First Circular

Second Princeton - PUC Joint Workshop on Astrophysics

DARK MATTER AND GRAVITATIONAL LENSING

To be held in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

July 19-22, 2000

First Circular and Registration Form

Each year, Princeton University and the Universidad Catolica de Chile organise a joint workshop on a selected topic. This year, the topic of the meeting will be "Dark matter and gravitational lensing"

Most of the best observational facilities developed to assess cosmological problems are currently built in Chile. Optical telescopes such as VLT are now offered to the astronomical community, and many other large telescopes will start operations within the next 2 years. Followed later by the millimeter array ALMA, these tools cover a large wavelength range, offering new possibilities to investigate the origin of dark matter through a wide range of physical processes. Gravitational lensing, strong or weak, is a natural tool that is used to study dark matter. Thanks to the improved performances of the new instruments, it is now possible to use it in its weaker effects to map the dark matter accross galaxy clusters or even to detect Large Scale Structures. More locally, microlensing helps to map the distribution and understand the nature of dark matter in our own galaxy. Comparison with dark matter halos derived at higher redshift is even becoming possible via galaxy-galaxy lensing studies.

This meeting intends to bring together Chilean and foreign astronomers working in Chile, plus a small number of participants from abroad (up to a total of about 45 people), with some 15 experts from around the world to discuss recent advances in the study of dark matter and on how to attack the problem under the new view angle made accessible by the most recent observational developments.

- explora EN ATACAMA
- Fundacion Andes
- European Southern Observatory
- Las Campanas Observatory
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory

We are planning a four-day meeting. The format would be Invited Talks in the morning, and Topical Discussions and Poster sessions in the afternoons/evenings. A list of subjects to cover is:

- Danielle Alloin, ESO, Chile
- Charles Alcock, LLNL, USA
- Roger Blandford, Caltech, USA
- Tereasa Brainerd, Boston University, USA
- Tom Broadhurst, ESO, Germany
- Arlin Crotts, Columbia, USA
- Emilio Falco, Harvard, USA
- Norman Gray, Glasgow, UK
- Jean-Paul Kneib, Toulouse, France
- Chris Kochanek, Harvard, USA (*)
- Yannick Mellier, IAP-Paris, France
- Julio Navarro, University of Victoria, Canada
- Michael Rauch, Carnegie Institutions, USA
- Prasenjit Saha, Queen Mary and Westfield College, UK
- Penny Sackett, RUG, the Netherlands (*)
- Paul Schechter, MIT, USA (*)
- Jean Surdej, Liege, Belgium
- Ed Turner, Princeton, USA
- David Valls-Gabaud, Toulouse, France
- Tommy Wiklind, Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden
- David Wittman, Bell Labs, USA

- D. Alloin, ESO, Chile
- C. Alcock, LLNL, USA
- F. Courbin, PUC, Chile
- D. Garcia Lambas, Cordoba, Argentina
- J. Gunn, Princeton, USA
- B. Paczynski, Princeton University, USA
- M. Phillips, LCO, Chile
- H. Quintana, PUC, Chile
- G. Meylan, ESO, Germany
- D. Minniti, PUC, Chile
- G. Soucail, Toulouse, France
- M. Strauss, Princeton University, USA
- E. Turner, Princeton University, USA
- D. Valls-Gabaud, Toulouse, France
- S. D. M. White, MPA, Germany

- F. Barrientos, PUC
- A. Clocchiatti, PUC
- F. Courbin, PUC
- G. Galaz, LCO
- D. Geisler, Concepcion
- L. Infante, PUC
- C. Lidman, ESO
- S. Lopez, U Chile
- H. Quintana, PUC
- G. Mallen-Ornelas, PUC
- D. Minniti, PUC
- H. Muriel, OAC, Argentina
- A. Reisenegger, PUC
- P. Tissera, IAFE, Argentina

The workshop will be organized around several invited talks per day and topical discussion sessions led by a chairperson during the evenings. Invited talks will be around 45 minutes long, with plenty of time for questions and discussion. Special time slots will be reserved, as well, for poster sessions. The afternoon hours of some days, between the invited talks and the discussion sessions, will be free from workshop activities. All contributions will be in the form of posters. Therefore, the registration form does not give a choice of poster or oral contributions. If someone needs a special invitation, for funding purposes, please write to the LOC (fcourbin@astro.puc.cl and/or dante@astro.puc.cl).

Interested persons are encouraged to send the registration forms by e-mail, or use the on-line WWW registrations (at http://www.astro.puc.cl/~workshop/2000/reg.html ), not later than May 15th.

Due to space limitations, by May 20th participants will be told if any selection was needed.

A fee of US$150 is due on the registration day at the workshop, only in cash (we can not handle credit cards). We hope to be able to waive this fee for students who request it.

Because of their limited impact and high work load for both editors (organizers) and authors (speakers), it is not intended to publish proceedings of this workshop. However, the abstracts (and possibly one or two small figures) posted by the participants may be used to compile a "web-proceedings".

San Pedro de Atacama is one of the most touristic places in the north of Chile. It is a small village situated about 100 km from Calama, (closest airport). At an altitude of 2400m, it is right in the middle of the Atacama desert, just downhill the altiplano at the boarder between Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, where the future millimeter interferometer ALMA will be built.

The weather in San Pedro is excellent all year long, sometimes quite warm in summer, but never unbearable in winter (i.e., July). It is a dry place in any case. Indeed, it is located in the driest desert of the world. Temperatures in July are very pleasant during the day (about 20-25 centigrade), but are much colder at night, sometimes close to freezing. It is therefore desirable to bring both warm clothes as well as summer clothes .

The meeting, coffee breaks and final banquet will take place in the conference room of the "Lodge explora EN ATACAMA" . Most of the afternoons will be free so that one can plan short trips to the many different sites around the village (see Outdoor activities ).

There are many possible places to lodge in San Pedro. However, we think that better interaction between the participants would be possible if most people stay at the same place. As the range of prices is very wide, we selected one mid-price and very good quality hotel at the edge of the village (which is close to the center anyway, as San Pedro is about 1 square kilometer). We will make the reservation for you in this hotel (Hosteria de San Pedro) if you sign up the registration form. A single room is about 40-45US$ and a shared cabin for 4 people, is about 25US$ each.

The participants who do not wish to stay at "Hosteria de San Pedro" can arrange their own reservation. We will update this page when we find out more about possibilities and prices. There are very different alternatives to the "Hosteria de San Pedro", from a back-packers-style bed in a dormitory (about 10US$) to a suite to at the "Lodge explora EN ATACAMA" . Most hotels in the price range 40-60US$ propose a double room with private bathroom, hot water and possibly heater. Note however, that heating is not provided during the night as electricity is cut between about midnight and 4-5 am.

Although San Pedro is located in the middle of nowhere, it is relatively easy ot reach. The best is to fly from Santiago to Calama, which is the nearest airport. Try to arrange a flight which would take you to Calama in the afternoon, no later. This will allow you to catch a bus from Calama to San Pedro on the same day. Buses are inexpensive (less than 10US$ for the one way ticket) and very confortable. The landscape on the 1 hour trip is breathtaking. We will try to organize alternative transport from the airport, as soon as we know everyone's travel plans.

While Calama airport may first look impressively lost and far from any bus station, you will find very easily taxis (or they will find you anyway) which will bring you directly at the bus station for about 6-7 US$. In some cases, taxi drivers will even book the bus ticket for you. Just pronounce the word "San Pedro".

To leave San Pedro, there are buses every second hour in average, between 9am and 6pm.