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International School on Galactic and Cosmological N-Body Simulations

July 23 - August 5, 2006 Tonantzintla - Puebla, Mexico

We are pleased to announce a summer school on N-body simulations to be held at Tonantzintla, Puebla in Mexico, as part of the "Guillermo Haro Program for Advanced Astrophysics

MOTIVATION

move mouse over N-body simulations play an ever increasing role in our understanding of the realm of galaxies and cosmology. From the very beginning, the N-nody problem has been a key tool in Galactic Dynamics and Cosmology, going back to the pioneering work of Holmberg in 1941. Many important phenomena like galaxy interactions, the role of galactic bars and the growth of the large scale structure of the Universe, to name a few, have been studied by means of N-body simulations.

The enormous advances in computer technology have made possible nowadays to run simulations in common desktop computers, that only recently required expensive computers. Together with this, new and powerful computer codes have been developed and made freely available. These developments make possible to run research-grade simulations without access to specialized or expensive computer resources. This opens up the field of N-body simulations to a much wider base of researchers and students.

move mouse over It is the goal of this school to train students interested in doing research in Galactic Dynamics and Cosmology using N-body simulations, but have no previous experience in this. This will be a "hands-on" school, where lectures will be combined with computer labs. In the lectures we will cover the numerical and dynamical facets of the art of N-body simulations. The labs will be used to develop proficiency in the use of codes and numerical tools. Given the time constraint we will concentrate on tree codes and the NEMO dynamics toolbox .

PROGRAMME

The school consists of morning lectures, afternoon computer lab sessions and conferences at the end of the day.

The lecturers will present their material in a coordinated way, teaching the basics necessary to generate initial conditions, run simulations and analyze results. They will also discuss the physics and numerics behind, as well as the limitations of the simulations. During the lab sessions, students will work on various exercises designed to develop proficiency at using the lecture material. The conferences will showcase various applications in Galactic Dynamics and Cosmology, of the type of simulations covered in the lectures. They will also suggest interesting problems to be pursued by the students. Since this is a "hands-on" school, were the ability to run simulations by the students is sought, the material covered is necessarily restricted. We will concentrate in the use of tree codes to simulate collisionless dynamics.

The topics covered will be:

Students that have laptop computers with Unix (linux/Mac OS X) should bring them. They will be able to load and run all the school material and tools directly in their laptops. Computers will be provided for students without laptops, on a shared basis.

LECTURERS

  • Luis Aguilar (UNAM/Mexico)
  • Lia Athanassoula (Marseille/France)
  • Walter Dehnen (Leicester/UK)
  • Julio Navarro (Victoria/Canada)
  • Peter Teuben (Maryland/USA)

    SPEAKERS

  • Vladimir Avila (UNAM/Mexico)
  • Albert Bosma (Marseille/France)
  • Pedro Colin (CRyA/Mexico)
  • Ivanio Puerari (INAOE/Mexico)
  • Octavio Valenzuela (Washington/USA)

    VENUE

    The advanced school is part of the annual international Guillermo Haro programme, which promotes advanced research through the organization of lecture series, workshops, and conferences at the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE) in Tonanzintla - Puebla, Mexico.

    REGISTRATION

    About 40 participants will be selected to attend the school from those that register before the final deadline of April 30th, 2006. The final list of accepted participants will be published in the electronic page of the event by May 22nd. Registration should be completed on-line via our registration web page.

    HOTEL INFORMATION

    Detailed information regarding the accomodation during the school will appear shortly in our web-page and in our next circular. We are arranging relatively cheap accommodation with the "Hotel Posada Senorial" Cholula, 5 minutes by bus from INAOE. The cost for a double room is aprox. 40 USD. Note that there is the possibility to join with other students of the school to occupy the same double room and thus lower the accommodation cost to 1/2 of the price. In addition, INAOE has a limited number of rooms with a cost of 20 USD per night. A dinner in Cholula, in a typical Tacos restaurant would cost less than 10 USD.

    PROCEEDINGS

    The lectures will be published electronicallly and available during the school.

    SCHOOL FEE

    The registration fee of 200 US dollars covers the cost of lecture material, breakfast, lunch and coffee-breaks.

    FINANCIAL SUPPORT

    Some financial support is available that ranges from a school fee waiver to help with lodging costs. Please indicate in the registration form if you need assistance.

    ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

    SOC: Luis Aguilar (Chair), Peter Teuben, Lia Athanassoula and Walter Dehnen.
    LOC: Luis Aguilar, Alberto Carraminana, Omar Lopez, Raul Mujica (Chair), Jose Ramon Valdes, Jean Charles Lambert,

    CONTACT

    For more information, or email: gh2006@inaoep.mx


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    This page was last modified on 24-Oct-2011 16:43 EST/EDT by PJT. (UMD mirror/INAOE orig)