Workshop on Promoting Gravitational Wave Astronomy in Africa

31 May 2012, 08:00 → 1 Jun 2012, 18:00 Africa/Johannesburg

St Georges Hotel & Conference Centre

Nigel Bishop (Rhodes University - South AFrica)

The South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) in collaboration with USA based Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) will be hosting a workshop to promote gravitational wave astronomy in Africa.
This workshop follows the realization that in South Africa, and Africa as a whole, the activity (in the sense of publications) in gravitational wave astronomy is limited to a small group in numerical relativity at Rhodes University, and to a small group in source modeling at the University of Cape Town. On the other hand research in related disciplines such as astronomy, astrophysics, computational physics, cosmology, high performance computing, and relativity, is quite active in South Africa. And in addition there is an interest in detection of gravitational waves via pulsar timings, which is one of the scientific motivations for building the SKA. Thus, with some limited re-skilling, South Africa could develop the human resources to become an active participant in the theoretical and computational aspects of gravitational wave astronomy.
LIGO is a major partner in this workshop.  LIGO facilities are operated for the US National Science Foundation by the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) is the international collaboration that sets and pursues the scientific agenda of LIGO. It has approximately 850 members in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, including the LIGO Laboratory and the GEO collaboration in Europe.
The workshop will be introductory and motivational in nature.  The target audience includes academics, researchers and students in astronomy, astrophysics, computational physics, lasers, cosmology, geophysics and related fields.  Topical coverage will include an overview of the field, laser interferometry, data analysis, numerical relativity, approximate analytic methods, source modeling and astrophysical implications, pulsar timing and current African activity in gravitational wave astronomy.

Download First Announcement Here
Please Note:  There will be no registration fee, but delegates will need to fund the cost of travel and accommodation.
Local Organising Committee
 
1. Prof Nigel Bishop (Rhodes University) – Chairperson
2. Prof Sunil Maharaj (UKZN)
3. Prof Denis Pollney(Rhodes University)
4. Prof Patrick Woudt (UCT)
5. Mr Brian Masara (SAIP)
 
International Members
 
1. Prof Manuela Campanelli, ( Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, USA)
2. Prof Badri Krishnan (Albert Einstein Institute, Potsdam, Germany)
3. Prof Ilya Mandel ( University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK)
4. Prof Fred Raab( LIGO Hanford Observatory, Richland, Washington, USA)