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                        First Circular

              MAXI workshop on AGN Variability

              March 10-11, 2001,  Nikko, Japan
	     
	         Organized by RIKEN & NASDA
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This is the first announcement of a meeting entitled "MAXI Workshop on
AGN Variability" to be held in Nikko, Japan on March 10-11 2001.  The
meeting dates and locations were chosen so that the participants of the
symposium "New Century of X-ray Astronomy" in Yokohama (March 6-8)
should find it easy to attend.


Scientific Goals

MAXI, an X-ray all-sky monitor mission on the Japanese Experiment
Module of the International Space Station, is now being developed with
launch scheduled in 2005.  With its sensitivity of a few milli-Crab
in a day, MAXI can monitor the variability of a large number of X-ray
sources at much lower flux levels than possible with the current all-sky
or wide-field missions.  Wide-field missions in other wavelength bands 
with revolutionary sensitivities, such as Swift and GLAST, are also
scheduled to launch in the same time frame and other X-ray missions with
sensitivities comparable to or better than that of MAXI are also
proposed.  Thus we foresee a dramatic increase in the number of AGN
samples to study their long-term variabilities in X-rays and
gamma-rays.

  With these motivations, we are organizing a compact and focused
workshop on AGN variability.  The main goals of the workshop are to 
review our current understanding and to discuss research strategies
in the era of next-generation all-sky and wide-field
missions.  Current problems, both observational and theoretical,
will be reviewed, with special attention to what MAXI and other future
missions can contribute to their resolution.  Design of the global and
multiwavelength network for sharing the near-realtime variability data
and collaboration for analysis will also be discussed.

  Although the natural targets of the wide-field missions are bright AGN
samples such as Seyfert 1 galaxies, blazars, and nearby active
galaxies, we also welcome discussions on the low-luminosity populations to
facilitate understanding of the AGN phenomena with a broad perspective.


Registration

If you are interested in the program, please submit a preliminary
registration at the workshop WWW page
(http://maxi.riken.go.jp/workshop/registration.html).

We plan to construct the program based on the registration information
submitted by October 15.  If there are too many registered papers to
accommodate in the program, the organizers will select the oral papers, and
other papers shall be presented in posters.

  We will open a WWW page for hotel registration and abstract
submission after the second announcement in early November with a
deadline in December.  Due to capacity of the meeting room, the number
of the participants is limited to approximately one hundred.


Location

The workshop will be held at Nikko Kanaya Hotel
(http://www.kanayahotel.co.jp/nkh/index-e.html).  Nikko is a historic
and scenic town at 150 km north of Tokyo (two hours train ride).  The
famous shrines and temples (recently registered as a World Cultural
Heritage) are located within 10 minutes walk from the hotel.  A block
of rooms are reserved at Nikko Kanaya Hotel at the following rates.

  Room rates per person (breakfast and service included, tax extra):

                                 Sun-Fri     Saturday

  Double occupancy  with bath    10000 yen   11000 yen
                    with shower   8000 yen    9000 yen

  Single occupancy  with bath    15000 yen   17000 yen
                    with shower  12000 yen   14000 yen

Further information on Nikko can be found at
http://www.pref.tochigi.jp/kankou/english/nikko/nikko1.html
http://www.infocreate.co.jp/hometown/nikko/midoko-e.html


Important Dates

 Preliminary registration deadline: October 15, 2000
 Hotel reservation and abstract submission deadline: December 15, 2000


Scientific Advisors

 Wolfgang Brinkmann (MPE, Germany)
 Rick Edelson (UCLA, USA)
 Hideyo Kunieda (ISAS, Japan)
 Kazuo Makishima (Univ, Tokyo, Japan)
 Masaru Matsuoka (NASDA, Japan)
 Tadayuki Takahashi (ISAS, Japan)
 Hiroshi Tsunemi (Osaka Univ, Japan)
 Meg Urry  (STScI, USA)

Local Organizers

 Nobuyuki Kawai (RIKEN, Japan) (Chair)
 Hitoshi Negoro (RIKEN, Japan) (Secretary)
 Tatehiro Mihara (RIKEN, Japan)
 Atsumasa Yoshida (RIKEN, Japan)
 Shiro Ueno (NASDA)

The announcement and further information will be posted at URL
http://maxi.riken.go.jp/workshop/


Contact

 Email: workshop@crab.riken.go.jp
 WWW:   http://maxi.riken.go.jp/workshop
 Tel:   +81-48-467-9336/9337, Fax: +81-48-467-9336

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