Under the Patronage of H.E. Prof. Hany Helal

   Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research

Advanced High-Energy Astrophysics 

Workshop for Young Physicists & Astronomers

from the Middle East & North Africa

When: 20 January - 2 February, 2008

Where: Bibliotheca Alexandria, Egypt

What: Two Weeks of Advanced, Practical Training on

High Energy Astrophysics for Young Physicists & Astronomers

by the Leading Experts

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Nobel Laureate Prof. Anthony Hewish delivered an address at the workshop:

Cambridge University Professor Anthony Hewish addressed the workshop participants, citing important lessons from his career and advice to young scientists.

Objectives

To empower the next generation of scientists with the modern tools of exploring the high energy phenomena in the universe.

To enhance the utilization of NASA & ESA space missions by training new scientists in under-represented regions.

To bring a genuine sense of participation in high-technology space missions to regional junior scientists.

To foster collaboration and interaction between scientists and institutions from developing and developed countries that 

    would induce sustainable research thereafter.

 

More information about the history and philosophy of the COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop can be found in these articles: Article 1 | Article 2

Sponsors & Conveners

Committee on Space Research (COSPAR; Prof. Peter Willmore)

Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science, Cairo

    University (CAIS; Dr. Alaa Ibrahim)

Bibliotheca Alexandria (BA; Eng. Hoda El Mikaty)

Co-Sponsors

European Space Agency (ESA)

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA GSFC)

International Center for Theoretical Physics, Italy (ICTP)

University of Leicester, UK (UL)

International Astronomical Union (IAU)

Venue

The workshop took place in the Bibliotheca Alexandria, the New Library of Alexandria. Since its inauguration in 2002, Bibliotheca Alexandria has been a focal point for the production and dissemination of knowledge and a place of dialogue, learning and understanding between cultures and peoples. The bibliotheca hosted numerous conferences and workshop in all fields of knowledge. Many of them covered astronomy and physics, e.g.: Einstein Symposium 2005, Total Solar Eclipse 2006, Interacademy Panel General Assembly 2006, and World Space Environment Forum 2007.

Speakers

Dr. Keith Arnaud (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Dr. Andrew Beardmore (University of Leicester, UK)

Dr. Carlos Gabriel (European Space Agency)

Dr. Matteo Guinazzi, (European Space Agency)

Prof. Mariano Mendez (Univ. of Groningen, Netherlands)

Dr. Alaa Ibrahim (Cairo University)

Dr. Craig Markwardt (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Dr. Paul O'Brien (University of Leicester, UK)

Dr. Kim Page (University of Leicester, UK)

Dr. Randall Smith (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Prof. Peter Willmore (COSPAR)

Target Audience, Workshop Objective, and Scholarships

This workshop is intended to lead to sustainable research in high-energy astrophysics.

Target audience include MSc and PhD graduate students, as well as post-docs and young faculty, who have shown serious  

     interest to pursue a career in high energy astrophysics.

The workshop will also be valuable for junior physicists and astronomers currently working in related fields who wish to

     broaden their interests and can demonstrate a clear link.

All applicants will be selected on merit basis, regardless of status.

The selection will be based on the applicant's current programme of research, a short essay on their future research and

    career, and a reference from the applicant's home institute.

All applicants must demonstrate clearly and convincingly in an essay how the workshop will develop their personal career

    and their institutional and national research objectives.

Top Applicants will be offered full scholarships to attend the workshop.

Special consideration will be given to applicants who propose joint and sustainable research programs.

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Program & Scientific Topics

 Workshop Program & Time Table

 

 The X-ray and Gamma-ray Missions

SWIFT Gamma-ray Observatory

Chandra X-ray Observatory: Science| Public

XMM-Newton

  The Physics of X-ray and Gamma-ray Emission from Cosmic Objects

Radiative Processes in Astrophysics

Neutron Stars

Black Holes

Gamma Ray Bursts

Supernova Remnants

Galaxies, Cluster of Galaxies, and Active Galactic Nuclei

  Statistics and Data Analysis Techniques

Probability Distributions, c² Statistic, Model Fitting & Parameter Estimation

Timing, Spectral, and Imaging Analysis

Mission Software: HEAsoft, FTOOLS, XANADU, CIAO, SAS

Software Tools: IDL & GDL

  Project

Each student will be working on a research project that he/she will present at the end of the workshop

The project is intended to form the basis for a sustainable relation with the lecturers and hopefully result in a publication

Awards will be given to the top projects

Lectures

All Lecture Presentations are in PDF format.

 

Introduction to High Energy Astrophysics: A History of X-ray Astronomy (1MB) (Peter Willmore)

Swift: Spacecraft & Instruments (8MB)| Software: FTools (0.4MB)(Paul O'Brien & Craig Markwardt)

Swift: BAT Training (0.5MB)| XRT Training (0.3MB) (Kim Page)

Chandra:  Spacecraft & Instruments (1.5MB)| Software: CAIO Lec. 1(0.5MB), Lec. 2(1.2MB) (Randall Smaith)

XMM: Spacecraft & Instruments |Software: SAS Lec.1, 2, 3 (Carlos Gabriel & Matteo Guainazzi)

X-ray Emission Mechanisms: Lec. 1, Lec. 2, XSPEC Models (Peter Willmore)

X-ray Spectrum Analysis: CCD Spectra (Keith Arnaud) | Grating Spectra (Randall Smith)

Time Series Analysis: The Basics of X-ray Timing Analysis (Craig Markwardt)

Statistics: Statistics for High Energy Astrophysics (Keith Arnaud)

Source Detection: Source Searching Methods (Carlos Gabriel)

Gamma Ray Bursts: Lec. 1, Lec. 2 (Paul O'Brien)

Accretion-Powered X-ray Sources: Lec. 1 & 2 (Mariano Mendez)

Isolated Neutron Stars: Lec. 1 & 2 (Alaa Ibrahim)

Active Galactic Nuclei: Lec. 1, Lec. 2 (Matteo Guainazzi)

Galaxies, Clusters and Groups: Lec. 1 & 2 (Keith Arnaud)

Supernova Remnants: Supernova Remnants and the Interstellar Medium (Randall Smith)

RS Oph (Andrew Beardmore)

Scientific Presentation: The Basics of Scientific Presentation (Craig Markwardt)

Future Development in X-ray Astrophysics: Future X-ray Missions (Mariano Mendez)

Writing Proposals: How to Write a Great Proposal (Randall Smith)

Projects

  Swift

XRT Observations of Gamma Ray Bursts GRB 080123 (Mahmoud Hanafy; Supervisor: Kim Page & Paul O'Brien)

BAT Observations of Gamma Ray Bursts GRB 080123 (Ahmed Abdel-Basit; Supervisor: Kim Page & Paul O'Brien)

Search for Quasi Periodic Oscillation in Magnetar Bursts (Khaled Gamal, Sara Said, Mohamed Soliman; Supervisors: Craig Markwardt & Alaa Ibrahim)

Spectral & Temporal Properties of SGR 1900+14 Bursts (Mona Molham & Sherehan Shehata; Supervisors: Alaa Ibrahim & Craig Markwardt)

Probing the Spectral Evolution in the Magnetar Bursts with Swift BAT (Mohamed Zaghoo & Youssef Abdel-Aziz; Supervisors: Craig Markwardt &  Alaa Ibrahim)

BAT & XRT Observations of the X-ray Flash 060428B (Dr. Mohamed Basha & Shady Azer; Supervisor: Paul O'Brien)

Swift XRT Observation of GRB071003 (Rupak Roy; Supervisors: Kim Page & Craig Markwardt)

Spectral Analysis of GRB 061121 with Swift BAT (Eucharia Okoro; Supervisors: Kim Page & Craig Markwardt)

? (Özgecan Önal)

  XMM-Newton

The XMM-Newton Spectrum Of the Black Hole X-ray Transient SWIFT J1753.5-0127 (Reham Moustafa)

Temperature Map of Abell 3705 with XMM Newton X-Ray Mission (Burcu Beygu; Supervisor: Keith Arnaud)

Spectral energy distribution of Mkn 478 (Shruti Tripathi, Supervisor: Matteo Guianazzi)

? (Khadiga Abdul-Rahman)

Studying the X-ray Flux from the Black Hole 4U 1636-53: Broad Relativistic Iron Line (Radwa Dawood; Advisor: Mariano Mendez)

Studying the X-ray Flux from the Black Hole 4U 0614+09 (Radwa Adel; Advisor: Mariano Mendez)

Constraining accretion disk inclination of MCG MCG-5-23 23-16 using XMM data (Susmita Chakravorty; Supervisor: Matteo Guianazzi)

? (Mohamed Ali)

  Chandra

Oxygen line abundances in the bright supernova remnant N132D (Kuntal Misra; Supervisor: Randall Smith)

? (Yakup Pekön)

? (Seyda Sahiner)

? (Aletha de Witt)

? (Hassan Bourhous)

? (Yevgen Vovk)

? (Mohamed Hamdy)

? (Dr. Badie Korany)

? (Dr. Essam Ahmed)

Sustainability

A Fellowship Program that sponsors short visits to NASA GSFC, ESA Vilspa, and Leicester will be announced soon.

Egyptian Participants are meeting every Mon. & Wed. 4-8 PM at Cairo Univ. Newcomers are welcome.

  Upcoming Related Conferences:

IAU Regional Meeting 5-10 April 2008, Cairo, Egypt

American Univ. in Cairo Annual Research Conference 13 April, 2008, Cairo, Egypt

International School for Young Astronomers, 1-22 July 2008, Istanbul, Turkey

COSPAR General Assembly,13-20 July 2008, Montreal, Canada

Neutron Stars & Gamma Ray Bursts, 24-29 March, 2009, Alexandria, Egypt

 

News & Pictures

Kim Page Photo Album

Keith Arnaud Photo Album

Andy Beardmore Photo Album

Paul O'Brien Photo Album

Susmita Chakravorty's Photo Album

 

Congratulations to LOC co-chair Prof. Tarek Hussein

who has been named the president of the Egyptian

Academy of Scientific Research & Technology

 

Data Analysis Software

CIAO (Chandra)

SAS (XMM-Newton)

HEAsoft (Swift; including FTools & XSPEC)

IDL (a popular and powerful data analysis platform in astrophysics)

GDL (a free IDL Compatible Software)

Mandriva Linux: An easy-to-use Linux Operating System for the above software

 

Linux Tutorials: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Manual |

 

Public Outreach

On Jan. 31, 2008 over a hundred high school students from Cairo and Alexandria attended a public outreach day that featured a tour to the library, a planetarium show, and three public lectures:

The Universe is Hot Stuff by Dr. Peter Willmore, Touching Us from Across the Milky Way by Dr. Alaa Ibrahim, and Beyond Einstein, by Dr. Randall Smith. Here we feature some related materials

Beyond Einstein: Randall Smith

Swift Gamma Ray Observatory | Chandra X-ray Observatory ( 1 | 2 | 3) | XMM-Newton Space Telescope

Neutron Stars & Black Holes: 1 | 2 |

Resources

High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center

NASA ADS Reference Archive

Astrophysics e-print Archive

Journals: ApJ | A&A | MNRAS | Ap&SS

  Videos

Gamma Ray Bursts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

Neutron Stars & Black Holes: 1 | 2 |

Beyond Einstein: Part 1 | Part 2 | Randall Smith |

Background Information

  Recommended Reading for the Participants

The Physics of the Universe: A 21st Century Frontiers of Discovery

     Full Book (3.9 MB PDF) | AIP Summary

Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos: 11 Science Questions for the New Century

     Report in Brief | Executive Summary | Physics Today Summary |

Neutron Stars: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

Magnetars: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Gamma Ray Bursts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Black Holes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Supernovae & Supernova Remnants: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Technology Applications of Astrophysics: X-ray GPS 1 | X-ray GPS 2

  Related Readings

Astrophysics attracts back multimillionaire musician Brian May after 33 years of first encounter  1 | 2 | 3 |