent the MIST, UKSP and UKPF communities. If you wish to stay informed about S-cubed activities there is an electronic mailing list (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/s-cubed.html) and to join in the debate or air issues affecting the solar-system-science community please visit the forum (http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=88407). This is a public forum but to post a comment requires registration. Information on nominations for S-cubed committee will appear on the forum in due course. **************************************** From: Sarah Matthews Your input is requested - EAST Apologies if some of you feel that this discussion is done and dusted, but there have been a few new developments that seem relevant, and a decision is needed regarding the UK's status as far as the European Association of Solar Telescopes is concerned. We therefore need your input and hope you will take the time to read this email and respond. Firstly, to remind you about EAST and its purpose: -to develop a long range science perspective and foster the development of next generation ground-based research infrastructures with a pan-European perspective for the optical and IR range. - to promote and manage the design, development and construction of the next generation large aperture European Solar Telescope (EST) in the Canaries (and FP 7 proposal for a design study has already been submitted). - to promote international collaboration in the areas of instrument and facility development of solar research in Europe. - to facilitate efforts of its members to participate in solar facilities outside Europe, such as the ATST. Membership - scientific organizations or institutes which are established in a European country and who HAVE A MANDATE TO REPRESENT THE SOLAR PHYSICS COMMUNITIES OF THEIR COUNTRIES. Currently, all members are individual scientific institutions. Observers - EAST may accord observer status to organizations that wish to follow the work of EAST. They may participate in discussions unless otherwise decided, but may not participate in decisions. Budget - the annual budget for EAST is established from contributions from its members and third party funds. The UK currently holds observer status, but we have been asked to clarify whether we which wish to upgrade this to full membership by 11 June 2007. There is clearly an over-arching question of how the UK solar community views its long term priorities and the resources available to fulfill those, but one point to bear in mind is that STFC is one of the members of ASTRONET, which was created by a group of European funding agencies in order to establish a comprehensive long-term planning for the development of European astronomy. The recent draft of the ASTRONET science vision document strongly endorses a large aperture European solar telescope as part of the requirements to fulfill the science vision in this area (http://www.astronet-eu.org/), and at a recent meeting of the solar system science strategy panel it was clear that it is likely to become a very high priority in the ASTRONET strategy, which will in turn feed into the ESFRI roadmap (http://cordis.europa.eu/esfri/roadmap.htm). On this basis it would seem prudent to remain inside the fold at this time, but we can only do that if we can legitimately say that the majority of the UK solar community supports the idea. Unfortunately very few people have expressed an opinion so far one way or the other. I believe that we could probably plead poverty for one year in terms of a budgetary contribution but probably not beyond that. Please could you take the time to comment (if you have not already done so) on whether you agree to: The UK's involvement in EAST in some form, and if yes whether that should be: a) Full membership of EAST b) Observer status We need to reply before 11 June. best wishes, Sarah Matthews, Richard Harrison & Mihalis Mathioudakis **************************************** From: Sebastian Jimenez-Reyes HELAS website A new website of interest to the helio- and asteroseismology community is now accessible at www.helas-eu.org. This web-based portal has been developed in the framework of the European Helio- and Asteroseismology Network 'HELAS', which is funded as a Co-ordination Action by the European Commission's (EC) in its Sixth Framework Programme. The HELAS IT platform is opened now in its ?-version. It will become fully operational soon, offering useful tools to the community, e.g. - scientific forum - news and publications - community directory - information on meetings and workshops - access to observational and modelling data - scientific software tools - outreach and educational material - general information on the HELAS activities and how to apply for support. The prime objective of this network is to increase co-ordination among those European institutions and organisations that support Europe's research groups in helio- and asteroseismology. In addition, the relationship reinforcement of them with other non-EU institutes is also foreseen. We would like to encourage you and your colleagues to register, to participate actively in the further development of the HELAS website, and to make full use of the tools and material offered on the new 'gate of reference' for helio- and asteroseismology. Enjoy a new way of coordination and exchange between you and your colleagues. HELAS Forum Team helas@iac.es http://www.helas-eu.org **************************************** From: Gina Starr Scientist Phil Judge of the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has just released the HAO Spectral Diagnostic Package For Emitted Radiation (HAOS-DIPER) HAOS-DIPER is an IDL-based database and software system for working with data from atoms and atomic ions. HAOS-DIPER grew out of a need to work with and manipulate data for neutral atoms and atomic ions to understand radiation emitted by some space plasmas, notably the solar atmosphere and stellar atmospheres. An early version was described by Judge and Meisner (1994). Since then, other packages have become available which substantively perform many of the tasks originally intended for HAOS-DIPER. These include CHIANTI (Dere et al. 1997, Landi et al. 2006, and references therein), and ADAS (Summers 2003, Badnell et al. 2003). However, HAOS-DIPER has some properties which together make it unique: * It is based upon the fast, flexible database software system written by D. Lindler for IDL, and takes some advantage of this system. * It works with quantum numbers for atomic levels, enabling it to perform tasks otherwise difficult or very tedious, including a variety of data checks, calculations based upon the atomic numbers, and searching and manipulating data based upon these quantum numbers. * In principle, HAOS-DIPER can handle conditions from LTE to coronal-like conditions, in a manner controlled by one system variable !REGIME. * There is some capability for estimating data for which no accurate parameters are available, and for accounting for the effects of missing atomic levels. The program can be downloaded from http://www.hao.ucar.edu/modeling/haos-diper/ ********************************************************************** * * * Conferences, Workshops, Meetings * * * *********************************************************************** From: Paola Solini Course on "Turbulence and Waves in Space Plasmas" The International School of Space Science (Consorzio Interuniversitario per la Fisica Spaziale), in cooperation with the Consorzio Area di Ricerca in Astrogeofisica, have organized a course on 'Turbulence and Waves in Space Plasmas', to be held in L'Aquila, Italy, September 09-14, 2007. This School will offer the opportunity to learn the main concepts at the basis of propagation of waves and generation/evolution of MHD turbulence in space plasmas and to compare theoretical model predictions with experimental observations. These topics will be treated first in interplanetary space and then within the magnetospheric environment. The role that turbulence plays in several aspects of solar wind behaviour such as generation, heating, high-energy particles acceleration, cosmic rays propagation and solar wind-magnetosphere coupling will be particularly highlighted. Magnetospheric MHD waves will be treated with special attention to: generation and propagation mechanisms, cavity and field line resonances, nonlinear effects, interaction with energetic particles, magnetospheric diagnostic capabilities. Specific sessions will allow students to present their own scientific results with the possibility to discuss and exchange ideas directly with leading scientists. For further information visit http://www.cifs-isss.org/ or send an e-mail to ssc@aquila.infn.it. **************************************** From: Melanie Illsley We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for Geant4 users to our next workshop, the 12th Geant4 Collaboration Workshop Hebden Bridge Thursday 13th to Wednesday 19th September 2007 The user part of the workshop is 13th-16th September. This will include user presentations, Geant4 status reports, discussions, a technical forum meeting, tutorials and Sunday excursion. Also, the venue is available for special interest group meetings on the day immediately before the workshop - contact workshop support for further information. Please register as soon as possible, to enable the organisers to prepare for the event. You will find information about the meeting, Location, accommodation and fees at the workshop web site: http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=10311 Accommodation is available nearby - see under "Accommodation" on the above web site, at hotels, guest houses and B&Bs (Bed and Breakfast). Another option, on-site accommodation, has the advantage of being great value at £20 per person per night, including breakfast, but involves sharing. If you wish to nominate colleagues with whom you are willing to share, please indicate this on the registration form. Note that it will be operated on a first come first serve basis. The workshop is organised by the University of Manchester School of Physics and Astronomy (and will be held at Hebden House Conference Centre, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire) Best regards, John Apostolakis John Allison Geant4 Workshop 2007 Local organising commitee ------------------------- John Allison John.Allison@manchester.ac.uk David Shipley david.shipley@npl.co.uk Henrique Araujo H.Araujo@imperial.ac.uk Fan Lei falei@space.qinetiq.com Peter Truscott prtruscott@space.qinetiq.com Ben Morgan Ben.Morgan@warwick.ac.uk **************************************** From: Louise Harra The first Hinode science meeting will take place in Dublin from 20th-24th August 2004. The meeting website is at http://msslxr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk:8080/SolarB/Announce.jsp. The Hinode data will be fully open on the 27th May. In the meantime anyone can use some sample data to prepare for their science goals. Details are on: http://hinode.nao.ac.jp/hinode_sample_e.shtml. The deadline for registration and abstracts is the 30th June. The agenda will begin by some instrument overview talks. We are pleased to announce the following invited speakers: Overview of the Hinode mission (Saku Tsuneta) Overview of SOT performance (Kiyoshi Ichimoto) Overview of XRT performance (Ed DeLuca) Overview of EIS performance (Hirohisa Hara) Magnetic Fields of the Quiet Sun: a new quantitative perspective from Hinode (Bruce Lites) The New View of Coronal Dynamics: tangled loops, reconnection jets and extended magnetic influence: (Leon Golub) A new view: active regions (Taro Sakao) A new view: flares and CMEs (Louise Harra) The STEREO view (Simon Plunkett) We have plenty of room, and strongly encourage, contributed talks - our sessions will be split into quiet Sun, active region and flares/CMEs. We hope to see you there! Since this is an international meeting, PPARC students can apply to PPARC for funding to attend this meeting. Regards, Louise Harra Peter Gallagher Gerry Doyle **************************************** From: Alexander Kosovichev The traditional summer workshop on Time-Distance Helioseismology and Acoustic Holography will be held on August 6-9, 2007, at Stanford, CA. The main goal of the workshop is to discuss the recent progress in the time-distance and holography techniques, new results, perspectives and plans for analysis of SDO/HMI, SOHO/MDI, Hinode/SOT, and GONG data. Among the topics for discussion are: theoretical and empirical models of sensitivity kernels; testing measurements and inversion techniques with realistic numerical simulations and wave propagation models; wave interaction with magnetic fields; effects of non-uniform excitation and damping; feature kernels and diagnostics of small-scale structures; high-frequency waves and atmospheric seismology; sunquake seismology; solar-cycle effects; large-scale and meridional flows; structure and dynamics of active regions; diagnostics of emerging magnetic flux; tachocline and far-side imaging; calibration of Doppler measurements; initial helioseismology results from Hinode; status and plans of data analysis software development for the HMI data analysis pipeline. The workshop will take place in the conference room (102/103) in the new Astrophysics Building at Stanford. The directions and hotel information are available at http://soi.stanford.edu/general/meetings/public_html/visitor.html. If you are interested in participation, please, contact: Alexander Kosovichev, e-mail: AKosovichev@solar.stanford.edu tel.+1-650-723-7667 **************************************** From: Daniel Reese Registration to attend the "Low degree and low frequency modes" HELAS NA3-2 workshop (18-21 September 2007, at La Palma) is now open: http://www.helas-eu.org/workshops/index.php?option=com_facileforms&Itemid=52 The aim of this workshop is to look at what is new in the low frequency or low degree mode range both from an observational/instrumental point of view as well as from a methodological one. Topics include the extraction of mode-parameters for low degree modes, the connections between low and medium-l modes and how fitting methods can be extended from one domain to the other, the search for g-modes in the sun, the type of measurements we want from future instruments and the link between helio- and asteroseismology. General information concerning the workshop can be found at: http://www.helas-eu.org/workshops/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=30 IMPORTANT: The number of participants is limited to 40. Book early to ensure your participation. Those who register after this limit has been reached will be placed on a waiting list. There is no registration fee. A limited number of travel and accommodation grants are available, based on need, and can be requested during registration. For further inquiries, please contact Daniel Reese (ap6helas@sheffield.ac.uk). **************************************** From: SOHO-20 SOHO 20 - Transient Events on the Sun and in the Heliosphere Ghent, Belgium August 27-31 2007 web: www.soho20.org email: soho20@sidc.be venue: "Het Pand", downtown Ghent Registration for the SOHO20 meeting in Ghent, Belgium, is open and members of the community are invited to take advantage of the reduced registration fee offered ahead of the early registration deadline. We ask you to note particularly the deadline by which all requests for financial support must be received. The updated conference website includes details of the scientific program and invited speakers, and lists important dates and deadlines. The meeting will focus on the following sessions: - Transients and dynamics in the lower solar atmosphere - CMEs: Why and how do they erupt? - Heliospheric transients - Solar and Heliospheric science in the next decade and beyond (incl. panel discussion) Invited talks will be given by David Alexander, Tahar Amari, Frederic Auchere, David Berghmans, Pascal Demoulin, Peter Gallagher, Hugh Hudson, Emilia Huttunen, Jack Ireland, Farzad Kamalabadi, Jon Linker, Dean Pesnell, Bojan Vrsnak, plus others to be confirmed. Bernhard Fleck will moderate the panel discussion. The following dates and deadlines should be noted: - June 13th 2007: deadline for requests for financial support - June 22nd 2007: deadline for early registration and abstract submission (new date!) - June 25th 2007: deadline for guaranteed hotel room reservation at reduced rates - July 13th 2007: deadline for late registration - Sept. 8th 2007: deadline for receipt of submitted papers Please note that you will only be fully registered once the registration fee has been paid, and prompt payment is much appreciated since it greatly eases the meeting administration. Submissions to the SOHO20 proceedings will be refereed and will appear as a special issue of Annales Geophysicae. Details regarding the submission of papers are to be found on the website. Final details of the formats of both oral and poster presentations will also appear shortly. We look forward to your submissions, and to greeting you in Ghent! On behalf of the SOC and LOC, *********************************************************************** * * * Positions Vacant * * * *********************************************************************** From: Gary Glatzmaier POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER: MHD simulations of stellar and planetary interiors. We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher interested in working with Pascale Garaud, Nic Brummell and Gary Glatzmaier (at the University of California, Santa Cruz) on numerical simulations of convection and magnetohydrodynamics in the deep interiors of the sun and giant planets. Candidates should have a PhD in the physical sciences or applied mathematics and experience with computer simulations. We have several computer codes and access to an 800-core cluster on Campus dedicated to astrophysics and planetary science. The position is available for two years, with a possible third year. Please send a statement of interest and c.v., including a list of publications, to Gary A Glatzmaier, Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA or email to glatz@es.ucsc.edu. ************************************* From: Mihalis Mathioudakis Temporary Lecturer in Astrophysics Ref: 07/K671A School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast This temporary post is available immediately for a period of 1 year within the School of Mathematics and Physics. The purpose of the post is to carry out research programmes within the Astrophysics Research Centre (ARC), and undergraduate and postgraduate teaching within the School. In addition, the lecturer will carry out administrative duties as appropriate, and contribute to outreach and recruitment activities. Applicants must have the following: a PhD in astrophysics or a related subject; ability to teach at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in astrophysics and physics; a strong research record in astrophysics programmes of relevance to ARC, including an excellent publication record in astrophysical journals, commensurate with experience; evidence of an independent research programme. Further criteria will be listed in the further particulars of the post. Details of the work undertaken within the Astrophysics Research Centre may be found on our website at: http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/ An application pack for the post, containing further details of the essential and desirable criteria, with post reference 07/K671A, is available from our website: http://www.qub.ac.uk/jobs Informal enquiries concerning the post may be made to Dr Don Pollacco, email: D.Pollacco@qub.ac.uk. ************************************* From: John Brown UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW Department of Physics and Astronomy JOB TITLE: Lecturer SALARY: GBP 25,889 - 31,840 REF: 13283/HRO/A1 You will contribute to and enhance research in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group (www.astro.gla.ac.uk) within the department. The group has interests in solar/stellar physics, plasma physics, cosmology, and radio astronomy. You will also help teach the undergraduate curriculum. The position will be for a fixed term of 3 years, commencing August 1 2007 or as soon therafter as possible. For an application pack please see our website at www.gla.ac.uk or write quoting Ref: 13283/HRO/A1 to the Recruitment Section, Personnel Services, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ. Informal enquiries to Prof. John C. Brown, Astronomer Royal for Scotland john@astro.gla.ac.uk Closing date: 8 June 2007 ************************************* From: Paul Cally Dear colleagues, I am writing to bring to your attention a very attractive fellowship scheme at Monash University. The Monash Fellowships are a 5-yr appointment with additional research funding of Aus$50k per annum attached. Details may be found at http://www.monash.edu.au/research/academics/funding/information/monash/monash-fellowships.html Applications close on July 31. Applicants should normally have not less than two and not more than eight years of post-doctoral experience as at 1 September 2007, calculated from the date of submission of PhD thesis. I would be grateful if you could bring this to the attention of any suitable candidates, and ask them to contact me directly. Female applicants may also be interested in the Faculty of Science "Margaret Clayton" Women in Research Fellowship, with closing date around the same time. This is a 3-yr fellowship, but without the additional research funding. Regards Paul Cally *********************************************************************** * * * Editors' Notes * * * *********************************************************************** The UK Solar Physics Newsletters will be distributed on a monthly basis, with occasional extra issues for breaking news. Please note, the UK Solar Physics Web is now back, at http://www.uksolphys.org/ Submissions to the UK Solar Physics Newsletters should be e-mailed to Lyndsay Fletcher (copied to Duncan Mackay). Any suggestions and ideas are welcome. Please keep meeting and workshop announcements to a reasonable length of typed text with a max of 72 characters per line, with a Web address for further information. Also notify Lyndsay of any email address changes. You may always unsubscribe from this list by sending an email to either of the editors with the words 'UKSP-unsubscribe' in the subject line. The Editors http://www.uksolphys.org *********************************************************************** *Lyndsay Fletcher Duncan Mackay * *Dept. of Physics and Astronomy School of Mathematics & Statistics* *The Kelvin Building North Haugh * *University of Glasgow University of St Andrews * *Glasgow G12 8QQ St Andrews, KY16 9SS * *Tel.: +44-(0)141-330 5311 Tel: +44-(0)1334 463760 * *Fax : +44-(0)141-330 5183 Fax: +44-(0)1334 463748 * *Email: lyndsay@astro.gla.ac.uk Email: duncan@mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk* *www.astro.gla.ac.uk/users/lyndsay www-solar.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~duncan* *********************************************************************** [ Part 2: "Attached Text" ] _______________________________________________ uksp mailing list uksp@physics.gla.ac.uk http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/uksp