ASTRONOMY WITH RADIOACTIVITIES

SEP 29 - OCT 02, 1999

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP
AT THE RINGBERG CASTLE
OF THE
MAX PLANCK GESELLSCHAFT

KREUTH, TEGERNSEE, GERMANY

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Scope:

Astronomy with radioactivities as a subfield of nuclear astrophysics addresses the astrophysical potential of measurements of cosmic radioactive isotopes. Since the first detection of a cosmic radioactivity line back in the 60ies, almost 30 years of hard experimental effort has helped to advance this field into an astronomical regime of its own: Gamma-rays transmit radioactive decay to the observer most directly, and radioisotopes are most direct messengers from the nuclear processes in stellar interiors and explosive environments. But radioactivities also encode cosmic-ray history between sources and observations in near-earth space, and solar-system meteorites have been found to include traces of radioactive decay in grains which must have formed close to nucleosynthesis sites.
Experimental techniques of today can image the sky in radioactivity gamma-rays to a precision sufficient to perform correlation studies with other astronomical sources. Even the radioactive motors of supernovae are at the rim of measurement capabilities through decay gamma-rays from shortlived Ni and Co. Charged-particle detectors capture and analyze isotopic distributions in regions of the solar system which are remote from the earth magnetic field distortions, and precision isotopic analyses in laboratories of meteoritic grains down to microns in diameter has established a rich body of astronomical data. Supplementing these astronomical enterprises, radioactive-beam facilities are beginning to provide support for nuclear-reaction cross sections in previously unexplored regimes. Furthermore, the evolution of computing facilities makes even multi-dimensional hydrodynamical modeling of stars and explorion with coupled large nuclear-reaction networks a feasible perspective, thus helping our interpretation and models of cosmic radioactivities.
With this workshop, we aim to expose the context of astronomical studies with radioactivities along above aspects. The roots of the workshop are COMPTEL Team-internal small workshops centered on 26Al imaging in gamma-rays, and the science workshop "The Radioactive Galaxy" held at Clemson University in March 1996.
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Contents

The workshop started mid-day on Wednesday, September 29, and ended mid-day Saturday, October 02, 1999.
The workshop took up the issues resulting from our previous workshops:: Naturally this led us, in addition to exposing the sources and the gamma-ray data with their constraints, to add a closer look at  the early SNR phase, including acceleration of cosmic rays, and to discuss the possibility of dust carrying some of  the radioactive ejecta. The latter implied that we discussed meteoritic isotopic anomalies, cosmic ray composition, and why the solar nebula has some remarkable anomalies in radioactivity traces.
The "sessions" of the workshop featured introductory/overview talks and  more specific contributed talks.
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Program

Talks were 25 minutes, discussion followed as required.
Opportunities for discussions were a main workshop goal,  through extended breaks and during a hiking session in the local mountains, as well as a special discussion evening.
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Organisation

The workshop organisation was informal and low-cost. No conference fees.
Scientific organisation team members are
- Roland Diehl (MPE, also Contact Person / Coordinator, rod@mpe.mpg.de),
- Dieter Hartmann (Clemson)
- Mark Leising (Clemson)
- Nikos Prantzos (IAP).
The workshop location was the Ringberg Castle of the Max Planck Gesellschaft, located approximately a one-hour drive southeast of Munich, Germany. Full-board lodging at the castle was available for participants, approximate cost 70 Euro/day.
Participation was by invitation and upon request to the organizing team. The total number of participants was limited to approximately 60.

All workshop information is published on this website.

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  • Proceedings

    • The Workshop Proceedinga are published as  a booklet ("MPE-Report") holding at least "extended abstracts" (~2 pages) or full papers, as preferred, for each contribution, for distribution among participants and interested colleagues. Contributions were collected a few weeks after the workshop.
    Distribution of Proceedings in March 2000.
    Reference:
    Astronomy with Radioactivities, Eds. Roland Diehl & Dieter Hartmann,
    MPE Report 274, ISBN 0178-0719

    The individual contributions may be obtained in electronic form here.

    See also  Diehl R., Hartmann D. (2000): "Astronomy with Radioactivities" Conference Summary, PASP, Vol.  112, 775, 1278
     
     
     

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    by rod@mpe.mpg.de
    History
    - 26Feb99: first announcement, scope & program outline
    - 22Apr99: add list of contributions
    - 07Jun99: update text & program outline&participants list
    - 02Jul99: add detailed program, rearrange top links
    - 29Jul99: revise dates, include second circular
    - 22Nov99: add proceedings details
    - 15Jan00: update for post-workshop use
    - 25 May 2000: update after proceedings distribution; link to other sites
    - 08 Dec 2000: make exclusive for 1999 workshop