First Announcement

Dear Colleague,

We are pleased to invite you to participate of the conference on:
MAGNETIC FIELDS IN THE UNIVERSE: FROM LABORATORY AND STARS TO PRIMORDIAL
STRUCTURES, to be held in:
Angra dos Reis, Brazil, from November 28 to December 3, 2004
(see details in: http://www.sab-astro.org.br/mfu/index_mhd.html).

Overview:
The international conference on Magnetic Fields in the Universe: from
Laboratory and Stars to Primordial Structures, will be held in the Frade Hotel
& Golf Resort, in Angra dos Reis, a beautiful and tranquil beach area, about
210 km from Rio de Janeiro, and 400 km from São Paulo, Brazil, from November
28 to December 3, 2004. The location allows easy access to a large fraction
of  the Brazilian astronomical and plasma physics community and to the foreign
colleagues that will arrive at the Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo  International
Airports.

Most of the matter in the Universe is composed of ionized or partially ionized gas

permeated by magnetic fields, or more specifically in a plasma state. The
aim of this conference is to put in contact experts involved with Astrophysical,

Space and Laboratory Plasmas in order to provide ample
exchange of the new results and the recent progress in these distinct but closely
related research areas.

A great motivation for the organization of this meeting in Brasil is the
increasing interest of the Brazilian community for astrophysical and space
plasmas research. Besides the existence of solid research in laboratory
plasmas, there are several groups involved in theoretical, observational, and
numerical studies of the role of magnetic fields (MFs) and MHD processes in
the origin, structure, and dynamical evolution of astrophysical sources such
as, the sun, young stars, interstellar clouds, binary stellar systems,
galactic black holes, neutron stars, pulsars, magnetars, supernovae, active
galactic nuclei, jets, winds, and accretion disks. Other groups have been
devoting special attention to the investigation of magnetic field effects in
the diffuse interplanetary, interstellar, intergalactic and intracluster
media, and also in the primordial Universe. Related phenomena involving
astro-particle production and acceleration, gamma ray bursts, plasma
instabilities, magnetic reconnection, and dynamo processes have been also
focused.

The scientific program of the Conference will concentrate on the following
general research areas:

Tests of astrophysical and space plasmas in the laboratory

Space plasmas

Solar and stellar plasmas

Magnetic Fields in star formation and stellar structure and evolution

Magnetized Interstellar Medium

Magnetic fields in compact objects and accretion disks

Magnetized jets, outflows and winds

Galactic magnetic field

Magnetic field effects in galaxies and active galactic nuclei

Magnetic fields in clusters of galaxies

Intergalactic magnetic fields

Magnetic fields in the early universe

MHD instabilities in astrophysical sources

Basic plasma processes

Turbulence, Magnetic Reconnection, Dynamo Processes

Specific issues to be addressed include: MFs in star formation; solar and
stellar coronae; stellar magnetospheres; numerical modeling of magnetized
accretion disks, jets and outflows; stellar and galactic winds; massive
stars; black holes; late stages of stellar evolution; MFs in and around supernova
remnants, magnetohydrodynamics of galactic MFs; MFs in molecular clouds; the
MF structure of external spiral galaxies; MFs in galactic nuclei and in
radio-source jets; MFs in clusters of galaxies and cooling flows; MFs at high
redshifts, and primordial magnetic fields. Basic plasma and MHD processes
will be also addressed such as, stellar and galactic dynamos; magnetic
reconnection; plasma and MHD instabilities in astrophysical and space
plasmas; interstellar and intergalactic turbulence; dusty plasmas; primordial dynamos;
and MHD numerical modeling.

The meeting will be organized in invited talks on themes of general interest,
and oral presentations and poster sections on more specific topics.

For more details and to see the list of invited speakers, please access the
webpage of the Conference:  http://www.sab-astro.org.br/mfu/index_mhd.html

Contact Address:
Elisabete M. de Gouveia Dal Pino (Chair)
E-mail: mfuniverse@astro.iag.usp.br

Departamento de Astronomia,
Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciencias Atmosféricas,
Universidade de São Paulo,
Rua do Matão 1226, 05508-900 Cidade Universitária, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Telephone: 55 - 11- 3091-2710
Fax: 55 - 11- 3091-2860

Please, divulgate this Conference among your colleagues.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Angra dos Reis in November,

The Organizers