[Mesa-users] Radionuclide Astronomy in the 2020's and Beyond

[Francis Timmes]

a workshop on stellar radionuclides aimed at the 2020 decadal process
and new hard x-ray and gamma ray astronomy missions that may be of 
interest to the mesa community:

http://www.cvent.com/events/to-2020-and-beyond-radionuclide-astronomy-/event-summary-ac3d0e19cec044b9ba14363f70a3255e.aspx

fxt



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Dear Colleagues,

We'd like you to invite you to a workshop at Los Alamos National Laboratory entitled Radionuclide Astronomy in the 2020's and Beyond (RA2020), August 20-22, 2018.  The purpose of the RA2020 workshop is focused on determining the potential science goals in radionuclide astronomy for next-generation X-ray and gamma-ray missions.  This will include identifying and prioritizing open astrophysical questions on astrophysical sources of radionuclides that can be addressed by next-generation missions.  We will identify the astrophysical modeling and nuclear data needs to maximize the science from these missions.  The workshop will also provide a forum within which the community can present and review the current state of knowledge in hard x-rays and gamma-rays from radioactive nuclei produced in astrophysical transients and identify challenges and opportunities for the field in the near future. RA2020 is sponsored by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics - Center for the Evolution of the Elements. 

Limited travel support is available.  Please register at http://www.cvent.com/events/to-2020-and-
beyond-radionuclide-astronomy-/event-summary-ac3d0e19cec044b9ba14363f70a3255e.aspx
Information for hotels in Los Alamos is provided on the website.  When reserving, mention that you are attending a LANL meeting and request the government per diem rate. 

Target audience: astronomers and astrophysicists (observers, experimentalists, theorists), space mission scientists, nuclear and particle physicists (theorists and experimentalists in nuclear reactions, gamma production, and neutrino interactions), instrument developers, and other interested researchers including graduate students and recent Ph.D. recipients. 

Specific Goals of RA2020 include:       

• Determine the constraints that next-generation telescopes can place on astrophysical sources of radionuclides;       

• Identify the open problems that can be solved by these constraints;       

• Identify the astrophysical modeling needs to take full advantage of the data from these next generation telescopes;       

• Prioritize the modeling needs based on the demand to maximize mission scientific return;       

• Identify the critical nuclear astrophysics data needs of NASA's current and near-term planned astrophysics missions;       

• Prioritize those data needs based on the demand to maximize mission scientific return;       

• Identify either the ideal properties of next-generation telescopes to maximize radionuclide astronomy science (based on the list of open problems) or determine the path needed to identify these properties.      

• Develop strategies for community input to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey;                    

• Formulate a summary of prioritized needs to guide future NASA funding of the field.  

   
The most important and valuable deliverable from RA2020 will be the Report summarizing the recommendations from the workshop. The Report will provide detailed findings on the critical astrophysical modeling and nuclear astrophysics data that are required to maximize the scientific return on NASA's current and near-term planned astrophysics missions and proposed priorities.  The Report will be based on community input gathered at the workshop, discussions during workshop breakout sessions, and other solicited input deemed appropriate by the Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC). The Report will be prepared by the SOC and may also outline specific opportunities for high energy NASA missions, and articulate concrete actions by which the Agency can capitalize on the opportunities and mitigate challenges.


Scientific Organizing Committee: Steve Boggs (UCSD), Roland Diehl (MPE), Fiona Harrison (Caltech), Dieter Hartmann (Clemson), Julie McEnery (NASA-GSFC), Brad Meyer (Clemson), Rich Miller (UAH), Hendrik Schatz (MSU), Frank Timmes (ASU)

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