[MODEST] Meeting Announcement: The dynamics of star clusters and star cluster systems

[Richard de Grijs]

Dear colleague,

We would like to notify you of a workshop on "The dynamics of star clusters and 
star cluster systems", to be held at the University of Sheffield (UK) in 
early November. We have been successful in securing funds from the Royal 
Society, which will allow us to invite leading scientists from China and 
Bonn (Germany) to participate in the meeting.

Since your area of interest is closely linked to the theme of the workshop, 
we hope that at least the European colleagues amongst you will consider
attending and possibly give a talk. There is no registration fee, but you 
will need to take care of your own accommodation needs, and we are 
limited to hosting up to about 40 participants. The workshop starts on 
Monday 6 November at 10am, and will finish around 2pm on Wednesday 8 
November. The detailed announcement (incl. web page) follows at the end of 
this email.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Sheffield!

(Sheffield can easily be reached by air from many European destinations; 
major nearby airports include Manchester and Birmingham [both of which 
also serve long-haul destinations]; smaller airports used by low-cost 
carriers include Doncaster/Sheffield and Nottingham East Midlands. The 
Rotterdam Europoort - Hull ferry might also be a useful alternative.)

Best regards,

Richard de Grijs (Sheffield)
Simon Goodwin    (Sheffield)
Mark Wilkinson   (Cambridge/Leicester)


    "The dynamics of star clusters and star cluster systems"

    Dates: Monday 6 - Wednesday 8 November 2006
    Venue: The University of Sheffield, UK

    Registration and more information (deadline 15 October):
    http://www.shef.ac.uk/physics/people/grijs/RSmeeting/
    (see also the detailed information under the link to "Scientific
    Rationale")

    Rationale:

    Globular clusters are regarded as fossil records of the earliest
    epochs of galaxy formation, including that of our own Milky Way. At
    the same time, the young massive star clusters currently being
    formed in the most violent starburst environments may be viable
    proto-globular clusters. Thus, star clusters form an ideal testbed
    for stellar evolution theories and are in fact among the best tools
    to study extreme stellar populations, such as X-ray binaries or
    "blue stragglers", both of which are likely products of dynamical
    interactions within clusters. However, dynamical modelling of
    clusters and entire cluster systems, at any age, still poses a
    considerable challenge for both theory and computational
    requirements. Special-purpose hardware and advanced modelling
    methods using all of the available physics are currently being
    developed, and have already initiated world-wide collaboration.
    Putting these results into the broader context of galaxy evolution
    is the next logical step, which requires the combined efforts of
    theorists, observers and modelers working on a large variety of
    spatial scales, and spanning a very wide range of expertise. We are
    now reaching the stage that we are within reach of answering a
    number of fundamental questions that will have a significant impact
    on our understanding of numerous related issues as well, ranging
    from the formation, assembly and evolution of galaxies, to the
    details of the very process of star formation itself. These two
    issues are the backbone of research in modern astrophysics.