Thursday, May 29, 2003 from: C. Carilli (NRAO) to: ISAC re: Minutes from ISAC WG chairs telecon May 28, 2003 cc: Tarter, Schilizzi, Kellermann, Hall Attached below are the minutes from yesterday's telecon. Particular Action items that arose: 1. WG chairs -- Final list of authors/topics to CC/SR by June 30 2. CC -- invitation letter to authors (for the book and Leiden conference by July 15). 3. SR -- arrangement with publisher by June 30 4. WG chairs -- detailed outline of chapters and required simulations ('reference skies') by Geraldton meeting. If there are items missing, please let me know. Chris Carilli Socorro NM USA -------------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes of WG chairs telecon April 28, 2003 ------------------------------------------- Attending: C.Carilli, D.Jones, J.Lazio, J. Dickey, L. Feretti, R. Schilizzi, B. Gaensler, S. Dougherty, H. Falcke Missing: S. Rawlings, J. Lazio, T. vdHulst, R. Taylor Comments during telecon: The original agenda is included below for reference. ------------------ Item 1: telecons There was general consensus that smaller telecons work better, as long as the minutes are distributed to all, and that the WG chairs maintain close contact with their members. Falcke raised the issue as to the meaning of official ISAC membership, pointing out that there are folks contributing to the various WGs who are not on the official ISAC list (and vice versa). Schilizzi pointed out that, with the start of work on the science book chapters, the ISAC is moving into a new phase where real work may be demanded of its members. Carilli requested lists of contributing scientists for each working group from the chairs. These lists, along with the authorship list for the science book, should act as a guide to the membership evolution, as will be discussed in Geraldton. -------------- Item 2: Geraldton organization Carilli gave overview of plans for three ISAC sessions in Geraldton. Time will be tight. One suggested revision was to discuss the book chapters on day 1, in the context of settling the level 0 science goals. It was also unclear whether day II really required a re-visit to the WPs and Matrix. Hopefully the ISAC review can occur prior to Geraldton. -------------- Item 4: Geraldton science talks The science talks on day III were discussed at length. All agreed to participate as listed, with a few minor revisions: 1. Mag fields in different cosmic contexts will be presented by Beck and Feretti (10 min each) 2. Wilner will present protostars and PP disks (10min), with Taylor giving 10min on solar-stellar connection. 3. Scintillation will be sub-summed into transients, and Falcke will give a 5min presentation on radio airshowers. 4. Level 0 discussion will present over-arching themes, with time for comment and discussion by ISSC/rest (30min total). 5. Carilli requested that in the EoR talk Briggs emphasize the (potential) impact of recent WMAP and Gunn-Peterson measurements. 6. Feretti emphasized the need to present the deep surveys (HI and continuum) in detail. TvdHulst will be organizing these three talks under Galaxy Formation. --------------- Items 5: book chapters and leiden Short reports were given by F. Briggs and H. Falcke as to their initial impression of the book chapters listed under their working groups. Briggs suggested that there may be other areas of cosmology that the SKA contributes to besides EoR and LSS. He will send his final suggestions for revision of the organization of the cosmology/LSS chapters and authors by June 30, as will Falcke and the rest of WG chairs. Falcke initiated a general discussion of the format of the book. There was concern that over-arching, 'level 0' topics, such as cosmic magnetic fields, are dispersed throughout the book, such that the prominence of the SKA in such studies may be lost to the casual reader. On the other hand, we do not want to omit all the other level >= 1 science from the science case. After some discussion, it was generally agreed that the detailed science chapters should stand roughly as-is, as a general reference and for completeness. The level 0 topics can then be distilled from these chapters, and presented in broad themes in an introductory chapter or chapters. This thematic chapter will serve as the principle 'front' to the community and funding agencies, while the subsequent chapters provide the detailed support and completeness. Falcke suggested that, once the book contents are generally agreed upon, some interface should be provided to allow comment by a broader community, such as the web-based forums used by the decade committee. This issue will be discussed in Geraldton. Carilli and Schilizzi gave an update of funding situation for Leiden. The US consortium has agreed to provide $500 to US participants on request from the participant. Schilizzi has scared-up about $12,000 Euros for needy participants. Carilli re-emphasized that WGs need to finalize the author lists for the science book, so that invitations to Leiden can be circulated. We need the author lists from the WG by June 30, so that invitations can be sent out by July 15. -------------- Item 6: simulations and chapter outlines Dickey suggested that the WGs arrive in Geraldton with detailed outlines of what they plan to include in their chapters. Carilli suggested that at the same time they should consider the required simulations, which can then be discussed with the simulations group in Geraldton. Schilizzi said that the requirements should be presented as 'reference skies', which can then be fed to the simulation team for 'observation' with the simulated SKA. Jones emphasized that the potential demands on the simulations team could be large, so that these reference skies should be general and broadly applicable, addressing broad issues such as confusion or spectral dynamic range... -------------- Item 7: report of level 0 sub-committee B. Gaensler gave a status report on the level 0 subcommittee. He listed committee members: Gaensler, Rawlings, Briggs, Dougherty He reiterated the charges given by the ISAC: (i) defines the meaning of level 0 (ii) determines a way-forward for deciding on level 0 science topics (iii) follows through on determining these topics with participation of the full ISAC He discussed the working definition of level 0, and emphasized three characteristics: unique to SKA, relevant to broad community and funding agencies, and over-arching themes (eg. crossing working group boundaries). They will have a telecon next week. Initial email exchange has led to 4 potential level 0 topics: 1. Cosmic magnetism 2. High redshift HI and galaxy evolution/formation 3. EoR 4. Pulsars and GR He pointed out that these themes correlate well with primary astronomy goals defined by eg. NASA and decade committee. Carilli asked about transients. The initial impression of the committee is that it is hard to make this area level 0 at the present time. Gaensler also pointed out that the level 0 subcommittee is simply the mouthpiece of the ISAC. The work of the committee will be reviewed in detail on day 1 in geraldton by the full ISAC, and (hopefully) a consensus will be reached that can be presented in detail on Wednesday in Geraldton. ================================================================= Original Agenda Items: 1. About telecons -- should we restrict them to the WG chairs, and a few others (gaensler -- level 0 committee, russ taylor -- ISSC interface, schilizzi -- director), unless a major issue has to be finalized (hopefully such issues will be handled at face-to-face)? Having 30+ people on the line leads to either a monologue, or chaos, or each in turn. Minutes would be distributed to all, but this would require close communication of the WG chairs and their membership. 2. There are alot of issues to discuss in Geraldton. Following is a list. Hopefully we can make significant progress on all prior to geraldton, so that the real-time task is easier in australia. a. new white paper review and matrix b. book chapters and authors c. Leiden organization d. level 0 science e. membership (the 2 year limit is up in Geraldton) f. simulations requirements We have three half-day sessions at our disposal: I. sunday afternoon -- ISAC only, full committee, ISAC members only II. tuesday -- ISAC WG breakouts, including non-ISAC members III. wednesday afternoon -- ISAC organized plenary session Plus we have two slots (20min) at beginning and end of workshop to 'summarize'. We need to divide up the tasks. As a rough first pass, Steve and I propose the following: I -- c, d, e II -- a, b, f III -- b, d 4. We need speakers for Wed ISAC-led plenary session. We have a total of 210 minutes. This session will focus on efforts on the Science Book, with a few talks introducing some of the areas we will cover. We will conclude with a report from the level 0 subcommittee, revised according to the full ISAC discussions on Sunday. Note that the listed talks are not meant to be all-inclusive, just representative, and they should not be reviews, but clearly emphasize the role of SKA. a. Intro -- outline, format, timeline, publishing details etc... Carilli/Rawlings b. EoR -- 21cm signal (em/abs) Briggs Radio studies of first luminous objects Carilli c. Gal Form -- Intro vdHulst Gas evol -- Rawlings Star formation/AGN Evol -- Sadler/Jackson d. Radio AGN physics -- Falcke e. Galaxy/nearby Gals -- dynamic ISM Dickey Mag fields Beck f. Stars/star formation -- protostars and PP disks Dougherty solar-stellar connection R. Taylor g. Pulsars -- Kramer/Cordes h. Transient radio sky -- Lazio i. Scintillation -- Jauncey j. Level 0 -- Gaensler All talks are 15min, except for level 0 discussion at end, which is 30min. Adding it up gives 240 min. What is missing? What can be removed? 5. We need to get the book chapters rolling. Steve and I are putting together a cover letter for the authors outlining the necessary details, and including an invitation to attend the Leiden meeting. The aim is to approach the authors starting the first week of June, so please try to finalize these within your working groups by the end of May, and send your final suggestions to Steve and I. Preliminary reports needed from: Briggs, Falcke 6. Part of the process of defining the book chapters includes identifying the necessary simulations, and communicating these needs to the simulations team. It would be very useful to have a preliminary list prior to Geraldton, so that we can use Geraldton as a spring-board for the collaborations. For instance, the speakers listed above should highlight the required simulations in their presentations. 7. Level 0 committee -- status report Gaensler =================================================================