[ASA] Second announcement of Summer Schoool: New Era of the Cosmic Distance Scale

Wed Apr 1 18:32:28 AEDT 2015

Dear colleagues

This is the second announcement concerning the Summer School
on the Cosmic Distance Scale which will be held in
the University of Tokyo, Japan, from Mon 29 June to Fri 3 July 2015.
The registration is now open on our web site.
This school will cover a wide range of distance measurement techniques
from trigonometric parallaxes to cosmological distance measurements
and related scientific topics. Distinguished lecturers in various fields
will give dedicated lectures on the basics and cutting edge of the field
of distance measurement as well as on expected future developments.

<Web site>
   http://stella.astron.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/CDSchool/

<School Period>
   June 29--July 3, 2015

<Venue>
   Hongo Campus of the University of Tokyo
   http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/about/documents/accessmap_E.pdf

<Language>
   English

<Invited Lecturers>
   Nabila    Aghanim     - Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
   Giuseppe  Bono        - Theoretical breakthroughs for radial variables
   Richard   de Grijs    - Introduction/Summary and outlook to the future
   Gerard    Gilmore     - Gaia: applications to the distance scale
   Shrinivas Kulkarni    - Supernovae
   Barry     Madore      - Population II distance indicators
   Francois  Mignard     - Gaia: principles and techniques
   Takeo     Minezaki    - Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs)
   Grzegorz  Pietrzynski - Eclipsing binaries
   Mark      Reid        - VLBI parallaxes
   Sherry    Suyu        - Gravitational lensing
   Masahiro  Takada      - Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs)
   Patricia  Whitelock   - Asymptotic Giant Branch variables
   Daisuke   Yonetoku    - Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs)

<Participants>
   We will mainly consider PhD course and master course students
   as well as early-career postdocs.
   The expected number of the participants is 80 including
   both international (~40) and domestic (~40) attendees.
   We will likely receive registration requests from senior researchers,
   but will give priority to younger participants in our selection.

<Participant presentations>
   We call for both oral and poster presentations by participants.
   There will be slots for a limited number of oral/poster
   presentations by participants, but selection will be made based on
   the abstracts and other information provided at registration.

<Registration>
   Please make the registration on our web site.
   Applications for participant presentations and travel supports
   can be also submitted.
   If you are a student, please provide the information on your supervisor
   or a person who could serve as a reference whom we may contact
   before your participation is approved.
   If you are a postdoc, please provide the information on
   your PhD degree in the registration.

<Registration Fee>
   For early registrations (by 30 Apr) : 22,000 JPY
   For regular registrations (by 31 May) : 28,000 JPY
   The registration fee includes all course material, refreshments during
   coffee breaks, a banquet dinner, and a half-day excursion trip.
   We will start receiving the payment of the registration fee on 12 May
   and all the participants should complete the payment by 31 May.
   Details for the payment will be announced later to those who registered.

<Social Events>
   We will organise a banquet dinner and a half-day excursion trip
   around Tokyo city.

<Important Dates>
   27 Mar 2015--2nd announcement
   27 Mar 2015--Registration opens.
   30 Apr 2015--Application deadline for presentation abstracts,
                travel supports and early registration
   12 May 2015--Selection of presentations and travel supports will be notified.
   12 May 2015--Payment of the registration fee will open.
   31 May 2015--Deadline for regular registration
   31 May 2015--Deadline for payment of the registration fee
   early June 2015--3rd announcement
   29 June 2015--School starts.

<Scientific Rationale>
   The Cosmic Distance Scale plays a fundamental role in a broad range of
   topics in astronomy. This is because it is not easy to know distances
   to astronomical objects and yet the distances are important to study
   many characteristics of the objects, such as their luminosities and
   masses, sizes and ages. An accurate distance scale is also required to
   reconstruct the structure and evolution of the Universe itself.
   Continuing efforts have been made to develop the Cosmic Distance Scale
   ever since very early pioneering works such as the first measurements
   of trigonometric parallaxes in the 19th Century and the discovery of
   the period-luminosity relation of Cepheids around a hundred years ago.
   There have been great advances in the recent decades; for example,
   supernova distance measurments enabled us to discover the accelerating
   expansion of the Universe. On the other hand, accurate measurements of
   the cosmic background radiation made it possible to study the
   structure and evolution of the Universe, which is one of the main
   goals to establish the Cosmic Distance Scale.

   An important aspect in measuring astronomical distances is that no
   single method can be used for the entire range from the proximity
   within the solar system to the distant Universe. Therefore, it is
   important to keep the methods well-calibrated step-by-step from the
   starting point based on trigonometric parallax. In this context, this
   is a very exciting time because the Gaia will provide unprecedented
   measurements of parallaxes in the very near future, which will have a
   large impact on the entire range of the Cosmic Distance Scale. There
   are also high-impact projects ongoing and planned, which will deliver
   new insights into the structure of the Universe including several
   projects led by Japan such as JASMINE, VERA, and, SuMIRe. While recent
   developements of observational facilities and techniques have made it
   feasible to measure distances to objects across the entire range of
   the Universe, recent achievements have demonstrated that it is
   important to make the distance indicators both precise and robust.
   Such recent developements require us to understand the accuracy, range
   of application, and limits to each method and how it is related to
   other methods.

   In this school, distinguished experts in various fields will give
   lectures on the basic principles of the methods to the expected
   progress in the near future. It will be a good opportunity to share a
   broad perspective on the Cosmic Distance Scale among young astronomers
   who will play an active role in a wide range of astronomy. The Cosmic
   Distance Scale indeed covers various fields of astronomy which are
   related to one another, and this school will also offer a chance to
   spend time with international young astronomers working in different
   subfields.

<School Evaluation>
   We will conduct a process evaluation of the summer school in
   collaboration with and endorsed by the International Astronomical
   Union's Office of Astronomy for Development through East Asian
   Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (EA-ROAD).
   The evaluation process will consist of asking prospective participants
   to answer a set of questions to gauge their level of understanding
   prior to the school, followed by a similar exercise towards the end of
   the school. This evaluation will offer us an opportunity to measure
   changes in participants' knowledge and understanding.
   This collaboration with the EA-ROAD will be useful in developing
   a framework to assess the efficacy of future summer schools
   supported by the International Astronomical Union.

<Committees>
SOC:
Giuseppe Bono       (University of Rome Tor Vergata)
Richard  de Grijs   (Kavli Institute, Peking University)
Mamoru   Doi        (Co-chair; Institute of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo)
Naoteru  Gouda      (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)
Mareki   Honma      (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)
Noriyuki Matsunaga  (Co-chair; Department of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo)
Takeo    Minezaki   (Institute of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo)
Ken'ichi Nomoto     (Kavli IPMU, the University of Tokyo)
Hiromoto Shibahashi (Department of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo)
Naotaka  Suzuki     (Kavli IPMU, the University of Tokyo)
Tomonori Totani     (Department of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo)
Yuzuru   Yoshii     (Institute of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo)

LOC:
Laura    Inno       (University of Rome Tor Vergata)
Noriyuki Matsunaga  (Chair; Department of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo)
Takeo    Minezaki   (Institute of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo)
Tomoki   Morokuma   (Institute of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo)
Nobuyuki Sakai      (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)
Takuji   Tsujimoto  (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

<Sponsors>
This summer school has received funding from
the following programmes (more information such
as grant numbers are available in our web site).
 - Ito International Research Center Symposium
 - The University of Tokyo, School of Science, RESCEU
 - National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
 - Foundation for Promotion of Astronomy
 - European Union's Seventh Framework Programme
 - Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the JSPS
 - Others to be confirmed.

<Contact>
LOC - cdschool_loc (at) astron.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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