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February 2011

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[Hyperspace-list] Hyperspace Bulletin for February 2011
by hyperspace＠aei.mpg.de 02 Feb '11

02 Feb '11

################################################################# Table of Contents ################################################################# 1. Conferences 1.1 6th Gulf Coast Gravity Meeting 1.2 IRAP PhD and Erasmus Mundus Workshop: From Nuclei to White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars 1.3 3rd Galileo-Xu Guangqi Meeting 1.4 Black Holes VIII: Theory & Mathematical Aspects 1.5 NPPD 2011 1.6 SIGRAV Graduate School "Analogue Gravity" 1.7 Neutron Stars and Gravitational Waves: The Next Steps toward Detection 1.8 LOOPS 11: “Celebrating 25 years of Loop Quantum Gravity” 1.9 Advances and Challenges in Computational General Relativity 1.10 Iberian Gravitational-Wave Meeting 2011 1.11 Workshop and School on Higher Gauge Theory, TQFT and Quantum Gravity 2. Jobs 2.1 Postdoctoral position in Gravitational Theory at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena 2.2 9 PhD positions in Relativistic Astrophysics - International Relativistic Astrophysics PhD Program 2.3 Postdoctoral position in Quantum Measurement and Spacetime Structure at Tata Institute 2.4 Postdoctoral Position in String Cosmology at Covilhã / Lisbon 2.5 Postdoctoral position in General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics at Lisbon 3. News 3.1 2011 Awards for Essays on Gravitation 3.2 New book by John D Barrow: "The Book of Universes" 3.3 Living Reviews in Relativity: "Gravitational Waves from Gravitational Collapse" (update) ================================================================= 1. Conferences ================================================================= 1.1 6th Gulf Coast Gravity Meeting ---------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/26/6th-gulf-coast-gravity-meeting/ Starting Sun, May 15, 2011 to Mon, May 16, 2011 Location: Boca Raton, FL, USA The 6th Gulf Coast Gravity Meeting will be held May 15-16 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. The meeting will cover all aspects of gravitational physics, including numerical, experimental, classical and quantum gravity. This is an informal regional meeting, and most participants will be from the Gulf Coast area of the United States, but all outside of this region who wish to attend are more than welcome. The registration simply consists in sending an email to <engle[AT]physics.fau.edu>, with a title and short abstract if it is desired to give a talk, preferably by May 8th. Hotel reservations can be made at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Boca Raton (561-417-8585), where a block of rooms has been reserved (refer to 6th Gulf Coast Gravity Meeting). The room block will be released on April 30th. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.2 IRAP PhD and Erasmus Mundus Workshop: From Nuclei to White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/26/irap-phd-and-erasmus-mundus-worksho… Starting Sun, Apr 03, 2011 to Sat, Apr 09, 2011 Location: Les Houches, France Additional Information: http://astro-les-houches.in2p3.fr/ The meeting is directed by David Arnett and Remo Ruffini within the ERASMUS MUNDUS activities promoted by ICRANet within the International Relativistic Astrophysics PhD Program (IRAP PhD). Lectures will be presented by leading physicists and astrophysicists working in the interface of nuclear physics, white dwarfs, neutron star physics and black holes physics. Special attention is being devoted to the new scenarios presented by the observations of gamma ray bursts and supernovae. The Proceedings of the workshop will be published by World Scientific Publishing. Lecturers: Arnett David Casey Meakin (TBC) Chardonnet Pascal Della Valle Massimo Fuller George (TBC) Izzo Luca Lattimer Jim Mezzacappa Anthony (TBC) Nadyozhin Dmitrij K. Ott Christian Pethick Chris (TBC) Psaltis Dimitrios (TBC) Rueda Jorge A. Ruffini Remo Vereshchagin Gregory Xue She-Sheng +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.3 3rd Galileo-Xu Guangqi Meeting ---------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/26/3rd-galileo-xu-guangqi-meeting/ Starting Wed, Oct 12, 2011 to Sun, Oct 16, 2011 Location: Beijing, China Additional Information: http://www.icranet.org The 3rd Galileo-XuGuangqi international conference follows the 1st and the 2nd meeting of this series held on October 2009 in Shanghai – China (http://www.icranet.org/galileo-xuguangqi) and on July 2010 in Ventimiglia - Italy and Nice – France (http://www.icranet.org/2nd_galileo-xuguangqi/). The goal is to create once a year a forum for strategic exchanges between eastern and western science at the highest level dealing with relativistic astrophysics and related fundamental theoretical, experimental and observational fields. The aim is to enlarge the audience from the one strictly Chinese and Italian to one embracing European and western scientific interests and the eastern ones. Therefore a broader participation from Korea and Taiwan is encouraged, as well as a participation of scientists from Europe and the Americas. We are happy to confirm that the Proceedings of the 1st Galileo-XuGuangqi are in print and we are also assembling the ones of the second meeting. The 3rd Galileo - XuGuanqi meeting will be held on October 12-17, 2011. It represents a collaboration between ICRANet, University of Roma “Sapienza”, University of Nice “Sophia Antipolis”, Stockholm University, Free University of Berlin, ICRA, ENEA, INFN, ICTP, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, the National Astronomical Observatory (Beijing), the Institutes of High Energy Physics, the Institute of Theoretical Physics, the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Tsinghua University, the Peking University, the Beijing Normal University, the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Beijing Planetarium. We have begun to work on the meeting with the local organizing committee. We have also begun to work on the scientific program with the International Organizing and the Scientific Advisory Committees. The topics discussed in the conference will be: Cosmology, GRB supernovae, Cosmic Rays, Neutrinos, AGN, High-Energy Astrophysics, General relativity, Gravitational Waves, Black Holes. The sessions will be divided in morning plenary sessions for invited speakers and the afternoon parallel sessions for contributions; posters session will be arranged as well. The contributions of the conference will be published on "International Journal of Modern Physics D (IJMPD)". Interested scientists and students can register themselves and submit title and abstract of their intended contributions on the webpage http://www.icranet.org The registration fee for non-Chinese participants is USD 300 (students USD 150) before the deadline, 30th August, 2011. After the deadline, it is USD 400 (students USD 200). For Chinese participants (including participants from Taiwan) it is Yan 800 (students Yan 400) before the deadline; Yan 1200 (students Yan 600) after deadline. The registration fee will include 5 lunches, coffee breaks and the proceedings publication. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.4 Black Holes VIII: Theory & Mathematical Aspects --------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/21/black-holes-viii-theory-mathematica… Starting Tue, May 10, 2011 to Sat, May 14, 2011 Location: Niagara Falls, ON, Canada Additional Information: http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~rbmann/home.html Black Holes VIII -- Theory & Mathematical Aspects is the 8th in a series of a research-related conferences the focus on the latest advances in the theoretical and mathematical and (increasingly) astrophysical aspects of black hole physics. This is the 8th conference in the series, which has traditionally alternated between eastern and western locations. Black Holes VIII will be held next May 2011 in Niagara Falls, a location within reach of Pearson airport, Buffalo airport USA, and is easily accessible from both Canada and the United States. The setting provides an interesting natural venue for discussion while at the same time being close to all major services. Particular attention at this meeting will be paid to problems in current research, such as exact black hole solutions of Einstein's equations in higher and lower dimensions, the search for and properties of astrophysical black holes, uniqueness theorems, black hole thermodynamics, loop-quantum gravity and string-theoretic approaches to black hole physics, new aspects of gauge-gravity duality, numerical studies of black hole collisions, critical gravitational collapse. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are particularly welcome. In addition to a series of invited presentations, there will be opportunities for a limited number of contributed talks. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.5 NPPD 2011 ------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/21/nppd-2011/ Starting Mon, Apr 04, 2011 to Thu, Apr 07, 2011 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Additional Information: http://nppd.iopconfs.org Five Institute of Physics subject groups will be holding their annual conferences jointly under the umbrella of the Nuclear and Particle Physics Divisional Conference in 2011. The Nuclear Physics, High Energy Particle Physics, Gravitational Physics, Astroparticle Physics and Particle Accelerators and Beams Groups will meet together at the University of Glasgow from 4 Apr 2011 to 7 Apr 2011. Together, they will form one of the largest, most exciting and broadest ranged NPP divisional conferences ever held. Over the course of the four days, there will be joint plenary sessions covering topics of broad interest to all delegates, including a number of topics in experimental and theoretical gravity research. It will be an excellent opportunity to explore the interface between gravitational physics and the remit of the other four IOP groups represented at the conference. Furthermore, the 11th British Gravity (BritGrav) meeting will be held during the parallel sessions, and will provide opportunities for research students and young postdocs to present their work. The deadlines for abstract submission and early registration are approaching fast (see below). A provisional programme and instructions for abstract submission, registration and booking accommodation may be found on http://nppd.iopconfs.org/ Deadlines: abstract submission 11 Feb 2011, early registration 25 Feb 2011, registration 18 Mar 2011 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.6 SIGRAV Graduate School "Analogue Gravity" --------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/19/sigrav-graduate-school-analogue-gra… Starting Mon, May 16, 2011 to Sat, May 21, 2011 Location: Como, Italy Additional Information: http://www.centrovolta.it/sigrav2011/ SIGRAV GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CONTEMPORARY RELATIVITY AND GRAVITATIONAL PHYISCS The Schools are directed to PH.D. students and young Post-Docs in Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics who are interested in widening their knowledge in the fields of Physical Cosmology, Relativistic Astrophysics, General Relativity, Experimental Gravity and the Modern Quantum Theories of Gravitation. The Schools wish to introduce students to current problems, highlighting their importance and potential scientific impact. Lecturers will report on theoretical, observational and experimental aspects of the research, reviewing latest achievements in the field. IX edition Analogue Gravity Villa Olmo, Como, Italy, 16-21 May 2011 PROGRAM Our knowledge of the world that surrounds us is characterized by a strong division into sectors, and Physics is no exception. Yet, remarkably, this knowledge is also streaked by "fils rouges" that connect apparently unrelated phenomena. This allows us to understand and study the physics of one area using "analogue" systems that are connected by a unifying physical concept. Analogue gravity is the study of certain aspects of gravitational interactions, most notably Hawking radiation emitted from black holes, as predicted more than 35 years ago by S. Hawking. Since the first studies initiated by W. Unruh in the early eighties, black hole and horizon analogues have been identified in a number of systems ranging from flowing fluids to flowing dielectrics. The field has made great progress in the past years and the first experimental results are now maturing. The school will give a general overview of the field of Analogue Gravity, of its main and most recent achievements and wi ll propose new challenges and open questions that are looking for answers. Courses • Survey of analogue space-times (4 hours) Matt Visser, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand • Black holes and Hawking radiation (4 hours) Theodore Jacobson, University of Maryland, USA • Fundamental quantum effects in the laboratory? (3 hours) Ralf Schützhold, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany • Dumb holes - what are they, how do they work (3 hours) William Unruh, University of British Colombia, Canada • Analogue gravity, Hawking radiation and black hole lasers in Bose-Einstein condensates (3 hours) Renaud Parentani, Université Paris-Sud 11, France • Analogue gravity models in dielectrics (3 hours) Ulf Leonhardt, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK Special lectures • Astrophysical black holes: evidence of an horizon? (2 hours) Monica Colpi, Università di Milano Bicocca, Italy • Water wave analogues of black holes (2 hours) Germain Rousseaux, CNRS, Université de Nice, France • Topology, thermodynamics and dynamics of quantum vacuum in effective theory (2 hours) Grigori Volovik, Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Finland • Quantum correlations of density fluctuations: from the radius of stars to the analogue Hawking radiation (2 hours) Iacopo Carusotto, Università di Trento, Italy • Photon emission by refractive index perturbations in dielectrics (2 hours) Daniele Faccio, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK • Lorentz breaking EFT and observational tests (2 hours) Stefano Liberati, SISSA, Trieste, Italy • Hawking's thermal hypothesis verified in an analogue gravity system (1 hour) Silke Weinfurtner, SISSA, Trieste, Italy Scientific and Organizing Committee: Francesco Belgiorno (Polytechnic of Milan), Sergio Luigi Cacciatori (Insubria, Como), Daniele Faccio (Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh), Vittorio Gorini (Insubria, Como), Stefano Liberati (SISSA, Trieste), Ugo Moschella (Insubria, Como) SIGRAV Council: Massimo Bassan (Rome Tor Vergata), Roberto Cianci (Genoa), Monica Colpi (Milan Bicocca), Mauro Francaviglia (Turin), Adalberto Giazotto (Pisa), Luca Lusanna (Florence), Sabino Matarrese (Padua), Augusto Sagnotti (SNS, Pisa), Gaetano Vilasi (Salerno) There will be room for short communications by the participants. Those who want to submit a communication proposal should send a short abstract to grschool[AT]centrovolta.it Proponents will be informed about acceptance of their contribution in due time. REGISTRATION Participants will be accommodated in hotels near Villa Olmo and will be requested to pay an inclusive fee of EURO 700 covering accommodation (in rooms to be shared with other participants), breakfast and lunch for the duration of the school. Alternatively, participants may arrange for their own accommodation and are requested to pay only the registration fee of EURO 320, also covering lunch (the school secretary provides assistance for hotel reservation through the accommodation form available at http://www.centrovolta.it/sigrav2011/ ). Accommodation is not guaranteed after April 8th 2011. Some support to cover local expenses may be available; those who need support should mention it in their registration and send a short curriculum vitae and a summary of current research (maximum two pages A4). Please note that no support to cover travel expenses will be available. Registration forms are available on the web page http://www.centrovolta.it/sigrav2011/ or at grschool[AT]centrovolta.it For information also contact directly the Organizing Secretariat at Centro A.Volta: grschool[AT]centrovolta.it or mariagiovanna.falasconi[AT]centrovolta.it, tel. +39 031 579814, fax +39 031 573395 Further information about the School (course abstracts, schedule of lectures, etc.) is also available at the web page http://www.centrovolta.it/sigrav2011/ SPONSORS SIGRAV (Italian Society for Gravitational Physics). INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics). University of Insubria. Department of Physics and Mathematics of the University of Insubria at Como. SISSA, Trieste. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.7 Neutron Stars and Gravitational Waves: The Next Steps toward Detection -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/18/neutron-stars-and-gravitational-wav… Starting Sun, May 22, 2011 to Sun, May 22, 2011 Location: Boston, USA Additional Information: https://www.lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/ligovirgo/cw/public/NS/May11/ The joint Continuous Waves Search Group of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration will bring together experts in the neutron star, pulsar and gravitational wave communities to discuss prospects for gravitational wave detection from (or via) spinning compact objects. The workshop's primary focus is how to improve chances for success in detecting gravitational waves emitted by neutron stars, but there will also be presentations on detection of low-frequency gravitational waves by way of pulsar timing arrays and on other fundamental gravity tests using pulsars. Presentations are by invitation, but other interested astronomers and physicists are most welcome to attend and join the discussions. The workshop will be held May 22, 2011 in Boston as part of the summer AAS meeting. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.8 LOOPS 11: “Celebrating 25 years of Loop Quantum Gravity” ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/17/loops-11-%e2%80%9ccelebrating-25-ye… Starting Mon, May 23, 2011 to Sat, May 28, 2011 Location: Madrid, Spain Additional Information: http://www.iem.csic.es/loops11/ 2nd announcement The LOOPS 11 conference will take place at the main campus of the CSIC in Madrid (SPAIN) in May 23-28, 2011. This edition will commemorate the twenty fifth anniversary of the publication by Abhay Ashtekar of the landmark paper on the "new variables" that sparked the loop quantum gravity (LQG) revolution. In addition to the expected participation of LQG researchers, we would like to invite the quantum gravity community at large to be present in this occasion as this would provide a very fruitful exchange of ideas with researchers working on other approaches to the quantization of general relativity. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the state of the art in LQG research and review the open issues and problems that must be solved to complete the quantization of general relativity in this framework. However we would like to place special emphasis on the impact of LQG on other approaches to quantum gravity and, reciprocally, on the exploration of ideas originating in other frameworks that could be eventually beneficial for LQG. The main topics that will be covered in the conference will be: • Foundations of Quantum Gravity. • Hamiltonian Loop Quantum Gravity. • Covariant Loop Quantum Gravity and Spinfoams. • Polymer Quantization and Quantum Field Theory. • Loop Quantum Cosmology. • Black Hole Physics. • Dynamical Triangulations and other discrete approaches. • Phenomenology derived from Quantum Gravity. INVITED SPEAKERS • Abhay Ashtekar (Penn State University, USA). • Martin Bojowald (Penn State University, USA). • Alejandro Corichi (UNAM-Morelia, Mexico). • Bianca Dittrich (Albert Einstein Institute, Germany). • Kristina Giesel (Louisiana State University, USA). • Jerzy Lewandowski (Warsaw University, Poland). • Renate Loll (Utrecht University, Netherland). • Yongge Ma (Beijing Normal University, China). • Don Marolf (Univ. California-Santa Barbara, USA). • Daniele Oriti (Albert Einstein Institute, Germany). • Tomasz Pawlowski (University of New Brunswick, Canada). • Alejandro Pérez (Univ. Méditerranée, Marseille, France). • Jorge Pullin (Louisiana State University, USA). • Carlo Rovelli (Univ. Méditerranée, Marseille, France). • Hanno Sahlmann (Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Korea). • Parampreet Singh (Perimeter Institute, Canada). • Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute, Canada). • Thomas Thiemann (Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany). • Madhavan Varadarajan (Raman Research Institute, India). LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE • J. Fernando Barbero González (IEM, CSIC). • Guillermo A. Mena Marugán (IEM, CSIC). • Luis J. Garay Elizondo (Univ. Complutense, Madrid). • Eduardo J. Sánchez Villaseñor (Univ. Carlos III, Madrid). • Iñaky Garay Elizondo (Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg) • Mercedes Martín-Benito (AEI-Potsdam). • Gonzalo Olmo Alba (IFIC, CSIC). • Tomasz Pawlowski (Univ. New Brunswick). • Mikel Fernández Méndez (IEM, CSIC). • Daniel Martín de Blas (IEM, CSIC). • Javier Olmedo Nieto (IEM, CSIC). PRACTICAL INFORMATION Detailed information about registration, fees, abstract submission, accommodation, travel and financial support for participants can be found in the conference web page. http://www.iem.csic.es/loops11/ This web page will be regularly updated with the necessary information. In particular the RELEVANT DATES and deadlines will be posted there. Please note the following deadlines: • Deadline for early registration: 28 February 2011 • Deadline for late registration: 20 March 2011 • Deadline for abstract submission: 20 March 2011 • Deadline for application for financial support: 28 February 2011 • Deadline for reservations to the banquet: 15 April 2011. The registration period has been open for some time already. The fee for late registrations will be 250 €. The final decision concerning financial support will be taken shortly after 28 February 2011. So, those participants that need financial support should apply for it as soon as possible. Accommodation can be booked via the registration form that can be found in the conference web page. The web page also offers a list of cheap hotels, provided for informational purposes only, for those participants that prefer to book their hotel accommodation directly. Finally, pdf files with the conference POSTER are available for download at http://www.iem.csic.es/loops11/ Looking forward to meeting you all, The local organizing committee. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.9 Advances and Challenges in Computational General Relativity --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/11/advances-and-challenges-in-computat… Starting Fri, May 20, 2011 to Sun, May 22, 2011 Location: Providence, RI, USA Additional Information: http://www.dam.brown.edu/ACCGR/ This workshop at Brown University will focus on the application of numerical techniques to binary blackhole simulations, extreme mass ratio inspirals, waveform analysis, and alternative formulations of the Einstein equations. Limited travel support for students and postdocs may be available. Please contact the organizers to inquire. Tentative participants Thomas Baumgarte (Bowdoin College) David Brown (North Carolina State University) Luisa Buchman (California Institute of Technology) Alessandra Buonanno (University of Maryland) Manuela Campanelli (Rochester Institute of Technology) Snorre Christiansen (University of Oslo) Matt Duez (Washington State University) Scott Field (Brown University) Chad Galley (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Mark Hannam (Cardiff) Frank Herrmann (University of Maryland) Mike Holst (University of California San Diego) Jan Hesthaven (Brown University) Scott Hughes (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Gharav Khanna (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) Larry Kidder (Cornell) Pablo Laguna (Georgia Institute of Technology) Stephen Lau (University of New Mexico) Geoffrey Lovelace (Cornell University) Abdul Mroue (Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics) Christian Ott (California Institute of Technology) Harald Pfeiffer (Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics) Richard Price (University of Texas at Brownsville) Mark Scheel (Caltech) Masaru Shibata (Kyoto University) Deirdre Shoemaker (Georgia Institute of Technology) Bela Szilagyi (California Institute of Technology) Nick Taylor (California Institute of Technology) Saul Teukolsky (Cornell University) Manuel Tiglio (University of Maryland) Gerhard Zumbusch (University of Jena) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.10 Iberian Gravitational-Wave Meeting 2011 --------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/02/iberian-gravitational-wave-meeting-… Starting Wed, Feb 02, 2011 to Fri, Feb 04, 2011 Location: Palma, Mallorca Additional Information: http://www.uib.es/depart/dfs/GRG/IberianGW11 Iberian Gravitational-Wave Meeting 2011 February 2-4 2011, University of the Balearic Islands, Mallorca Purpose: The meeting aims to stimulate interaction between researchers who are interested in the field of gravitational wave physics and astronomy in a wider sense, with a focus on research based in or connected to the communities in Spain and Portugal. The style of the meeting will be informal, with plenty of discussion time. Different groups from the Iberian community will be asked to introduce their work in overview presentations, in addition we plan for a number of contributed talks, in particular by younger researchers. Dates and venue: February 2-4 2011, Cas Jai building at the Campus of the University of the Balearic Islands. Registration: There is no registration fee, but please register at the web page http://www.uib.es/depart/dfs/GRG/IberianGW11. Financial support for accommodation of some participants will be possible. In this case accommodation will have to be booked with the conference organizers, and support should be requested when registering. Web page: For further information and registration please see http://www.uib.es/depart/dfs/GRG/IberianGW11 See for updates on the web page. Organizers: The UIB gravitational physics group, with the financial support of: - UIB: Universitat de les Illes Balears, - SEGRE: the Spanish Network on Relativity and Gravitation, - MICINN Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the Consolider-Ingenio Projects: - CPAN: the Spanish National Center for Particle Physics, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics, - MULTIDARK: Multimessenger Approach for Dark Matter Detection. The organizing committee Carles Bona Jaume Carot Sascha Husa Denis Pollney Alicia Sintes +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.11 Workshop and School on Higher Gauge Theory, TQFT and Quantum Gravity ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/02/workshop-and-school-on-higher-gauge… Starting Mon, Feb 07, 2011 to Sun, Feb 13, 2011 Location: Lisbon, Portugal Additional Information: https://sites.google.com/site/hgtqgr Dear colleagues, we are pleased to announce a workshop and school in Lisbon, which we hope you will find of interest. Workshop and School on Higher Gauge Theory, TQFT and Quantum Gravity Lisbon, 10-13 February, 2011 (Workshop), 7-13 February, 2011 (School) https://sites.google.com/site/hgtqgr Provisional list of speakers: Paolo Aschieri (Alessandria) Benjamin Bahr (Cambridge) Aristide Baratin (Paris-Orsay) John Barrett (Nottingham) Rafael Diaz (Bogotá) Bianca Dittrich (Potsdam) Laurent Freidel (Perimeter) John Huerta (California) Branislav Jurco (Prague) Thomas Krajewski (Marseille) Tim Porter (Bangor) Hisham Sati (Maryland) Christopher Schommer-Pries (MIT) Urs Schreiber (Utrecht) Jamie Vicary (Oxford) Konrad Waldorf (Regensburg) Derek Wise (Erlangen) Christoph Wockel (Hamburg) Deadline for registration, proposals for talks/contributions and requests for financial support: 8th January, 2011 On behalf of the organisers, Roger Picken ================================================================= 2. Jobs ================================================================= 2.1 Postdoctoral position in Gravitational Theory at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/31/postdoctoral-position-in-gravitatio… Institution: Jena, Germany Deadline: Thu, Mar 31, 2011 Additional Information: http://wwwsfb.tpi.uni-jena.de A two-years postdoctoral position will be available in the Transregional Collaborative Research Center ``Gravitational Wave Astronomy'' (SFB-TR7) of the Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany, http://wwwsfb.tpi.uni-jena.de/, in the research group of Professor Gerhard Schaefer, beginning July 1, 2011. The research to be performed is on the analytic motion and wave emission of gravitationally interacting compact binaries with spin. Send curriculum vitae and three letters of reference via email to gos[AT]tpi.uni-jena.de . The deadline for application is March 31, 2011. Prof. Dr. G. Schaefer TPI, FSU Jena Max-Wien-Platz 1 07743 Jena Germany +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.2 9 PhD positions in Relativistic Astrophysics - International Relativistic Astrophysics PhD Program ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/28/9-phd-positions-available-with-fund… Deadline: Mon, Feb 28, 2011 Additional Information: http://www.irap-phd.org PhD Admissions and Funding at the International Relativistic Astrophysics PhD Program Consortium (IRAP PhD). The coordinating Institution is the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis located in the French Riviera. The IRAP PhD program intends to create the condition of high level education in Relativistic Astrophysics to create a new generation of leading scientists. Each student admitted to the Ph.D. program will be part of a team inside one of the laboratories of the consortium. They will have the opportunity to work in the laboratories of the consortium and be introduced to new topics in the forefront research by internationally recognized experts. In this way the students will come in direct contact with some of the leading scientists in the world working in the theoretical fields of general relativity, relativistic astrophysics, cosmology and in quantum field theories. They will also have access to observations from the leading observatories in space missions in infrar ed, x and gamma rays wavelengths, as well as to the new generation of large optical telescopes on the ground and ino’s underground observatories. This research is by its nature international and we have identified for this collaborative effort some of the leading European Universities in these fields linked to a vast international collaboration worldwide. The Degree will be a joint one of all the participating Academic institutions. Students strongly motivated in the study of relativistic astrophysics and fundamental physics and mathematics are encouraged to apply. The Partners of the Consortium are: UNIVERSITE DE NICE - SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, France (Co-ordinating institution) - SHANGHAI ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, China - FREE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN, Germany - AEI - POTSDAM, Germany - TARTU OBSERVATORY, Estonia - STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY, Sweden - UNIVERSITY OF FERRARA, Italy - UNIVERSITY OF ROME - LA SAPIENZA, Italy - BRAZILIAN CENTRE FOR PHYSICS RESEARCH, Brazil - OBSERVATORY OF THE CÔTE D'AZUR, France - INDIAN CENTRE FOR SPACE PHYSICS, India - ICRA and ICRANet - UNIVERSITY OF SAVOIE, France Director of the course: Prof. Remo Ruffini PhD students will receive a very competitive salary (gross salary 2800 Euros per month and a 7500 Euro installation grant for non-European students), computing facilities and support for travel, and comprehensive benefits including paid vacation, health care insurance and retirement benefits. To be eligible, applicants should have obtained a Masters degree in astronomy, astrophysics, theoretical physics or a related field. We encourage applications from the best candidates irrespective of nationality, gender or background. Student research will be carried out in the framework of the IRAP PhD Consortium. They will obtain a joint PhD diploma. Consult the web page: http://www.irap-phd.org for details and application instructions. All inquiries should be directed to Prof. Pascal Chardonnet: chardonnet[at]lapp.in2p3.fr. Applicants are requested send a curriculum vitae, an application form, a list of all university courses taken and transcripts of grades obtained, brief statements of research interests and experience, and the contact information for at least two referees. Applications received by the deadline of February 28, 2011 will receive full consideration. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.3 Postdoctoral position in Quantum Measurement and Spacetime Structure at Tata Institute ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/20/post-doctoral-position-in-quantum-m… Institution: Mumbai, India Deadline: Mon, Feb 28, 2011 Additional Information: http://www.tifr.res.in/~tpsingh A two year project post-doctoral position starting 1st May, 2011 and funded by the John Templeton Foundation will be available at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. The area of research is the Quantum Measurement Problem, and the exact title of the project is `The need to reformulate quantum mechanics without classical spacetime, the consequent nonlinearity, and its potential to solve the measurement problem'. The project team members are T. P. Singh (TIFR), Angelo Bassi (Trieste), Kinjalk lochan (TIFR) and Cenalo Vaz (Cincinnati). Interested applicants may please send their CV, list of publications, and names and email addresses of three referees to T. P. Singh by email to tpsingh[AT]tifr.res.in +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.4 Postdoctoral Position in String Cosmology at Covilhã / Lisbon ----------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/17/postdoctoral-position-in-string-cos… Institution: Covilhã / Lisbon, Portugal Deadline: Sun, Feb 20, 2011 Additional Information: http://www.dfis.ubi.pt/~pmoniz The Centro Multidisciplinar de Astrofisica (CENTRA) invites applications for a postdoctoral position in the area of Cosmology, namely string cosmology . The appointment is for three years, subject to funding renewal and satisfactory performance. The call is made within the Welcome II program, which is now open. The complete set of requirements are specified here: http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/contratacaodoutorados/welcome2/ The candidates to the program should send the applications to the CENTRA member email indicated below. If the CENTRA member agrees, CENTRA can support the application to the FCT Welcome II program. Due to the nature of the funding, all candidates must: i) be European and hold a Ph.D. in Physics ii) currently and for the past three years been working outside Europe. A tentative date for the appointment is September 1, 2011 (with possible variations to be agreed upon with the successful applicant). The appointment is for three years. The Centro Multidisciplinar de Astrofsica (CENTRA) is a research centre of the Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST) in Lisbon, a leading research Institution in Portugal. Most CENTRA members are professors at the Physics Department of IST. This post requires collaboration with the CENTRA researchers at UBI (Universidade da Beira Interior). More information on the Center can be found at http://centra.ist.utl.pt/. Research in string cosmology at Centra focuses within an interesting range of directions and from strong ties with groups in other institutions (see, e.g., http://www.dfis.ubi.pt/~pmoniz). The applicant is expected to contribute to the efforts of the CENTRA researchers at UBI and to the training of students. Applicants should send a curriculum vitae, a list of publications, a statement of research interests (with an exciting (!) research proposal) and three letters of recommendation to the following e-mail address: pmoniz[AT]ubi.pt Please use the subject "Welcome II - String Cosmology ". Applications should be received by Feb 20, 2011. Incomplete applications shall not be considered. Screening of applicants will begin on March 1, 2010 and will continue until the position is filled. For more information please contact Paulo Moniz (pmoniz[AT]ubi.pt). These positions are supported by Fundação para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.5 Postdoctoral position in General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics at Lisbon --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/11/postdoctoral-position-in-general-re… Institution: Lisbon, Portugal Deadline: Sun, Feb 20, 2011 Additional Information: http://centra.ist.utl.pt/ Postdoctoral position in General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics (including gravitational waves, black holes, compact objects, and numerical relativity). The Centro Multidisciplinar de Astrofisica (CENTRA) invites applications for a postdoctoral position in the area of General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics, including gravitational wave research, black holes, compact objects and Numerical Relativity. The appointment is for three years, subject to funding renewal and satisfactory performance. Due to the nature of the funding, all candidates must: i) be European and hold a Ph.D. in Physics ii) currently and for the past three years been working outside Europe. A tentative date for the appointment is September 1, 2011 (with possible variations to be agreed upon with the successful applicant). The appointment is for three years, the salary is 60,000 Euros per year or higher, depending on the experience of the researcher. The Centro Multidisciplinar de Astrofsica (CENTRA) is a research centre of the Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST) in Lisbon, a leading research Institution in Portugal. Most CENTRA members are professors at the Physics Department of IST. More information on the Center can be found at http://centra.ist.utl.pt/ The gravity group is currently focusing on phenomenology of black hole physics and numerical relativity, and is composed of Vitor Cardoso and José P. S. Lemos, several postdocs and PhD students. The group has strong ties with gravity groups in other institutions, such as the Universities of Rome, Aveiro, Barcelona, São Paulo, and Mississippi. The applicant is expected to contribute to the efforts of the group and to the training of students. Applicants should send a curriculum vitae, a list of publications, a statement of research interests (with an exciting research proposal) and three letters of recommendation to the following e-mail address: jobs_gravity[at]ist.utl.pt Please use the subject "Welcome II". Applications should be received by Feb 20, 2011. Incomplete applications shall not be considered. Screening of applicants will begin on March 1, 2010 and will continue until the position is filled. ================================================================= 3. News ================================================================= 3.1 2011 Awards for Essays on Gravitation ------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/27/2011-awards-for-essays-on-gravitati… Additional Information: http://www.gravityresearchfoundation.org In 2011 for our sixty-second competition, the trustees are offering five Awards for short Essays for the purpose of stimulating thought and encouraging work on Gravitation. The stipulations follow: (1) We will make these Awards on May 15, 2011 for the best essays, 1500 words or less (excluding abstracts, diagrams, references and minimal equations), on the subject of Gravitation, its theory, applications, or effects. (2) The First Award will be $4000.00 The Second Award will be 1250.00 The Third Award will be 1000.00 The Fourth Award will be 750.00 The Fifth Award will be 500.00 (3) Essays must be in English and e-mailed in a single PDF file before April 1, 2011. Page numbering and early submission is greatly encouraged. One essay only will be accepted from each author. Notify us if you do not receive an e-mail confirmation within 48 hours. (4) Cover pages should include essay title; authors' names, addresses and e-mail addresses; the statement: "Essay written for the Gravity Research Foundation 2011 Awards for Essays on Gravitation"; submission date; and a summary paragraph of 125 words or less. (5) The decision of the judges will be final, no reviews will be provided and no essays will be returned. (6) The list of winners will be posted on our website: http://www.gravityresearchfoundation.org on or about May 15, 2011. All participants will receive a general e-mail notification. (7) The five award-winning essays will be published in the Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation (GRG) and, subsequently, in a special issue of the International Journal of Modern Physics D (IJMPD). Authors of all other essays are free and encouraged to publish their essays after May 15th. Authors of essays designated Honorable Mention will be invited to submit their essays to the IJMPD where these may undergo additional refereeing at editorial discretion for possible publication. Submission e-mail address: George M. Rideout, Jr., President (grideoutjr[at]aol.com) Recent First Award Winners: 2010 - Mark Van Raamsdonk, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 2009 - Alexander Burinskii, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia 2008 - T. Padmanabhan, IUCAA, Pune, India 2007 - S. Carlip, University of California at Davis 2006 - Vijay Balasubramanian, University of Pennsylvania; Donald Marolf, University of California at Santa Barbara and Moshe Rozali, University of British Columbia 2005 - John Ellis, CERN; N. E. Mavromatos, King's College London and D. V. Nanopoulos, Texas A&M University 2004 - Maulik Parikh, Columbia University, New York 2003 - Martin Bojowald, The Pennsylvania State University 2002 - Steven B. Giddings, University of California at Santa Barbara and Stanford University, Stanford, California 2001 - Csaba Csaki and Joshua Erlich, Los Alamos National Lab and Christophe Grojean, University of California at Berkeley 2000 - Arthur Lue and Erick J. Weinberg, Columbia University, New York 1999 - John Ellis, CERN; N. E. Mavromatos, University of Oxford and D. V. Nanopoulos, Texas A and M University 1998 - Viqar Husain, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 1997 - Robert Myers, McGill University, Quebec 1996 - D. V. Ahluwalia, Los Alamos National Lab and C. Burgard, Universitaet Hamburg/DESY, II, Germany +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.2 New book by John D Barrow: "The Book of Universes" ------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/27/new-book-by-john-d-barrow-the-book-… New Book Published 2 Feb 2011 The Book of Universes John D Barrow Publ. Bodley Head, Random House, UK 354 Pages, 12 chapters, b/w illustrations and photographs Description: This book for a general audience tells the story of how Einstein's equations provided a succession of solutions describing possible universes. It follows the history of the discovery of all the different sorts of possible universes that we know about and introduces the characters involved. It describes the latest ideas about inflationary universes, quantum cosmology and multiverses, as well as the best buy model of the observable universe today. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.3 Living Reviews in Relativity: "Gravitational Waves from Gravitational Collapse" (update) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@AEI: http://hyperspace.aei.mpg.de/2011/01/21/living-reviews-in-relativity-gravit… Additional Information: http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2011-1 Living Reviews in Relativity has published a major update of the review "Gravitational Waves from Gravitational Collapse" by Chris L. Fryer and Kimberly C.B. New on January 20, 2011. Please find the abstract and further details below. ------------------ PUB.NO. lrr-2011-1 Fryer, Chris L. and New, Kimberly C. B. "Gravitational Waves from Gravitational Collapse" ACCEPTED: 2011-01-14 PUBLISHED: 2011-01-20 FULL ARTICLE AT: http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2011-1 UPDATE: We have significantly altered and restructured the text of the previous version, describing the latest results from a new point of view. New figures have been added. The number of references has increased from 271 to 350. ABSTRACT: Gravitational wave emission from stellar collapse has been studied for nearly four decades. Current state-of-the-art numerical investigations of collapse include those that use progenitors with more realistic angular momentum profiles, properly treat microphysics issues, account for general relativity, and examine non-axisymmetric effects in three dimensions. Such simulations predict that gravitational waves from various phenomena associated with gravitational collapse could be detectable with ground-based and space-based interferometric observatories. This review covers the entire range of stellar collapse sources of gravitational waves: from the accretion induced collapse of a white dwarf through the collapse down to neutron stars or black holes of massive stars to the collapse of supermassive stars. UPCOMING ARTICLES AT: http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/upcoming.html

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