Glasgow, Scotland
June 4-6, 2003

Organisers
----------
LOC John Brown (Chair), Eduard Kontar (Secy) , Lyndsay Fletcher, Alec
MacKinnon,
+ for SOC Gordon Emslie, Hugh Hudson, Michele Piana

Location/facilities
-------------------
The meeting will be held in the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Kelvin
Building, University of Glasgow  [founded 1451 -  past Professors include
Alexander Wilson (Wilson Effect), James Watt,  Lord Kelvin, and Peter
Sweet.

Ample internet access will be available via our terminals and for
participants' laptops though the main aim is personal scientific
interaction.

The city of Glasgow offers excellent eating, drinking, art, music, sport
and science facilities (including the UK's best Planetarium which opened
Feb 2002) + outings to the nearby highlands, castles etc . May/June
offers very long daylight hours (> 56 degrees North), statistically the best
prospects of fine weather, and is pre-midge season. There will be a sunrise
annular solar eclipse at 3.45 a.m. on May 31 2003 in the Northern
Mainland/Islands
- an area of megalitihic stone circles and other
(astro-)archaeological artefacts
from > 4000 yrs ago. For those with astro-education interests there will
be a meeting of the British Association of Planetarians (BAP) in Orkney
around the time of the eclipse. Orkney and Shetland can be reached by
ship from the north or by plane from Glasgow  - flights are pricey unless
you book early. The eclipse is also visible from the north mainland which
is a drive of at least 250 miles, some of it on windy and/or small though
beautiful roads - taking you past Loch Ness -  NESSI's swimming pool
  about 150 miles from Glasgow but she may be away for the eclipse then.

(NOTE - We will general advice in response to travel queries but
cannot get involved
in bookings etc.)

Glasgow Travel and Accommodation
--------------------------------
The city airport is served by several transatlantic carriers (at least
American, Continental and British) and several direct European
connections while nearby Prestwick supports various transatlantic charter
companies. There are fast and frequent  direct air, rail, and coach
services to London, Manchester and other UK destinations. Early June
precedes the main holiday and conference season, though some student dorm
room will have been vacated  so accommodation should be fairly readily
available in all price ranges.  A list of places and booking information,
plus local travel and tourism information, will be emailed to all
attendees.

Meeting Arrangements
--------------------
The meeting will focus on key topics/problems related to the ultimate aim
of RHESSI - i.e. how far can we go in quantitative determination
(inference) of the (spectral, space, time) distribution functions of
energetic flare electrons and ions from Hard X-Ray,  gamma-ray, and other
data, starting from raw observations. Pure theory, model fitting, flare phases
and such data morphology, are discouraged except where they bear on the
diagnostic approach. The following team structure is suggested,  with
examples of some issues. Considerable cross team flux, short of chaos,
will be encouraged. Teams 1 and 2 may need to have subgroups on
continuum and line issues

Key Topics:

1. FROM RAW DATA TO PHOTON DISTRIBUTIONS
- Instrumental calibration and background effects.
- Line and continuum issues
- Images, spectra and spectral images, bearing in mind temporal
   variation/modulation
- Direct use of modulation data as opposed to reconstructions

2. FROM PHOTONS TO RADIATION SOURCE STRUCTURE
- Photon spectra and images -> radiation source (volume or line of sight
   integrated) particle distributions.
- Inversion and forward fitting approaches.
- Effects of method and cross section  and albedo.

3. FROM RADIATION SOURCE DISTRIBUTIONS TO PARTICLE PROPAGATION AND
ACCELERATION PHYSICS
- Particle energy loss, pitch angle scattering and dispersion
- Acceleration mechanisms
- Data on occulted pure coronal ("acceleration") sources

4. USE OF  CO-ORDINATED DATA SETS
- Constraints on RHESSI HXR/gamma data interpretation from RHESSI SXR data
   and from simultaneous data at other wavelengths

Attendance
----------
Attendance will be restricted to around 25-35 to allow ample time for
focussed discussion, rather than spending the meeting entirely on
presentations. All interested individuals should therefore register
their interest, before March 1, by email to eduard@astro.gla.ac.uk by
completing, cutting, and pasting the form below. A final selection of
attendees, and decisions on Team Leaders  will be made by mid-March
on the basis of the relevance of the contributions offered and overall meeting
balance
 

JC Brown

For LOC 14/01/03
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NAME ________________________

Email __________________________

I am interested in the Scottish RHESSI NESSI Meeting June 2003: (yes/no)

My active contribution to the specific topic are of this meeting would be:
as follows (Brief Topic Title + summary in not more than 200 words)
which I see as fitting best in Team .....
 
 
 

If accepted, the likelihood of my being able to attend is:

So that we can refer you to sources of relevant information please
indicate
 

I am interested in making an eclipse trip       (yes/no)
I am interested in the BAP meeting              (yes/no)
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