FIRST CIRCULAR  (March 20, 2003)

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Overview

The Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves has been held four times before: in Frascati - Italy (1994), at CERN, Geneva - Switzerland (1997), at Caltech - Pasadena, USA (1999) and at the University of W. Australia, Perth - Australia (2001). This conference is now considered the main meeting for the Gravitational Wave Community grouping together scientists from all over the world involved in the various aspects of gravitational wave research. The Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC) coordinates the scientific community and the Amaldi conferences.

Amaldi 5th will be held at the Green Park Resort Conference Center in Tirrenia (Pisa) Italy, from July 6 to 11, 2003. 
It is organized by INFN (sez. Pisa) and by the European Gravitational Observatory.
The Green Park Resort is located on the seafront of Tirrenia, a quiet sand beach resort on the Tyrrhenian coast set amidst an age-old pinewood.  The place also offers convenient access to cultural highlights such as Pisa (15 km), Lucca (30 km), Volterra (60 km), San Gimignano (75 km), Firenze (80 km), and Siena (115 km).

The focus of this year conference will be on results from operating detectors and detectors being commissioned. Sessions are being organized on: status of existing detectors on earth (interferometric and resonant mass detectors), space detectors, GW sources overview, data analysis techniques, noise sources and quantum limits, advanced techniques and future detectors. There will be invited talks covering specific areas and contributed talks. In addition a poster session will be organized. 
Meeting hours will be from Monday through Friday, from 8:30 to 12.30 and from 13:45 to 17:45. At 18:00, when the sun is milder, participants can enjoy the pleasant sea environment and the beautiful season (note that due to day light saving time sunset occurs around 21:00 in July).

The Conference Proceedings will be published on a special issue of the review "Classical and Quantum Gravity". Full information is available at the conference web site: www.ego-gw.it/Amaldi5. Contact address: amaldi5@ego-gw.it.
  
Preliminary Program
Mon July 7,  morning
  • Welcome addresses:  
    Enzo Iarocci - INFN President, Filippo Menzinger - EGO Director, Barry Barish - GWIC chairman
  • Working sessions opening: Adalberto Giazotto
  • Session on theory and experiment overviews (chairman: Adalberto Giazotto)
    • Gravitational waves, sources and physics overview: Bernard Schutz (TBC)
    • Resonant-mass detectors: Viviana Fafone
    • Interferometric detectors on the earth: Rainer Weiss
    • LISA, a space based interferometer: Karsten Danzmann
Mon July 7,  afternoon
  • Session on status and results from running detectors and detectors being commissioned (I) (convener: David Shoemaker)
Tue July 8,  morning
  • Session on GW sources (conveners: Tom Prince and Valeria Ferrari)
Tue July 8,  afternoon
  • Session on GW space detectors (conveners: Peter Bender, Stefano Vitale)
Wed July 9,  morning
  • Session on status and results from running detectors and detectors being commissioned (II) (convener: Massimo Cerdonio)
Wed July 9,  afternoon
  • Session on data analysis (convener: Nobuyuki Kanda)
Wed July 9,  late afternoon
  • Poster session
Thu July 10,  morning
  • Session on advanced techniques (convener: Kenneth Strain) 
Thu July 10,  afternoon
  • Excursion and Social Dinner
Fri July 11,  morning
  • Session on noise sources and quantum limits (convener: David McClelland)
Fri July 11,  afternoon
  • Session on future detectors (convener: Jim Hough)
  • Conference summary - Alain Brillet
  
Local Organizing Committee
M. Barsuglia, S. Braccini, C. Bradaschia (chair), G. Cella, V. Dattilo, I. Ferrante, F. Fidecaro, I. Fiori, F. Frasconi, G. Losurdo, E. Majorana, S. Meshkov, R. Stanga, A.Vicere'.
  
International Advisory Committee
O .D. Aguiar, R. Barbieri, B. Barish, D. Blair, S. Braginsky, A. Brillet, M. Cerdonio, E. Coccia (chair), T. Damour, K. Danzmann, M. Davier, S. Dhurandhar, S. Finn, G.  Frossati, M. Fujimoto, A. Giazotto, W. O. Hamilton J. Hough, N. Kanda, K. Kuroda, D. McClelland, F. Menzinger, G. Pizzella, T. A. Prince, N. Robertson, G. Sanders, B. Schutz, R. Stebbins, K. Thorne, K. Tsubono, G. Veneziano, F. Vetrano, S. Vitale, R. Weiss.
  
Registration
The registration fee is 350 Euro (400 Euro for registrations after May 31). This fee will cover participation, lunches, coffee breaks, excursion and social dinner, and a copy of the proceedings book. Registration will be possible through the conference web page where an electronic form will be activated including conference registration, hotel reservation and abstract submission.
  
Important dates
March 20, 2003  Opening Registration & Abstract submission
May 10, 2003 Deadline for abstract submission
May 25, 2003 Notification of acceptance of abstracts
May 31, 2003 Deadline to submit requests of financial support
May 31, 2003 Deadline for early registration ( discount fee)
June 6, 2003 Deadline for accommodation request
July 6, 2003 Opening of registration desk (at 16:00)
July 7, 2003 Start of conference sessions
July 9, 2003 Poster session (at 18:00)
July 11, 2003 Conference adjourn
August 31, 2003 Deadline for submitting proceeding manuscripts
  
Accommodation
Participants will be hosted at the Green Park Resort Hotel (fill to capacity) or can choose among other accommodations in Tirrenia or in Pisa. Lunches will be served at the Green Park Restaurant. Lunch cost for participants is included in the conference fee, lunch tickets for accompanying persons will be available.
  
How to reach the conference site
The Green Park Resort Conference Center and Hotel is located in Tirrenia (Calambrone). The site can be easily reached by car, or local bus services from Pisa. Pisa airport G.Galilei and Pisa-Centrale railway station are located at approximately 15 km from the conference site and are connected by taxi and city bus services. Pisa airport G.Galilei is connected with several national and international locations. Pisa-Centrale railway station is located along the north-south Tyrrhenian backbone. The A12 motorway exit to Pisa-Centro is located at approximately 10 km driving distance from the conference site. A daily bus service will be also set up from Pisa to the conference site (and return).
  
Social events
An excursion to Carrara marble quarries will be organized on July 10, afternoon. The excursion will be followed by a guided tour to the Malaspina Castle (Massa). Social dinner will take place at the castle. A public lecture will be given by Emilio Picasso (Scuola Normale Superiore). Interested participants can also attend guided visits to the EGO-Virgo site.