THE NATURE AND EVOLUTION OF DISKS AROUND HOT STARS

__________________________________________________

LOCATION AND DATE

A workshop on disks around hot stars is being planned for 2004

July 7-9, to be hosted by East Tennessee State University in

Johnson City, Tennessee (www.etsu.edu), with meetings to be held

at the Carnegie Hotel (www.CarnegieHotel.com).

MOTIVATION and GOALS

Disks are an important, sometimes even dominant, feature of many

astrophysical sources, including massive hot stars. Studies of

these disks are often constrained by narrow categories of objects,

while the key physical principles for understanding the disks

in different systems can be quite similar. This workshop is

intended to focus discussion on the major outstanding questions

surrounding the structure, formation, and evolution of disks

around hot stars, and to foster communication between different

areas of disk research. With a balanced menu of observational

and theoretical presentations, review talks will highlight recent

results and key physical principles relating to these topics.

In keeping with the workshop theme, substantial time will be

allocated for discussion, both in a moderated large group setting

and in the casual formation of smaller circles of participants.

The intended outcome of this event is the synthesis of the

latest observational data and theoretical tools to stimulate

fresh approaches for this interesting and growing topic of

relevance for massive stars.

SPEAKERS

* Jon Bjorkman, University of Toledo

Modeling the Structure of Hot Star Disks

(confirmed)

* Karen Bjorkman, University of Toledo

The Observed Properties of Hot Star Disks

(confirmed)

* Joseph Cassinelli, University of Wisconsin

The Effects of Magnetic Fields in Winds and Disks

(confirmed)

* Janet Drew, Imperial College

Winds from Hot Star Disks

(tbc)

* Carol Grady, NASA Goddard

Evidence of Disks in Herbig Stars

(confirmed)

* Lee Hartmann, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA

The Physics of Circumstellar Disks

(tbc)

* Huib Henrichs, University of Amsterdam

Magnetism Observed in Massive Stars

(confirmed)

* Michael Jura, University of California-Los Angeles

Dusty Disks Across the HR Diagram

(confirmed)

* Keith MacGregor, High Altitude Observatory, National Center for

Atmospheric Research

Generating Magnetic Fields in Early-Type Stars

(confirmed)

* Georges Meynet, Geneva Observatory

The Influence of Rotation for Massive Star Evolution: Principles and

Uncertainties

(confirmed)

* Stan Owocki, Bartol Institute, University of Delaware

Dynamical Processes that Drive the Evolution of Hot Star Disks

(tbc)

* Thomas Rivinius, Landessternwarte Konigstuhl

Links Between Hot Stars and Their Disks

(confirmed)

PRE-REGISTRATION

If you are interested in attending, please help us estimate the

number of potential attendees by sending an e-mail to:

hotstars@mail.etsu.edu

Please use the following format:

Name:

Institution:

Email:

Level of Interest: <insert a number from the scale below>

(high) (med) (low)

1 2 3

where high = Definitely plan to attend, med = Likely to attend,

but not definite yet, and low = Interested in further information,

but not sure yet whether will attend

* Note that all contributions will be in poster format, to

maximize discussion opportunities. Only the review talks will

be scheduled for oral presentation; much of the workshop will

be in the open discussion format as discussed below.

FORMAT

We have developed a novel format for the meeting. For each day

there will be four invited talks in the morning, with a discussion

session in the early afternoon. A "Focus" session will be held

later in the afternoon, for which attendance will be optional.

Our goal is twofold: first, to provide review talks to summarize

the current understanding of hot star disks and set the stage

for discussion (the three sessions being "The Properties of Hot

Star Disks", "The Star-Disk Connection", and "Magnetic Fields in

Massive Stars"). A lunch break will provide a period of time for

informal discussion, after which participants will gather for

a moderated discussion led by a panel. The Focus sessions are

more narrowly defined and are intended to be somewhat tutorial

in nature, on the topics of Diagnostic Methods (headed by David

Cohen and Margaret Hanson), Modeling Tools (headed by Ken Gayley

and John Porter), and Optical/IR Interferometer (headed by Doug

Gies and Philippe Stee).

The workshop format is thus built around a relatively small

number of review talks, with plenty of time for interaction, in

hopes of achieving a kind of "summer school" flavor. We would

like participants to come away with a deeper understanding of

the key issues and with new ideas for attacking the outstanding

questions surrounding hot star disks. We hope to stimulate new

collaborations and working partnerships for further progress in

this area.

QUESTIONS

For questions or more information, contact

hotstars@mail.etsu.edu.