########################################## Table of Contents ########################################### 1. Conferences 1.1. 8th Aegean Summer School, "Gravitational Waves: From Theory to Observations" 1.2. Second Dynamics Days Central Asia, Khiva, Uzbekistan 1.3. General Relativity and Gravitation: A Centennial Perspective (3rd announcement) 1.4. 2nd Karl Schwarzschild Meeting on Gravitational Physics (2nd circular) 1.5. 11th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, Gwangju, Korea 1.6. 14th Italian-Korean Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Pescara, Italy 2. Jobs 2.1. PhD position in radiative transfer and high-energy astrophysics, Frankfurt, Germany 3. News 3.1. Topical Collection: The First Century of General Relativity: GR20/Amaldi10 3.2. GWIC Thesis Prize and the Stefano Baccini Thesis Prize 3.3. The Fourth Galileo – Xu Guangqi Meeting, Beijing 3.4. Update news about Marcel Grossman meeting ============================================== 1. Conferences ============================================== 1.1. 8th Aegean Summer School, "Gravitational Waves: From Theory to Observations" --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2015/04/16/8th-aegean-summer-school-gravi... Starting: 2015-06-29 to 2015-07-04 Location: Rethymno, Greece Additional Information: http://www.physics.ntua.gr/cosmo15/Rethymno2015/index.html Contact: lpapa[AT]central.ntua.gr Gravitational Waves which are solutions of the linearised Einstein equations were for many years a controversial issue concerning their existence. The discovery of a binary pulsar whose orbital period changes in accordance with the predicted gravitational wave emission put an end to that controversy. However, this compelling evidence of their existence did not provide any clue on their form and effects. The current theory, owing to the nonlinear nature of gravitation, faces difficulties to deal with all aspects of the Gravitational Waves and some points still remain obscure. The aim of the 8th Aegean Summer School is to discuss various aspects of Gravitational Waves from theory to observations, report on the current and future status of gravitational detection experiments. The Aegean School is mainly addressed to postgraduate students and young researchers aiming at introducing them to this very challenging topic that recently has attracted much interest. Various aspects of gravitational waves will be discussed: Introduction to the theory of Gravitational Waves, Gravitational Collapse, Primordial Gravitational Waves, Gravitational Waves from modified gravity, Gravitational Waves and AdS/CFT, Gravitational waves and Quantum Gravity, Gravitational Waves and massive gravity, Gravitational waves detection (theory and status), Astrophysics of Sources of Gravitational Radiation (compact objects, binaries, bursts}, Modeling Sources of Gravitational Radiation, Data Analysis of Sources of Gravitational Radiation, Multi-messenger Astrophysics, Status of Gravitational detection experiments. The invited speakers include: ?. Bergshoeff, M. Barsuglia, E. Berti, P. Binétruy, L. Cadonati (TBC), E. Chassande-Mottin, M. Dafermos, G. Giribet, K. Glampedakis, W. van Holten, M. Kramer (TBC), P. Laguna, M. Maggiore, L.Rezzolla, D. Shoemaker, N. Stergioulas, S. Tsujikawa. The school will take place in Rethymno in Crete in the Cultural Centre of the Municipality of Rethymno. The morning sessions will consist of mainly review talks on major topics of the field, while in the afternoon sessions short talks will be given on current research topics. Those graduate and postgraduate students interested in attending the school are requested to send a short CV and one recommendation letter to the School's Secretary The 8th Aegean Summer School is organized and sponsored by the University of Tuebingen, the Technical University of Athens, the Groningen University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Laboratory Astroparticule et Cosmologie (APC). It is also sponsored by the Municipality of Rethymno. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.2. Second Dynamics Days Central Asia, Khiva, Uzbekistan --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=10586 Starting: 2015-05-25 to 2015-05-27 Location: Khiva, Uzbekistan Additional Information: http://ddays2.sci.uz/ Contact: ola_july[AT]mail.ru The focus of this conference is to present and discuss some of the less-explored and newly emerged issues in the physics of complex and non-linear systems as well as their future prospects. This includes also the viewpoint of applications in different challenging problems of natural and environmental sciences. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.3. General Relativity and Gravitation: A Centennial Perspective (3rd announcement) --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=10651 Starting: 2015-05-25 to 2015-05-27 Location: Khiva, Uzbekistan Additional Information: http://event.gravity.psu.edu/index.shtml Contact: rxh1[AT]psu.edu An international conference to celebrate 100 years of general relativity, entitled General Relativity and Gravitation: A Centennial Perspective will be held at the University Park campus of Penn State from Sunday, June 7 through Friday, June 12, 2015 under the auspices of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation (ISGRG) and the Topical Group on Gravitation (GGR) of the American Physical Society. The conference website event.gravity.psu.edu/index.shtml provides the details of the scientific program and social events, including the schedule for the plenary and parallel sessions. There will be a `welcome reception' on Sunday, June 7th; a `poster-session reception' on Tuesday, June 9th, and a conference banquet on Thursday, June 11th. These social events will provide plenty of opportunities for mingling and informal discussions. The website also provides a link to the list of contents of the Centennial volume, commissioned by ISGRG, which will be released during the conference. General registration is now closed because of the limited seating capacity of the main auditorium where plenary sessions will be held. However, we are currently setting up facilities to stream the plenary events to a side-room, close to the auditorium. If you would like to be wait-listed for the conference, please send an e-mail to Randi Neshteruk . We will clear the wait-list as soon as arrangements for streaming are complete. Those who register in this manner will be able to fully participate in the parallel and poster sessions, and all social events, without any constraint. Local Organization Committee: Eugenio Bianchi (Co-Chair), Chad Hanna (Co-Chair), Abhay Ashtekar, Martin Bojowald, Randi Neshteruk, Ben Owen Scientific Organization Committee: Abhay Ashtekar (Chair), Beverly Berger, John Friedman, James Isenberg, Malcolm MaCCallum, Peter Saulson +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.4. 2nd Karl Schwarzschild Meeting on Gravitational Physics (2nd circular) --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2015/04/29/2nd-karl-schwarzschild-meeting... Starting: 2015-07-20 to 2015-07-24 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Additional Information: https://indico.cern.ch/event/382362/overview Contact: ksm2015[AT]fias.uni-frankfurt.de The 2nd Karl Schwarzschild Meeting on Gravitational Physics will be held in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on 20-24 July 2015. The conference will be held at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and will focus on the general theme of black holes, gravity and information. The meeting will bring together both working specialists in the field and rising young researchers to foster new conversations and collaborations. Invited speakers will deliver plenary talks on the broad topic of black holes, gravity, and information, highlighting its applications to astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics, and strongly correlated systems. In addition to plenary speaker and senior scientist talks, we feature several plenary sessions devoted to the next generation of gravitational physicists. The senior scientists will also serve as "mentors" to the attending younger generation of researchers. Due to the limited size of the venue, early registration slots are limited. Early registration will expire on June 15th, 2015, or when the capacity has been reached. Limited financial reimbursement is available, for which participants may submit an application along with their registration. Karl Schwarzschild was a native of Frankfurt who published his first papers while attending the Gymnasium Frankfurt in the late 1880s. The year 2015 will mark the 100th anniversary of the derivation of Schwarzschild's famous solution to Einstein's equations. The conference venue will be the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies on the modern Riedberg Campus of Goethe University. Distinguished key note speaker: Gerard t'Hooft (Utrecht University) Keynote Speakers: Bernard Carr (Queen Mary, University of London) Georgi Dvali (LMU/MPI Munich, New York University) George Ellis (University of Cape Town) Valeria Ferrari (Sapienza University of Rome) Steve Giddings (University of California Santa Barbara) Daniel Grumiller (TU Vienna) Achim Kempf (University of Waterloo/Perimeter Institute/Institute for Quantum Computing) Claus Laemmerzahl (ZARM/University of Bremen) Robert Mann (University of Waterloo, Perimeter Institute) Frans Pretorius (Princeton University) Luciano Rezzolla* (Goethe University Frankfurt) Carlo Rovelli (CPT/Aix-Marseille University) Ralf Schutzhold (University of Duisburg-Essen) Herman Verlinde (Princeton University) Elizabeth Winstanley (The University of Sheffield) Organizing Committee Piero Nicolini (FIAS and Goethe University, Frankfurt) Matthias Kaminski (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa) Jonas Mureika (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles) Marcus Bleicher (FIAS and Goethe University, Frankfurt) International Advisory Committee: Jacob Bekenstein (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Juan M. Maldacena (IAS, Princeton) Donald Marolf (University of California Santa Barbara) Martin Reuter (Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz) Carlo Rovelli (CPT/Aix-Marseille University) Dam T. Son (University of Chicago) *: To be confirmed +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.5. 11th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, Gwangju, Korea --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2015/04/29/amaldi11/ Starting: 2015-06-21 to 2015-06-26 Location: Gwangju, Korea Additional Information: http://www.amaldi11.org Contact: amaldi11[AT]astro.snu.ac.kr The Edoardo Amaldi Conferences on Gravitational Waves began in 1994, and have become regarded as the most important international conferences for the broader gravitational wave detection community. The meetings are organized biennially by the Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC). The 11th meeting will be held in the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Gwangju in Southwest Korea from 21st June 2015 until 26th June 2015. Plenary speakers are; <ul> <li>Eugenio Coccia (University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Italy)</li> <li>Paul McNamara (European Space Agency, The Netherlands)</li> <li>Ryan Shannon (CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Australia)</li> <li>Samaya Nissanke (Radboud Univeristy, The Netherlands)</li> <li>Deirdre Shoemaker (Georgia Tech, USA)</li> <li>Masaru Shibata (Yukawa Institute of Theoretical Physics, Kyoto Univeristy, Japan)</li> <li>Frederique Marion (LAPP, France)</li> <li>Peter Fritschel (MIT, USA)</li> <li>Bala Iyer (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bangalore, India)</li> <li>Jonathan Gair (TBC) (University of Cambridge, UK)</li> </ul> Parallel sessions will also be held in the following topics; <ul> <li>Advanced Interferometric Detectors</li> <li>Concepts and Techniques for Future Detectors</li> <li>Cosmology and Relativity using Gravitational Waves</li> <li>Education and Public Outreach</li> <li>Multi-Messenger Astronomy with Gravitational Waves</li> <li>Pulsar Timing</li> <li>Search Results for Continuous Gravitational Waves</li> <li>Search Results for Stochastic Gravitational Waves</li> <li>Search Results for Transient Gravitational Waves</li> <li>Source Modeling</li> <li>Space-based Detectors</li> </ul> Registration and further details can be found at www.amaldi11.org +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.6. 14th Italian-Korean Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Pescara, Italy --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2015/04/30/14th-italian-korean-symposium-... Starting: 2015-07-20 to 2015-07-24 Location: Pescara, Italy Additional Information: http://www.icranet.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=935 Contact: federica.diberardino[AT]icranet.org This symposium started in 1987, then continued for every two years alternatively in Korea and Italy with the support from Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics Network (ICRANet) and hosting institutes. Main purpose of this symposium is to accelerate the exchange between scientists of Italy and Korea, especially young researchers. The result of every symposium was published in Journal of Korean Physical Society (JKPS) or in Il Nuovo Cimento B. Traditionally, the subjects of this series of symposium have been mainly theoretical astrophysics, especially in the fields of relativistic astrophysics. In the symposium, we want to extend it to include relevant astrophysical observations and experiments, including gravitational wave detection experiments in which Korean astrophysicists are actively participating. The International Organizing Committee can be found here: http://www.icranet.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=942 The 14th Italian-Korean meeting is organized by ICRANet. The registration is now open here: http://ntsrvg9-2.icra.it/meetings/registration_ik14.htm There is no registration fee. The website of the meeting: http://www.icranet.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=935 Conference contact: federica.diberardino[AT]ICRAnet.org +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ============================================== 2. Jobs ============================================== 2.1. PhD position in radiative transfer and high-energy astrophysics, Frankfurt, Germany ------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2015/04/16/phd-position-in-radiative-tran... Deadline: 2015-05-31 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Additional Information: http://astro.uni-frankfurt.de/relastro/ Contact: rezzolla[AT]itp.uni-frankfurt.de We invite applications for one PhD position to carry out research in Relativistic Astrophysics at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Candidates should have an MSc in astrophysics or physics, a strong background in high-energy astrophysics, as well as exposure to methods in computational physics. A background in numerically solving radiation transfer problems and a familiarity with radiation processes and spectral line formation is highly desirable. The successful applicant will be part of a lively research group recently set-up at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and concentrate on the modeling and imaging of accretion flows onto supermassive black holes in support of the ERC Synergy project Black Hole Cam. The application should comprise a CV, a list of the courses attended, and a summary of the research carried in the MSc. Applicants should also arrange for two letters of reference to be sent to the address below. Applications will be have to be sent by 01.05.2015 for full consideration. The position is expected to start on 01.09.2015, but earlier or later appointments can be negotiated. Applications should be made electronically and sent to Luciano Rezzolla (rezzolla[AT]itp.uni-frankfurt.de) and CC-ed to Fr. Astrid Steidl: steidl[AT]th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ============================================== 3. News ============================================== 3.1. Topical Collection: The First Century of General Relativity: GR20/Amaldi10 ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2015/04/02/topical-collection-the-first-c... Additional Information: http://news.springer.com/re?l=D0In5v6jrI6h42bfsI9 We cordially invite you to read the Topical Collection of articles The First Century of General Relativity: GR20/Amaldi10 published in the journal General Relativity and Gravitation. An outstanding collection of 37 articles contributed by prominent international experts, commemorating the First Century of General Relativity! Guest Editors: Jerzy Lewandowski, Bala Iyer, Sheila Rowan Visit: http://news.springer.com/re?l=D0In5v6jrI6h42bfsI9 Enjoy your free access to all articles through May 11, 2015! Message from the Editors-in-Chief: The discovery of general relativity by Albert Einstein one hundred years ago was quickly recognized as a supreme triumph of the human intellect. To paraphrase Hermann Weyl, "wider expanses and greater depths were suddenly exposed to the searching eye of knowledge, regions of which there was not even an inkling". To mark this centenary, General Relativity and Gravitation has published a special Topical Collection of articles. We would like to thank all the contributors, and the guest editors Jerzy Lewandowski, Bala Iyer, Sheila Rowan for their valuable help in bringing this collection together. A. Ashtekar and R. Maartens Editors-in-Chief ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.2. GWIC Thesis Prize and the Stefano Baccini Thesis Prize ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2015/04/29/gwic-thesis-prize-and-the-stef... Additional Information: https://gwic.ligo.org/thesisprize/2014/ I am pleased to announce that the joint selection committee for the GWIC Thesis Prize and the Stefano Baccini Thesis Prize have made their decision. The 2014 GWIC Thesis Prize is awarded to Leo Singer for his thesis "The needle in the 100 deg^2 haystack: The hunt for binary neutron star mergers with LIGO and Palomar Transient Factory." Dr. Singer received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology and was nominated by his adviser, Prof. Alan Weinstein. Dr. Singer's thesis addresses the most challenging problem of joint observation of binary neutron star coalescence events by gravitational wave and electromagnetic detectors. It has two main aspects: (1) A new framework for near real-time sky localization scheme for gravitational waves (BAYESTAR), and (2) the development of wide-field searches for optical afterglow of GRBs using the Palomar Transient Factory telescope. The 2014 Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize is awarded to Yan Wang for his thesis "On inter-satellite laser ranging, clock synchronization and gravitational wave data analysis". Dr. Wang received his Ph.D. from the Leibniz University of Hannover, and was nominated by his adviser, Prof. Karsten Danzmann. Dr. Wang's thesis covers a diverse set of topics related to space-based gravitational wave detection using interferometric instruments such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and its brethren. The largest part of the thesis develops algorithms to synchronize clocks and improve the ranging accuracy via post-processing, thus significantly improving the ranging precision. Leo and Yan will receive their awards at the Amaldi meeting in Gwangju, Korea, June 21-26. There were 15 theses nominated for the two prizes. Links to the winning theses and a list of all nominated theses can be found at https://gwic.ligo.org/thesisprize/ I would like to thank Archana Pai (chair of the selection committee) and the entire selection committee for their diligent service to the community. They are listed at the bottom of the page with all of the nominated theses: https://gwic.ligo.org/thesisprize/2014/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.3. The Fourth Galileo – Xu Guangqi Meeting, Beijing ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2015/04/30/the-fourth-galileo-xu-guangqi-... Additional Information: http://www.icranet.org/4gx The year 2015 is the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's presentation of the Theory of General Relativity. To celebrate the big event, the International Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology/the fourth Galileo-Xu Guangqi Meeting will be held on May 4-8, 2015 at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITP-CAS), Beijing, China, associated with the KITPC/ITP-CAS program “The Next Detectors for Gravitational Wave Astronomy” (April 6 to May 8, 2015). The goal of this conference is to bring the leading scientists working on gravitation, cosmology and relativistic astrophysics together, to review the current status and to present further directions in gravity, cosmology and relativistic astrophysics, and to promote relevant researches in China. In this five days meeting will be dedicated to the following main topics: Einstein General Relativity, it's precision tests and solutions: black holes and gravitational waves. High energy astrophysics, GRBs, neutron stars, supernova and dark matter distributions. Classical and quantum gravity, cosmology, early Universe, dark energy and dark matter models. So far almost 200 participants have registered to the meeting. MG Awards will be delivered on Monday to Nobel Laureates Prof. C.N. Yang and Prof. T.D. Lee. On Monday Prof. C.N. Yang is going to give a 15 minutes speech, mostly on Fermi and his influence on him. On Monday evening Prof. R. Ruffini will deliver a public lecture in KITPC. For information please see web pages of the meeting: http://www.icranet.org/4gx http://www.kitpc.ac.cn/?p=ProgDetail&id=CP20150504&i=main ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.4. Update news about Marcel Grossman meeting ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2015/04/30/update-news-about-marcel-gross... Additional Information: http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14 There are updates regarding the Fourteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting on Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, Gravitation, and Relativistic Field Theory to be held at the University of Rome Sapienza July 12 - 18, 2015. http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/ Information on the financial support for participants can be found in www.icra.it/mg/mg14/financial_support.htm There are five satellite MG14 meetings in Brazil, China, Cuba, Monaco and France, and Mexico, for details see http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/satellite_meetings.htm The plenary program of the meeting is now available: http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/plenary_program.pdf During MG14 four public lectures will be delivered, for details see http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/public_lectures.htm The tour program for accompanying persons include tours to: The Vatican (on Monday 13), Galleria Borghese (on Tuesday 14), Walking tour in the Baroque Rome (Wednesday 15), Ghosts of Rome and … Hora Felix with Michelangelo and Caravaggio (Thursday 16), Ancient Rome (Friday 17). For details see http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/social_activities.htm The conference banquet will be held on Wednesday 15 at Palazzo Colonna http://www.galleriacolonna.it/en/ The International Organizing chaired by Remo Ruffini can be found here www.icra.it/mg/mg14/ioc.htm The International Coordinating Committee including representatives from 55 nations and chaired by Robert Jantzen can be found here www.icra.it/mg/mg14/icc.htm The Local Organizing Committee chaired by Massimo Bianchi can be found here www.icra.it/mg/mg14/loc.htm The registration to the meeting and abstract submission is open in http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/registration.htm The MG Awards are announced in http://www.icra.it/mg/awards/#14th.htm Please see also the previous MG Awards here http://www.icra.it/mg/awards/ The updated information on the proceedings including the new submission policy is given in http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/proceedings.htm The list of plenary speakers has been recently updated http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/invited_speakers.htm The list of about 100 parallel sessions is given in http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/parallel_sessions.htm Time grid of parallel sessions can be found in http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/timetable.htm The information on transportation, including the special Air France fare can be found in http://www.icra.it/mg/mg14/transportation.htm ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++