Nordita News 2003 / 2

 

Board Meeting
Nordita's Board will meet on 13-14 June 2003 in Stockholm.

 

Nordic Course in String Theory
http://www.nordita.dk/conference/strings2003/

Dates: 29 July - 7 August 2003.   Location: Nordita, Copenhagen, Denmark.
The lectures will start from an elementary level giving most of the basics of string theory necessary to understand the latest developments on the physics of the Dp-branes and on their application to the study of the non-perturbative properties of gauge theories. More advanced subjects that will be discussed in the course are M-theory, string dualities, the Maldacena conjecture and its extension to less supersymmetric and non-conformal gauge theories, string theory on a pp wave background, the brane world scenario and the Dijkgraaf-Vafa approach to study the properties of N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories. The course is aimed at Ph.D. students and undergraduate students that are close to getting their first degree in physics. The program of each day will consist of two long lectures in the morning and of study groups, exercises and discussions in the afternoon. The school is supported by NorFA. Organizer: Paolo Di Vecchia, Nordita. For information send an email to rey@nordita.dk. Deadline for application: May 15, 2003.

 

Nordita Master Class in Physics
http://www.nordita.dk/conference/MasterClass2003/
Dates: 3 - 10 August 2003.   Location: Hillerød, Denmark.
A one-week school of physics for students from the Nordic and Baltic countries. The school aims at introducing frontier areas of physics research by top scientists at a level understandable for undergraduate students, and also to stimulate further studies. Four series of lectures, will be given:
*   Soft condensed matter   *   Computer simulations in quantum field theory   *
*   All about black holes   *   Single-Molecule Biophysics   *
Who may apply? Undergraduate students who study in a Nordic or a Baltic country. You must have a background of three or more years of university studies in physics/mathematics, or corresponding studies at a technical university, but you should not be a graduate student. We encourage female students to apply. Deadline for application: May 15, 2003.

 

NORDITA
Blegdamsvej 17
DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø
Denmark
  Tel: Main number +45-353 25500.
  Fax: +45-353 89157.
  For individual extensions dial:
  +45-353+five-digit ext. number.
  Email: nordita@nordita.dk
  Homepage: www.nordita.dk

 

Nordic Project Meeting:
"Astroparticle physics in the era of precision cosmology"
http://www.nordita.dk/~steen/nordic/nordic.html

Dates: 2-3 May 2003.   Location: Nordita, Copenhagen, Denmark.
The aim of this meeting of the Nordita Nordic Project on Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology is to bring together students and senior scientists. A few well known external speakers will be invited so that the younger members of the project will have an opportunity to interact with key people in the field. Contact person: Steen Hannestad (steen@nordita.dk).

 

Niels Bohr Summer Institute "Complexity and Criticality"
http://www.nbsi.nbi.dk/

Dates: Symposium: August 21 - 23, 2003 (in memory of Per Bak).
Dates: Workshop: August 25 - 30, 2003.   Location: Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark.

A symposium and a subsequent workshop will be held in the memory of the late Per Bak, whose seminal contributions have created vital new directions and have been an inspiration for scientists in a broad range of natural sciences, medicine, and economics.
It has become clear that complex dynamics or complex structures can appear in systems governed by surprisingly simple physical processes. Often these complex states display critical behaviour, i.e. self-similarity and power-law scaling - as exemplified by the inertial subrange in fully developed turbulence or the Gutenberg-Richter scaling law for earthquakes. The reason for the ubiquity of such critical states remains an important open question, although the concept of self-organized criticality, developed by Per Bak and collaborators, has focused attention on a large class of models that generically display criticality.
The development of fast computers and sophisticated experimental and observational techniques have made it possible quantitatively to probe complex states, ranging from protein networks, to fluid mixing, to the large scale structure of the universe, to the evolution of life. We hope that, by organizing this conference and bringing together some of the most inspiring scientists in the field, we can achieve a coherent presentation of some of the most important challenges for modern science, and the future directions it may take.   Online registration: deadline June 1, 2003.

 

School for Physicists on "The Physics of Climate"
http://www.nordita.dk/conference/Climate2003/

Dates: 24 - 30 August 2003.   Location: Kevo Subarctic Research Institute, Finland
The global average temperature has increased by 0.6 degrees over the 20th century. This is more than three times larger than and in opposite direction to a likely average temperature trend over the past thousand years. At the same time atmospheric composition has changed: carbon dioxide concentrations have increased by 30% since the industrial revolution. An increased greenhouse effect due to carbon dioxide is a probable explanation for the observed temperature increase, but other mechanisms such as variations in solar radiation and other forms of natural variability have also been proposed as possible explanations of global warming. How will climate change in the future? Global warming could accelerate due to a continued increase in carbon dioxide concentrations. Model calculations suggest that globally averaged temperatures could be 2-4 degrees higher than today by the end of this century. How certain are we about the theories proposed to explain climate variations and what is the reliability of climate projections for the future?
The school is primarily aimed at graduate (PhD) students in physics, but a limited number of advanced undergraduate students as well as more experienced physicists may also be admitted. Full board and lodging will be covered for all participants. Nordic and Baltic graduate students can also apply for a reimbursement of travel costs. The school is supported by NorFA.
Applications to participate in the school should be made using the online registration form. Deadline May 15, 2003.

 

Visitors at Nordita 2003
http://www.nordita.dk/contact/visitors.html

Paolo Merlatti (Italy) 01.10.02 - 30.09.04 (sa)
Pietro Massignan (Italy) 23.01.03 - 31.07.03 (cm)
Michael Chesterman (England) 01.02.03 - 31.08.03 (sa)

The fields are listed after the names: (ap) astrophysics, (bio) biological physics, (cm) condensed matter physics, (sa) sub atomic physics.
If you are interested in having any of these people visit your institute, please contact Nordita.

 

Nordita Preprints / Reprints
http://www.nordita.dk/preprints/
New preprints and reprints obtainable from Jette Nielsen, nielsen@nordita.dk
   
2003-05 Decay of magnetic fields in the early universe.  M. Hindmarsh, M. Christensson, A. Brandenburg.  
2003-06 Turbulent magnetic Prandtl number and magnetic diffusitivity quenching from simulations.  T.A. Youssef, A. Brandenburg, G. Rädiger.
2003-07 The role of priors in deriving upper limits on neutrino masses from the 2dFGRS and WMAP.  Ø. Elgarøy, O. Lahav.
2003-09 Relaxation of writhe and twist of a bi-helical magnetic field.  T.A. Youssef, A. Brandenburg.
2003-10 Four lectures on the gauge/gravity correspondance.   M. Bertolini.
2003-11 The bottleneck effect in three-dimensional turbulence simulations.  W. Dobler, N.E.L. Haugen, T. Youssef, A. Brandenburg.
2003-12 Spectra and structure functions in nonhelical hydromagnetic turbulence.  N.E.L. Haugen, A. Brandenburg, W. Dobler.
2003-13 MHD simulations of small and large scale dynamos.  A. Brandenburg, N.E.L. Haugen, W. Dobler.

 

Overview of Future Nordita Conferences and other Conferences

Title/Place/Date Contact person Phone/Fax/Email
INTAS 03 - "Meeting and Mini-Symposium on
Anomalous Dynamical Processes"
Nordita, Copenhagen.
1 - 4 May 2003
http://www.nordita.dk/~metz/intas/intashome.html
Ralf Metzler
Nordita
Blegdamsvej 17
DK-2100 Copenhagen
+45-353 25507.
+45-353 89157.
metz@nordita.dk
"Summer School on
Strongly Correlated Electron Systems"
Hillerød, Denmark.
15 - 23 June 2003.
http://www.nordita.dk/conference/SCS2003/
Vadim Cheianov
Nordita
Blegdamsvej 17
DK-2100 Copenhagen
+45-353 25230.
+45-353 89157.
cheianov@nordita.dk
"Nordic Course in String Theory"
Nordita, Copenhagen
29 July - 7 Aug. 2003
http://www.nordita.dk/conference/strings2003/
Paolo Di Vecchia
Nordita
Blegdamsvej 17
DK-2100 Copenhagen
+45-353 25247.
+45-353 89157.
rey@nordita.dk
"Nordita Master Class in Physics"
Hillerød, Denmark
3 - 10 August 2003
http://www.nordita.dk/conference/MasterClass2003/
Dmitri Diakonov
Nordita
Blegdamsvej 17
DK-2100 Copenhagen
+45-353 25312.
+45-353 89157.
diakonov@nordita.dk
Summer School:
"Hairy Interfaces and Stringy Molecules"
Odense, Denmark.
13 - 17 August 2003
http://hairyinterfaces.memphys.sdu.dk
O.G. Mouritsen
MEMPHYS,
SDU,
Campusvej 55,
DK-5230 Odense
+45 6550 3506.
+45 6615 8760.
hairy@memphys.sdu.dk
Niels Bohr Summer Institute:
"Complexity and Criticality"
Copenhagen, Denmark
21 - 30 August 2003
http://www.nbsi.nbi.dk/
M.H. Jensen
Niels Bohr Inst.
Blegdamsvej 17
DK-2100 Copenhagen
+45-353 25371.
+45-353 25016.
mhjensen@nbi.dk
School for physicists on
"The Physics of Climate"
Kevo, Finland.
24 - 30 August 2003
http://www.nordita.dk/conference/Climate2003
Paul Hoyer
Physics Dept.
P.O.Box 64
FIN-00014 Helsinki Univ.
Fax: +358-9-191-50522.
paul.hoyer@helsinki.fi

 

Items for Nordita News
If you have information about meetings, etc. you wish to include in Nordita News, please send it to Nordita, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark or by email: nordita@nordita.dk

April/May 2003