Announcements

RT13 Workshop on "Dust Radiative Transfer - Codes and Benchmarks

1st Announcement
Registration is open now.

RT13 Workshop on "Dust Radiative Transfer - Codes and Benchmarks"

October, 9 - 11, 2013

Scientific Advisory Committee:

M. Baes (Belgium), A.C. Carciofi (Brasil), K. Gordon (USA), M. Juvela (Finnland), K. Misselt (USA), T. Robitaille (Germany), J. Steinacker (France)

Organized by J. Steinacker, K. Gordon & M. Baes.

The deadline for registration and abstract submission is the

31st of May 2013, 12:00 CET.

The number of participants is limited to 30.

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EWASS Gaia/GREAT session on Solar System Objects

Symposium S11 entitled "Gaia research for European Astronomy Training" at the EWASS meeting in Turku, Finland in July 8-12, 2013.

Within Symposium S11, Session 4 will be organized on "Solar System Objects". The goal of Session 4 is to assess the impact of the forecoming Gaia mission on our Solar System, in particular, on our knowledge of small Solar System bodies.

The invited speakers of Session 4 are (with tentative titles of the talks)

Paolo Tanga, Solar System with Gaia
Alberto Cellino, Asteroid taxonomy from Gaia observations
Dagmara Oszkiewicz, Lowell photometric and astrometric databases as precursors to Gaia

The abstracts are due on April 30, 2013: please see

http://www.astro.utu.fi/EWASS2013/ http://www.great-esf.eu/events/Turku-Jul13/

In abstract submission, choose Symposium S11 (PI Nicholas Walton) for Gaia Research for European Astronomy Training.

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PhD position Uppsala University

The Division of Astronomy and Space Physics at Uppsala University invites applications for PhD student positions. The positions are financed by Uppsala University, covering 4 years of PhD studies, and a successful applicant has the opportunity to choose and define one or more research projects within Astronomy or Space Physics. Information on current related research at Uppsala University can be found at http://www.physics.uu.se/astro/en/page/research.

Application deadline: May 15, 2013
Reference number: UFV-PA 2013/877

Applications have to be sent through the university's online application system at http://www2.personalavd.uu.se/jobb/appform.php?lang=en&case=UFV-PA%202013/877

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PhD positions in Space Physics

Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala

Applications are invited for a PhD student position to study plasma and dust around icy bodies in the solar system, in the context of the Cassini mission to Saturn and the Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Applications shall be sent, preferably by email, to: Registrator, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 812, SE-981 28 Kiruna, Sweden, email: registrator@irf.se (tel. +46 980 79000). Reference: Dnr 2.2.1-72/13.

Last application date: May 15, 2013

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PhD position in Atomic Astrophysics

Announcement of a PhD position in Atomic Astrophysics. The doctoral student will work in the research field of atomic astrophysics, with an emphasis on experimental optical spectroscopy for near-infrared astronomy. Projects will also include analysis of astronomical spectra and atomic structure calculations. The emphasis is on high-resolution laboratory spectroscopy for astronomical applications, as well as some instrument and method development.

This position is at Malmö University, while the student will be admitted to doctoral studies at Lund University.

Deadline for application is April 30, 2013.

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PhD positions in Astronomy at Uppsala

the Division of Astronomy and Space Physics at Uppsala University invites applications for PhD student positions. The positions are financed by Uppsala University, covering 4 years of PhD studies, and a successful applicant has the opportunity to choose and define one or more research projects within Astronomy or Space Physics. To be eligible for a PhD student position candidates should have a basic university degree in physics, astronomy or astrophysics (at the MSc level) and fulfil the entry requirements for the PhD programme. More information about the positions and postgraduate education at Uppsala University can be found in the detailed announcement Application deadline: May 15, 2013 Reference number: UFV-PA 2013/877 More information

PhD student position in Bonn - Merger rate of NS-BH binaries

The expected detection of gravitational waves will open a new window to the Universe and compliment our knowledge of astrophysical sources obtained from photons and neutrinos. The advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detector, together with its European sister VIRGO and the German detector GEO 600, will be operational in 2014 and reach full sensitivity in 2015. The most promising candidate sources for transient burst detections of high-frequency gravitational waves (10 Hz - 10 kHz) are merging neutron stars (NS) and black holes (BH). These compact objects are formed in tight binaries and undergo spiral-in due to continuous emission of gravitational waves until they finally merge in a violent transient event.

The main aim of this project is to calculate theoretically the rate of such merging NS/BH in the local Universe using our best up-to-date knowledge of stellar and binary evolution. These results will be compared to the upcoming LIGO detection rates which will enable us to further constrain the input physics behind key binary stellar interactions. A second aim of this project is to better understand - and to quantify - the formation, the location, the properties and the lifetimes of Galactic recycled radio pulsars orbiting NS or BH. Whereas we know of 9 radio pulsars orbiting another NS we still have no detections of a radio pulsar orbiting a BH. With this project we hope to gain theoretical knowledge about such systems which will enhance the chance of success in future radio surveys. A third outcome of this study is therefore a better knowledge of the evolution of high-mass X-ray binaries.

To model the population of compact binaries the evolution of a large sample of binary star systems is needed in order to predict the number of both observable radio pulsars orbiting NS and BH as well as the LIGO detection rate of mergers. To achieve these goals we make use of advanced population synthesis techniques with Monte Carlo simulations and explore new aspects of massive binary stellar evolution for the first time.

Bibliography: R. Voss and T. M. Tauris (2003), MNRAS, 342, 1169-1184

The ideal candidate has a Masters degree in astrophysics, good programming skills in C++ and Fortran, excellent communication and English language skills, as well as a successful exam record. The project is funded by the DFG and will begin in the summer of 2013 (running for 36 months). Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a brief statement of the Masters thesis research and a motivation for doing this PhD project (in PDF format) and two letters of reference, sent directly by e-mail to Dr. T. M. Tauris.

Consideration of applications will begin on April 18, 2013 and will continue until the position is filled.

Contact person and PhD supervisor: Dr. Thomas M. Tauris (tauris@astro.uni-bonn.de) More information

LSST Denmark Workshop - 16-17 May in Copenhagen

For the astronomy community in Denmark

Announcing a 1.5 day meeting about the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

When: Thursday, 16 May, starting at 13.30; meeting closes at 14.00 on Friday, 17 May. There will be a Thursday evening dinner/event.

Where: Copenhagen (details coming - venue depends on number of participants)

Newly named LSST Director, Steven Kahn, is coming to Copenhagen. In honor of his visit, we are organizing a workshop about LSST science and how to get involved in the project. We expect around 10 participants from the US or Chile who are already working with LSST science to attend, and we hope that many Denmark-based researchers interested in getting involved will join in. For more info and to register, go to the workshop web page.

Registration deadline: Monday, April 15.

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Post doc job opening - Dark Cosmology Centre (DARK)

Announcing a 2-year (with possibility of extension) post doctoral position opening. The incumbent will work with Marianne Vestergaard and others at the Dark Cosmology Centre on ALMA observations of quasars and should have experience with sub-/mm observations, data processing and analysis.

The program supporting the position is designed to promote mobility for young researchers. We therefore seek a post doc who received a PhD outside of Denmark no more than 3 years ago at the start of the position (i.e., October 2010).

May 5, 2013 deadline.

Link to job ad at DARK:

http://dark.nbi.ku.dk/jobs/

About DARK DARK is a research center of excellence at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. The Centre offers an international, vibrant, young research environment with very active workshop and visitor programs, and ample opportunity for scientific and social interaction. DARK is the extra-galactic astrophysics and cosmology research group at the Niels Bohr Institute, and as such is a fully embedded and permanent part of the University. The Centre is home to 50+ staff, PhD and MSc students, with more two thirds of international origin.

Copenhagen is a beautiful, family-friendly city with a large international community, a lively and diverse cultural scene, and a high quality of life. English is widely spoken.

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TNG-NOT Joint Call for Proposals, 2013B

Following the recommendations to ASTRONET on the future use of Europe's 2-4m telescopes as presented in the ETSRC report (see www.astronet-eu.org/spip.php?article149&lang=en ), INAF and NOTSA, owners of the TNG and NOT telescopes on La Palma, Canary Islands, have agreed to enter into a closer collaboration. As an initial step toward a more comprehensive integration, an agreement has been signed for common use of facilities and services at their offices which are now located next to each other in San Antonio on La Palma.

Here we offer observing time at both telescopes for the two communities in a joint call for proposals for the coming semester 2013B (AOT28 in TNG nomenclature; Period 48 in NOT nomenclature). Note that the 2013B semester will start on the 1st of September for TNG and on the 1st of October for NOT.

There will be:

** 10 nights at TNG open for Nordic proposals*
** 20 nights at NOT open for Italian proposals*

The *deadline* for the submission of proposals is *12 UT on the 2nd of May 2013*.

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