2015 December - Toronto MWA Project Meeting and Canadian SKA Meeting

Overview

We are pleased to invite you to a week of radio astronomy in Toronto, Canada, over the week of 7-11 December 2015. An MWA Project Meeting will be held on Monday and Tuesday (December 7-9, 2015) at the University of Toronto. Following later in the week, the "Canada and the SKA" meeting will be held on Thursday and Friday (December 10-11, 2015) at the same location. You may register for either or both meetings by clicking the registration link below.

Registration is Closed

Abstract Submission is Closed

Meeting Programs

Meeting program for the MWA Project Meeting: MWA Program (Monday and Tuesday)

Meeting program for the SKA meeting: Canada and the SKA program (Thursday and Friday)

Presentations

• MWA Project Meeting:
• David Kaplan: MWA Phase II
• Randall Wayth: MWA Phase III
• Franz Kirsten: Towards Correlating the MWA and the GRMT Using the Crab Pulsar
• Carole Jackson: MWA Galactic and Extragalactic Science
• Canadian SKA Meeting:
• Gary Davis: The View from the SKA
• Matt Dobbs: The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment: Technology and Status
• L.Van Waerbeke: Benefits from Combining SKA with Optical Imaging Surveys
• Chris Wilson: Millimetre and submillimetre facilities in the SKA era
• Richard Shaw: Cosmology with the SKA
• David Loop: SKA Pre-construction Update
• David Stevens: MDA, Canadian Industry, and the SKA: A Vision for a Bright Future
• Doug Johnstone: Cradle of Life & Our Galaxy Science Working Groups
• Dexter Jagula: SkyWatch: A Real-Time Event-Broker for Astrophysical Transients

MWA Project meeting, 7-9 Dec 2015, University of Toronto

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a low-frequency (70-300 MHz) radio interferometer that uses 128 antenna tiles and no moving parts to achieve massive fields of view (610 deg^2 at 150 MHz), arcminute resolution and exquisite surface brightness sensitivity. The MWA has been fully operational since August 2013, an so far has accumulated more than 4 petabytes of data on the Epoch of Reionisation, galactic and extragalactic sky surveys, time-domain science, and heliospheric/ionospheric studies.

The MWA Project meeting will feature science presentations and discussion on the first two years of MWA observing and operations, breakout groups to focus on specific aspects of data reduction and analysis, a technical update on planning for MWA phase 2, and discussions of science priorities and observational programs for MWA phase 2.

A Canadian consortium is in discussions with the MWA Board about joining the MWA project and participating in the MWA upgrade path. The Canadian astronomy community is invited to to learn about the MWA and its capabilities, and to identify future areas for participation and collaboration.

"Canada and the SKA", 10-11 Dec 2015, University of Toronto

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the largest and most powerful radio telescope ever constructed, and will answer fundamental questions in astronomy, physics and cosmology. The first 10% of the SKA (“SKA1”) will consistent of two components: SKA1-MID in South Africa (350 MHz - 14 GHz), and SKA1-LOW in Australia (50-350 MHz), each of which will have spectacular scientific capabilities in its own right. Construction on SKA1 is planned to commence in 2018, with science operations to begin in 2023.

Canada is one of 10 member countries of the SKA Organisation, is an active participant in both SKA technology development and SKA science programs, and is under consideration for membership in MWA phase 2. This meeting will be an opportunity for the Canadian community to assess its main interests and activities for the SKA and MWA, and to identify areas for synergy and coordination.

Members of the MWA collaboration are encouraged to stay on for this workshop, in order to learn about Canadian SKA activities, to discuss possible Canadian interests and contributions to the MWA, and to showcase the latest MWA results to the Canadian community.

Hotels and Accommodations

Information about local hotels and accommodations is available for download in this PDF.

Organizing Committees

SOC for “Canada and the SKA”:

• Bryan Gaensler (U. Toronto)
• Robert Braun (SKA Organisation)
• Sean Dougherty (NRC)
• Vicky Kaspi (McGill)
• David Loop (NRC)
• Kris Sigurdson (UBC)
• Kristine Spekkens (RMC)

LOC for both meetings:

• Bryan Gaensler (U. Toronto)
• Zoë Jaremus (U. Toronto)

We also draw your attention to the conference "Science at Low Frequencies II”, to be held in Albuquerque, USA, over 2-4 Dec 2015.

Key dates:

• 31 Jul 2015: First announcement, registration opens
• 30 Oct 2015: Abstract deadline
• 14 Nov 2015: Final announcement: schedule of talks and posters announced
• 19 Nov 2015: Registration deadline

• 7 - 8 Dec: MWA project meeting
• 9 Dec 2015: MWA Board meeting (closed meeting), break-out groups, data-analysis workshops
• 10 - 11 Dec 2015: Canadian SKA meeting

Meeting Code of Conduct

The organizers are committed to making this meeting productive and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, nationality or religion. We will not tolerate harassment of participants in any form. Please read the workshop code of conduct.

Event Properties

We are no longer accepting registration for this event