============================================================== First Circular MAXI workshop on AGN Variability March 10-11, 2001, Nikko, Japan Organized by RIKEN & NASDA ============================================================== 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 ========================================================================