Con-X Spectroscopy Workshop / AAS Topical Session on Dark Energy

[Michael Arida <arida@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov>]

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1) First Constellation-X Spectroscopy Workshop
   Columbia University, New York, NY 4-7 May 2003

2) Topical Session on Dark Energy 
   Nashville AAS Meeting 27 May 2003
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1) SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT: First Constellation-X Spectroscopy Workshop

Columbia University, New York, NY
4 - 7 May 2003

SCIENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:  J. Bookbinder, J. Bregman, N. Brickhouse,
C. Canizares, A. Fabian, J. Hughes, S. Kahn (chair), J. Kaastra,
D. Liedahl, H. Kunieda, B. Margon, G. Matt, F. Paerels, R. Rosner,
M. Shull, H. Tananbaum, K. Weaver, N. White,

This will be the first of a regular series of workshops designed to
review our understanding of X-ray spectroscopic processes in
astrophysical sources, and to use that understanding to update and
refine the Design Reference Mission for Constellation-X.

The initial workshop will highlight the spectroscopic results from the
grating and CCD experiments on Chandra and XMM-Newton, and serve as a
forum to discuss the X-ray spectroscopic scientific potential of
Astro-E2. We are soliciting oral and poster presentations on a variety
of topics, ranging from analysis of Chandra and XMM-Newton
observational results to theoretical and laboratory studies of
fundamental atomic processes.

After an opening reception on the evening of the 4th, the workshop
will be comprised of 2 1/2 days of scientific sessions, closing around
lunchtime on the 7th. It will be followed by a regular Constellation-X
Facility Science Team meeting, open to all who are interested in
attending, which will begin the afternoon of the 7th, and conclude
during the early afternoon of the 8th.  The FST meeting will also be
held at Columbia.

Further details on this meeting can be found at:
http://constellation.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/workshop/details.html

For registration and accommodations, go to:
http://www.confcon.com/con-x_03/con-x_03.html

Further details on Constellation-X can be found at:
http://constellation.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

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2) Topical Session on Dark Energy at 2003 Nashville AAS Meeting, May 27

The apparent dominance of a `dark energy' component in the cosmic
energy budget is the great cosmological surprise of the last decade.
To resolve this mystery requires both an accurate determination of the
amount of dark energy, and increased sensitivity to time variations in
the dark energy density.  A number of cosmological tests are being
proposed to do this and are driving the requirements for future ground
and space based facilities.

We write to encourage you to participate in a Topical Session on
"Observational Probes of Dark Energy" at the May 2003 AAS meeting in
Nashville. This one day topical session, scheduled for Tuesday May 27,
will focus on critical comparison of the statistical and systematic
uncertainties limiting each dark energy probe. A half day invited oral
session will review some of the leading approaches. A coordinated
poster session and selected contributed talks in the second half of
the session will expand on the analysis in the talks and provide a
forum for presentation of more speculative approaches.

Confirmed speakers for the overview session include:

Dark Energy and its Implications for Fundamental Physics
      Sean Carroll (University of Chicago)
Observational Signatures of Dark Energy
      David Weinberg (Ohio State University)
Probing Dark Energy with High Redshift Supernovae
      Saul Perlmutter (Lawrence Berkeley Lab)
Probing Dark Energy with Weak Gravitational Lensing
      Richard Ellis (Caltech)
Probing Dark Energy with the Galaxy Cluster Mass Function
      Joe Mohr (University of Illinois)
Probing Dark Energy with Sunyaev-Zeldovitch Cluster Surveys
      Gil Holder (Institute for Advanced Study)

This session will provide an excellent opportunity for frank
comparison of the various probes of dark energy before a broad
cross-section of the community. If you would like to propose a
contributed talk, or to present a poster, please submit an abstract
specifying this special session through the AAS web page
(www.aas.org). Abstracts must be submitted by March 19 at 9:00 PM
Eastern time. We look forward to discussing this exciting topic with
you in Nashville in May.

Tim McKay (University of Michigan)
Nick White (Goddard Space Flight Center)
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