August 16, 2002

from: C. Carilli (NRAO) and S. Rawlings (Oxford)
to: International SKA Steering Committee
re: Report on ISAC activities: 5/02 - 8/02

Following is a report of the ISAC activities over the last 3 months.

A. New working group chairs: we had to find new chairs for 5 out of 9
working groups. The new list is as follows:

Working Group                          Chair
-------------                          -----
Intergalactic medium               L.Feretti  lferetti@ira.bo.cnr.it
Life  cycle of stars               S.Dougherty  Sean.Dougherty@hia.nrc.ca
Early universe and LSS             F.Briggs  fbriggs@astro.rug.nl
Transient phenomena                J.Lazio  lazio@rsd.nrl.navy.mil
Spacecraft tracking/telemetry NEW  D.Jones  dj@sgra.jpl.nasa.gov
Galactic and nearby galaxies  NEW  J.Dickey john@astro.umn.edu
                                         old: psackett@astro.rug.nl
AGN and supermassive BHs      NEW  H.Falcke hfalcke@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
                                         old: dj@sgra.jpl.nasa.gov
Galaxy formation              NEW  T.vd Hulst  vdhulst@astro.rug.nl
                                         old: ccarilli@nrao.edu
Solar system science          NEW  Gurwell or Redman (proposed)


B. White paper reviews for Groningen: Once the new WG chairs were in
place, each WG went through an intensive process of evaluating
the SKA WP designs in the context of the level 1 science goals as
delineated in Berkeley and Bologna. The results are tabulated at:
   http://www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/~sr/ska/ska_matrix.html
These have been communicated to the ISSC, EMT, WP proposers, and 
Groningen attendees. 


C. Telecons: part of the white paper review process involved ISAC
telecons during the month of July. Minutes of these telecons have
been distributed, and will also appear on the SKA web page 
(and on Carilli's home page). 


D. Planned activities in Groningen
 a. Participate in WP review: discuss ISAC-defined critical issues,
    advise ISSC on trade-offs, possible compromises, and begin the
    prioritization process
 b. Discuss internal ISAC issues
  i. main issues:
   1. role and timeline for ISAC in context of SKA design selection
   2. process and timeline for revision of science case document
      (emphasizing `missing science' and making all areas much 
       more quantitative, including an SKA simulator, graphics, ...)
      The current goal is to have a new Taylor-Braun document by the 
      end of the tenure of CC/SR, including concrete proposals for 
      key science based on DRM specs for the SKA.
  ii. other issues
   1. future SKA science meetings: Oxford/UK (11/02), Bonn/AGN?,
        Geraldton/SKA, general science meeting in 2004?
   2. How to involve wider community (theorists, etc...)?
   3. science memo series, web forum, speaker list, formal telecons?
   4. ISAC membership: term limits, size/scope of ISAC, WG definitions?
   5. critical question: funding for ISAC/other travel?

E. Near future activities
 a. Written reports on design concept WPs to ISSC based preliminary 
    reviews and subsequent discussions in Groningen (by Sept 02).
 b. Formalize telecons for discussion of progress on science case
    revision, and open web forum and science memo series.  
    Again, the initial emphasis will be on completeness. 
 c. Perform simulations and calculations required to clarify 
    outstanding issues and quantify level 1 science goals. 

--------
Brief summary of ISAC action items resulting from discussions in 
Groningen:

1. SR/CC will generate timeline with specific milestones for the 
revision of science case documents. 

2. WG leaders will identify key calculations required to resolve
outstanding issues. These must be done (at the very least) before
Geraldton. Some examples:
HI survey volume required?  configuration: 30 vs. 100's of stations?
PP-disks: how low can you go? Pulsars: can surveys be done with
only 1sq.deg?

3. CC/SR will distill discussions in Groningen, and incorporate
into the preliminary WP review document by October 2002 (the
emphasis here is preliminary). Session scribes and WG chairs 
will communicate notes to CC/SR  by end August.

4. Rough outline of what is needed to revise science case:
 a. find missing science (4-6 Months)
 b. prioritize across WGs (4-6 Months)
 c. quantify final level 0,1 goals in detailed 'proposals' (1yr)

5. Telecon series will be as-required. No need was seen for
ISAC meeting until Geraldton.

6. Also attached: CC ISAC summary presentation in Groningen
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