Cross-Scale

Description of the Workshop

Space, astrophysical, and laboratory plasmas are dominated by processes, such as shocks, magnetic reconnection, and turbulence, that are intrinsically variable and coupled on disparate scales. This workshop will discuss and refine the science background and mission design for Cross-Scale, a candidate ESA Cosmic Vision mission dedicated to the study of these fundamental phenomena.

The objective of the workshop is to develop further the science objectives of the mission, their applications, and the mission programmatics (payload, orbit, operations) that will optimise the science return. At the heart of Cross-Scale are fundamental plasma processes (shocks, reconnection, turbulence) that govern a wide variety of astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. Thus an important aspect of the mission will be to ensure that it can provide answers not just about the processes as they are found in near-Earth space, but in a way that can be applied to maximum benefit in other corners of the Plasma Universe.

The Workshop will involve scientists from these branches of physics together with the in situ space plasma community to forge a productive wider Cross-Scale community. Invited talks, contributed talks, poster sessions, and splinter workshop sessions will explore the key science questions and how the mission will best address them. This format is reflected in the draft Programme.

These discussions will feed into the studies currently being funded by ESA, NASA, CSA, and JAXA and into the payload concepts currently being advanced in laboratories around the globe. They will maintain the broad international support and interest that the mission has enjoyed and thus place it in a leading position for the next selection process with ESA toward the end of 2009.

Programme and abstract submission

The Workshop programme will includes the following topics:

• multiscale coupling in plasmas: universal aspects and the role of in situ measurements from space

• turbulence, shocks and reconnection in plasmas: recent theoretical and experimental results from space, astrophysical and laboratory plasmas

• theory and numerical simulations: pointing the way to key questions and observables

• mission description: targets and concept of the Cross-Scale mission

• measurements and operations: instruments, orbit and mission design for the Cross-Scale ESA candidate mission

• a challenging mission: focus on international cooperation

• open discussion: inputs from and complementarity to other related fields

The submission of abstracts for oral or poster presentation is now open. The deadline for submission is 31st of January, 2009.
For accessing the abstract submission form, for a more detailed description of the sessions, and for any further information on the workshop, see the web site:

http://www.fis.unical.it/astroplasmi/cross-scale

Downolad the workshop poster:
http://www.fis.unical.it/astroplasmi/cross-scale/LOCANDINA/locandina-final.pdf



On the behalf of the SOC,

Luca Sorriso-Valvo



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Luca Sorriso-Valvo
Laboratorio Regionale LICRYL - INFM/CNR
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria
ponte P. Bucci, cubo 31C
I-87036 Rende (CS) - ITALY
+39.0984.496128