2nd_Announcement

A Population Explosion:

The Nature and Evolution of X-ray Binaries in Diverse Environments

28 October - 2 November 2007

St. Petersburg Beach, Florida

Second Announcement

This is the second announcement of an international astronomy meeting entitled "A Population Explosion: The Nature and Evolution of X-ray Binaries in Diverse Environments", which will take place from 28 October to 2 November in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. We have had a very positive response to our first announcement, and are looking forward to many of you attending the meeting!

Contents of this Announcement

1. Scientific Topics

2. Deadlines

3. Registration & Hotel Information

4. Financial Support

5. Speakers

6. Contact Information

Scientific Topics

The five major topics for this five-day conference are as follows:

- X-ray binary jets at high and low luminosities, and their effect on the XRB environment

- Faint X-ray binary populations, especially in the Galactic Centre

- Obscured populations (INTEGRAL sources, SFXTs)

- Extragalactic X-ray binary populations and ULXs

- X-ray binary population synthesis and stellar evolution

The program will be organized in sessions on each of these topics, beginning with a limited number of invited reviews and solicted talks, then continuing with contributed presentations. We plan to have a strong emphasis on open discussion during the sessions. We will also conduct "poster pops" for all poster contributions, scheduled throughout the course of the meeting. Young researchers especially are encouraged to contribute talks and posters.

Deadlines

Abstract submission (general): 30 June*

Registration ($350): 30 June

Late Registration ($390): 15 August

Hotel booking: 1 October

* Abstract deadline for attendees requesting financial assistance: 10 June (see below for details)

Registration & Hotel Information

The deadline for submitting abstracts is now 30 June. Presenters can request an oral or poster presentation. Contributed talks will be 15 minutes in length, plus 5 minutes for questions. All posters will be displayed throughout the entire duration of the conference. Attendees wishing to apply for financial assistance should submit their abstracts by *10 June* - see the next section for further details.

The deadline for registration is also 30 June, with a registration fee of $350. Late registrations will be accepted until 15 August at an increased registration fee of $390.

REGISTRATION IS ALREADY OPEN. Participants can register for the conference and submit abstracts via the web through our secure server at

http://conference.astro.ufl.edu/XRAYBIN/

Click on the "Registration and Abstract Submission" icon in the menu bar and follow the links in the text to the abstract and registration pages.

The Conference will take place at The TradeWinds Island Resort, a beachfront conference resort hotel on the island of St. Petersburg Beach. St. Petersburg Beach is a city on the Gulf Coast of Florida, located 30 miles west of Tampa and 120 miles west of Orlando.

We have a block of rooms booked at the hotel; the conference rate is $169/night (plus tax) for up to two adults (plus two children) per room, which includes internet access (both in bedrooms and meeting rooms), parking at the hotel, business center computers and fax machine, and access to all hotel amenities. To make your reservations at the TradeWinds, please call 1-800-808-9833 (within the US), or 1-727-367-6461 (from outside the US). Alternatively you can send a fax to 1-727-363-222 or email groupreservations at twresort.com. In all cases, state that you are attending the "Population Explosion" meeting in order to get the conference rate. Please note that late October is the beginning of the 'high season' in Florida, so we recommend that you make your hotel booking early!

If you are interested in sharing a room and are looking for a roommate, please email us so we can assist in matching people up.

Financial Support

We are able to provide a reduced registration fee of $290 for a limited number of *graduate students* who wish to present a talk at the conference. To apply for the reduced fee: (1) please submit an abstract before *10 June* then (2) email us (xraybinary at astro.ufl.edu) to indicate that you would like to be considered for the reduced rate. The SOC will review the submitted abstracts and notify you of our decision prior to the regular registration deadline.

The Spitzer Science Center has offered to provide some travel support for a limited number of speakers based at US institutions whose talks incorporate Spitzer data or results, are clearly related to Spitzer science. If your talk would fall into that category: (1) please submit your abstract before *10 June* and then (2) email us to indicate that you are interested in this possibility, so we can consider your abstract and provide you with further information.

Again, please note that anyone requesting the above financial support must submit abstracts by 10 June so that the SOC has sufficient time to review your abstracts prior to the regular registration deadline.

Speakers

Our invited speakers have been selected and confirmed:

Elena Gallo (UC Santa Barbara)

Sebastian Heinz (U. Wisconsin, Madison)

Peter Jonker (SRON/Utrecht)

Tony Bird (U. Southampton)

Andreas Zezas (CfA)

Natasha Ivanova (U. Toronto)

Additional solicited speakers include:

Sylvain Chaty*, Craig Heinke*, Ann Hornschmeier, Stephen Justham, Arunav

Kundu*, Simone Migliari, James Miller-Jones, Eric Pfahl*, Marc Ribo,

Jeno Sokoloski