News
June 30th 2003
Final programme addedJune 16th 2003
Final announcement sent outJune 2nd 2003
Second announcement sent outJune 2nd 2003
List of confirmed participants and talk titles added
Scientific Background
This year's topic is "Cooling in Cosmology". The ability to cool, is the primary feature which distinguishes baryons from dark matter in cosmological simulations. Cooling also presents particular problems for numerical modellers, since it tends to run away to a degree which is incompatible with the modest fraction of baryons which appear to have formed stars. One obvious way out of this difficulty is to invoke feedback from stars and supernovae, which brings us face-to-face with our limited understanding of star formation. On a larger scale, the ability of hot gas to escape from galaxies is also poorly understood, and the extent to which mechanical heating from AGN-powered jets impacts on their surroundings is unclear. On cluster scales, the impact of cooling and/or feedback may be responsible for the breaking of similarity apparent in the properties of cluster baryons, and observations with XMM and Chandra have uncovered an apparent failure of gas to cool in cluster cores in large quantities, despite theoretical cooling times which suggest that it should. Is this phenomenon related to the problem of overcooling during galaxy formation?
Our intention in the workshop is to discuss these issues, with input from observations covering a range of frequencies and redshifts, and from simulations and theory. These workshops typically involve ~50 participants, and are held in the School of Physics & Astronomy at Birmingham University. The format will be similar to previous workshops in the series, with a mixture of 15 and 30 minute talks, leaving plenty of time for discussion.
Organising committee
Logistics
Travel to Birmingham: It is very convenient to travel to the University by train. Birmingham University has its own station called "University", which is an 8 min ride from Birmingham New Street station, with local trains from New Street running every 10-15 mins during most of the day.
From the University station walk towards the centre of the campus, aim in the general direction of the clock tower, which is in Chancellors Court. The meeting will be held in the Small Lecture Theatre in the Poynting Physics Building. The most convenient entrance is in the adjacent Physics-West building, which is a red brick building on the other side of Chancellor's court from the station. The Small Lecture Theatre is on the top floor of the Poynting Building.
Some car parking spaces will also be available, please let us know if you plan to travel by car.
General directions to getting to the University can be found here
Maps of the campus and surrounding area are shown on the University webpage.
Overnight Arrangements: A block of rooms has been reserved for for the night of July 2nd at the University's own conference "hotel", Lucas House, at a cost of £54 for B&B. These will be allocated to attendees on a first come, first served basis. Cheaper accomodation in student residences is also available for £28.20 for B&B. For those who prefer to make their own arrangements, a list of local hotels and guest houses is available at http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/workshop/hotels.html. All of these hotels are within walking distance of the University.
Registration: Registration will take place on the morning of July 2nd. The basic workshop fee will be £37 per participant. This will cover two lunches, plus the customary Balti at a local restaurant on the Wednesday evening. Payment can be made by cash or cheque on arrival.
If you wish to attend, please click here, paste the form into your mail client, and mail to workshop@star.sr.bham.ac.uk.
Projection Facilities: We will have the usual overhead projector and facilities for projecting Powerpoint presentations. As ever with Powerpoint you probably should have a back-up in the event of an incompatibility between our system and yours.
Schedule for the Workshop: Details will be available in mid-June, but we will commence at 11 a.m. (coffee from 10:30 a.m.) on July 2nd, and we will conclude by 4 p.m. on July 3rd.
Last modified: Wednesday June 18th 2003