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...

Cze�� Boud

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 17:44:37 +0200 (CEST) From: XXI Texas Symposium texaflor@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@arcetri.astro.it fax ++ 39 055 220039