News 20190909 - XMM-Newton

XMM-Newton-NEWS

CONTENTS

• ESA research fellowships in space science at ESAC
  • Reminder: deadline October 1st 2019
• XMM-Newton Lab
  • Extended registration deadline September 15th 2019
• New version of the XMM-Newton Upper Limit Server
• Let us know about XMM-Newton related Ph.D. and prizes for XMM-Newton results
• Conference announcement
  • Theseus Conference 2020

ESA RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS IN SPACE SCIENCE AT ESAC

REMINDER: DEADLINE OCTOBER 1ST 2019

Postdoctoral research fellowships are tenable, among other, in the area of Astronomy and Astrophysics related to the X-ray observatory XMM-Newton at its Science Operations Centre in the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) located in Villafranca del Castillo, near Madrid, Spain.

We remind interested candidates that the deadline for applications is

1st October 2019

Working at ESAC within the XMM-Newton team gives the unique opportunity of being in contact with the scientists working in calibration and community support, and with the developers of the Science Analysis Software and the Pipeline.

Research opportunities with XMM-Newton science staff include, among other, studies of the high energy emission of novae, X-ray binaries, galaxies, and AGN using XMM-Newton data, see e.g. https//www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esac-science-faculty/groups-agn, and https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esac-science-faculty/accretion-group.

Please contact Norbert Schartel (Norbert.Schartel@sciops.esa.int) for more details on ESA Research Fellowships related to XMM-Newton.

Up to date information on the ESA Research Fellowship programme in Space Science, on the conditions and eligibility, as well as the application form can be retrieved from

     http://cosmos.esa.int/fellowship

XMM-NEWTON LAB EXTENDED

REGISTRATION DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 15TH 2019

As announced in a previous issue of the XMM-Newton Newsletter, the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre is organising the first XMM-Newton Lab on 28-31 October 2019, at ESAC, Madrid, Spain.

Do you have a great idea, started to work on it but would like some help to go on and finish it? Do you have a project that would benefit from collaborative discussions and help from experts on XMM-Newton data, archive and calibration?

The scope of the Lab is to form autonomous groups, get hands-on experience with data and explore scientific subjects together, brainstorming uses of the data which might lead to drafts of scientific papers. It is hoped that new partnerships will form and lead to co-authored publications for the scientific literature ready or near-ready by the end of the Lab.

Full information can be found at

     https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/2019-lab

IMPORTANT DATES

NEW VERSION OF THE XMM-NEWTON UPPER LIMIT SERVER

A new version of the Upper Limit Server for XMM-Newton, with improved performance and reliability, has been released on the XMM-Newton web pages:

    http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/uls

This version provides access to all public pointed observations and to all the slew observations. The tool returns the catalogued value of the source count rate and flux from the 3XMM or XMMSL2 catalogues if an entry exists. If not, the tool will calculate an upper limit on-the-fly for that sky position using archived XMM-Newton images and exposure maps.

Support is also provided for further X-ray astronomy missions using catalogue entries retrieved from HEASARC and a server for Swift-XRT data hosted at the University of Leicester.

Documentation is available at

    http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/uls-userguide

LET US KNOW ABOUT XMM-NEWTON RELATED PH.D. AND PRIZES FOR XMM-NEWTON RESULTS

As already announced in previous issue of this Newsletter, the XMM-Newton team is collecting information about the completion of doctorates and Ph.D. theses based on (or making use of) XMM-Newton observations.

We would appreciate if you - being a candidate or a supervisor of a doctorate - could let us know details through the page

    http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/phd-theses

Also we would be grateful if you could inform us (via a message to xmmhelp@sciops.esa.int, with subject «Ph.D. thesis work») in case you are aware of theses from, or supervised by, colleagues that make use of XMM-Newton data but are not yet included in the above list.

In addition, the XMM-Newton SOC would like to establish a list of prizes won based on XMM-Newton results. Information about such prizes can be sent via e-mail to the Helpdesk (xmmhelp@sciops.esa.int) indicating the name of the winner, year, prize name and granting institution.

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

THESEUS CONFERENCE 2020

The THESEUS Conference 2020 will take place from 12 to 15 May 2020 in Malaga (Spain).

The Transient High-Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor (THESEUS) is a space mission concept aiming at exploiting Gamma-Ray Bursts for investigating the early Universe and at providing a substantial advancement of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics.It is currently under Phase A study by the European Space Agency as candidate M5 mission in view of a launch opportunity in 2032.

Within this conference, the THESEUS science case will be presented through dedicated review talks, discussing the status-of-the-art knowledge on GRB science, early Universe studies, gravitational wave physics, and transient Universe phenomena in general. The development status of the instruments on-board THESEUS will be reported and discussed, together with the current assumptions for the mission profile. This conference aims at strengthening the involvement of the community in the project and boost even more the synergies being developed between THESEUS and all other facilities operational in the 2030s in the multi-wavelength domains. The possible use of THESEUS as a general purpose guest observer facility will also be discussed.

Further details are given at the Conference Web Page

    https://www.isdc.unige.ch/theseus/theseus-conference-2020.html

Yours sincerely,

XMM-Newton SOC