Notes of the 27th teleconference of the IACHEC Working Group Chairs WebEX 19 September 2017 Participants: C.Grant (CG), M.Guainazzi (MG), V.Kashyap (VP), E.Miller (EM), K.Madsen (KM), H.Marshall (HM), L.Natalucci (LN), J.Nevalainen (JN), P.Plucinsky (PP), Y.Terada (YT) 1. IACHEC meeting logistics --------------------------- The venue of the 13th IACHEC meeting (2018) has been chosen. It is a resort in Central Italy (Avigliano, Umbria). The meeting will be held from April 9 to 12. The facility has all the characteristics required for an IACHEC meeting: secluded location, wide range of entertainment facilities, one large meeting rooms plus 3 small rooms for splinter meetings, good Internet connection (free of charge), 70 rooms, post-dinner bar. Congratulations to LN for the very nice location! The venue is ~1h45m from the nearest international airport (FCO). Bus transfers will be organized for the meeting participants. The estimated fee for the full attendance is about 860 Euros, including the transportation costs (bus). Additional 1000-2000 Euros for organizational expenses are foreseen (leading to an increase of the individual fee by at most ~40 Euros). Negotiations are on-going with AHEAD to get a sponsorship that could allow to decrease the individual fee by ~100 Euros (or provide travel support to Astrosat colleagues; A170919/1). MG will check if additional sponsorship by ESA is possible (A170919/2). The following milestones for the meeting announcement and for the registration process have been agreed: - 2nd announcement and extended description of the meeting on the IACHEC portal: November 1 - Opening of the registration (through a dedicated web page run by the local organizers): December 15 (it could slip to January 15, if needed, with acceptable impact on the overall schedule) - Deadline for registration and abstract submission: February 15 - 3rd announcement with the final scientific program: March 1 2. 13th IACHEC meeting program structure ---------------------------------------- The meeting will have the usual 3.5 days structure (still tentative): - Monday morning: calibration status of operational and future missions - Monday afternoon: Working Groups meet - Tuesday morning: Working Groups meet - Tuesday afternoon: Special sessions - Wednesday morning: Working Groups meet - Wednesday afternoon: Special sessions - Thursday morning: Working Groups' report As far as the Special Sessions are concerned, the following proposal were discussed: - An extended (~2 hours) session on NICER, including a talk on scientific highlights (A170919/3) - An extended (~2 hours) session on HXMT (A170919/4) - A large session (~1 hour) on IXPE (A170919/5) - An extended talk (~30 minutes) by Jelle Kaastra on his recent papers on astro-statistics, followed by a more technical discussion in the Calibration Uncertainties WG (A170919/6) - A (~2 hours) special session on secondary standards (for, e.g., Athena and Lynx), with inputs provided by all "standard candles" WGs Next meeting ------------ The next meeting will be held in the second half of November (A170919/7) to provide an update on the logistic status and on the scientific program. Actions ------- - A170919/1 on MG: verify if the Astrosat Team plans to attend the 13th IACHEC meeting - A170919/2 on MG: verify if ESA can provide a sponsorship to the 13th IACHEC meeting - A170919/3 on EM: verify if the NICER Team would be willing to organize a special session at the 13th IACHEC meeting - A170919/4 on HM: verify if the HXMT Team would be willing to organize a special session at the 13th IACHEC meeting - A170919/5 on HM: verify if the IXPE Team is willing to provide a large session at the 13th IACHEC meeting - A170919/6 on MG: verify if J.Kaastra is willing to deliver a talk on his recent astro-statistic papers - A170919/7 on MG: set-up a Doodle for the 28th teleconference