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 nice 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
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:
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.