Manchester workshop, 8-11 October 2007

Talks from the workshop

Principles of Interferometry (Neal Jackson)

ALMA and molecular astrophysics (Gary Fuller)

Getting telescope time (Neal Jackson)

Cosmic microwave background - theory (Richard Battye)

VLBI and e-VLBI (Ralph Spencer)

Estrela student talks

RRATS (Evan Keane)

Methanol masers (Kalle Torstensson)

Hunting radio polarized signals (Elena Cenacchi)

Anomalous emission from dust in HII regions (Nikta Amiri)

Pulsar timing (Maciej Serylak)

Pictures from the workshop

Getting to the University

Most major airlines fly into Manchester. These include a number of budget airlines including TUIfly from Germany and jet2.com from the Netherlands. Some airlines (in particular Ryanair) fly into Liverpool, from where there is a bus to Manchester Piccadilly station once per hour for most of the day; allow at least an hour and a half for this process.

The quickest way to get to the meeting accommodation is by train from Manchester Airport (the station is near terminal 2) to Manchester Piccadilly. This takes about 20 minutes; trains are frequent (normally a few per hour) and the last train is normally after midnight. Unless I have notified you otherwise separately, I have booked and pre-paid accommodation at the Days Inn Manchester for non-Manchester-resident students for the nights of 7th,8th,9th and 10th October. If you need to book additional nights at this stage due to flight schedules you should arrange this with the hotel directly (+44 161 955 8400), pay the additional nights yourself and claim it back from your local node. In case of emergencies during the weekend, phone me on 07796 140346.

You can find maps of the University area here. The Days Inn hotel is building 11 on Sackville St on the campus map, about 200m from Manchester Piccadilly rail station. The lectures take place in room 3.136 of the Turing Building (number 46 on the campus map) which is about 15 minutes' walk from the hotel.

Meeting programme

A preliminary programme is shown below.

ESTRELA students who began in September 2006 should give a talk of about 15 minutes on the research that has been done during this year. Students who are beginning this year should give a talk of about 10 minutes on any subject in physics or astronomy connected with, for example, Master's level research that has previously been done. It would be very useful if you could email me your talk beforehand, or at least bring it on a USB memory stick, to save changeover time.

There is some flexibility on the subject of the practical session on Thursday. It will probably be run with at least two different levels, including a fairly basic introduction to AIPS and data processing together with more advanced sessions. Possible topics for more advanced sessions include VLBI/Merlin data analysis, handling polarization data or spectral line data. ** If you have views on topics you would like to see included in the latter sessions, please let us know. **

There will be an excursion to Jodrell Bank Observatory on the Tuesday afternoon.

Evenings/eating

There is no shortage of places to eat. The city centre, a few hundred yards north of the hotel, has a large number of restaurants of all nationalities. South Asian restaurants are concentrated in Rusholme, one mile south. The city centre is compact enough that most places can be reached by walking, but buses from the main bus station on Piccadilly Gardens down Oxford Road are extremely frequent.

Preliminary programme

Monday 8th October

9.15 Principles of interferometry (Neal Jackson) [introduction to interferometry, especially intended for new students not registered at the ERIS school; optional for others]

10.45 Welcome and introduction to Jodrell Bank (Phil Diamond)

11.05 Coffee

11.30 Talks by existing students (15 minutes each): Elena Cenacchi, Rossa Hurley, John Morgan, Lyshia Quinn, Maciej Serylak

12.45 Lunch

2.00 Practical demonstration/workshop: Virtual Observatories (Anita Richards)

7.30 Buffet and tour of Hydes Brewery

Tuesday 9th October

Special scientific topic: Cosmic Microwave Background

9.30 Introduction (Richard Davis)

10.30 Coffee

11.00 CMB techniques (Lucio Piccirillo)

12.00 CMB theory (Richard Battye)

1.00 Lunch

2.00 Visit to Jodrell Bank. Coach leaves from in front of the SCHUSTER Building on Brunswick St (no. 54) and returns from Jodrell at 5.30.

Wednesday 10th October

9.15 Talks by existing students (15 mins): Christian Struve, Kalle Torstensson

Talks on radio astronomy

9.45 e-MERLIN progress and opportunities (Simon Garrington)

10.10 ALMA and molecular astrophysics (Gary Fuller)

10.35 Pulsars and pulsar techniques (Michael Kramer)

11.00 Coffee

11.30 SKA and phased arrays (Peter Wilkinson)

11.55 Talks by new students (10 mins each): Nikta Amiri, Sarah Bryan

12.20 Lunch

13.50 VLBI and e-VLBI (Ralph Spencer)

14.15 Talks by new students (10 mins each): Chin-Shin Chang, Francesco Costagliola, Evan Keane, Hayden Ramparadath, Rashmi Verma

15.00 Session on writing telescope proposals (Neal Jackson et al.)

Conference dinner (venue TBA)

Thursday 11th October

9.30-12.30 Practicals on interferometry (Neal Jackson, Rob Beswick, Tom Muxlow)

12.30 End of meeting