VLP meeting logistics

[Una Hwang <hwang@orfeo.gsfc.nasa.gov>]

Dear VLP'ers,

Here are some logistical details about where to stay, how to
get to NRL, etc for the Cas A meeting on May 6th/7th. At the
end is a tentative agenda and some ideas for projects to get
people thinking and start some discussion. A firmer agenda
will be compiled and distributed closer to the time. We plan
to start at 10am on May 6th to give anyone traveling from
the east coast time to get here on that morning. The
conference room is booked 8am - 5pm each day, so we can
start earlier on May 7th. Contact us with any questions or
difficulties.

Una Hwang
Martin Laming

Most of these details, plus maps are available at 
http://lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/users/hwang/nrl.html

Directions to NRL:
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/content.php?P=PLANNINGVISIT

The meeting will be in room 113 of building 226. Building
209 houses the Space Science Division. Martin's office is
room 152 in bldg 209.  See website above for NRL map.

NRL is accessible by public transport, but this is not
recommended. Take the green line metro to Anacostia, and
then change to an A4 or A5 bus (cost 25c with a bus transfer
ticket obtained inside the metro). A5 is a few minutes
quicker, but runs less often.

Much better to drive. The locals (Una, Martin, and possibly
some others) will be able to give lifts to people without
cars staying in hotels in College Park or Greenbelt, which
are not far off their normal routes to NRL. Some parking
spaces close to Building 226 will be reserved for us.
Otherwise parking is easiest to find between buildings 226
and 209 and the river (see map). Convenient hotels are here
(with the first, Quality Inn and Suites probably being the
most convenient, closest to the metro which also serves
Union Station and Reagan National Airport, etc):

http://www.inform.umd.edu/CampusInfo/Departments/guest/visitor/localhotel.html

Some of the more reasonably priced hotels in Alexandria from
Martin's AAA book; might be more reasonable for anyone with
their own car, especially if driving up from points south.

Washington Suites-Alexandria $79-$159
703 370 9600, 100 S. Reynolds St., Alexandria VA 22304

Holiday Inn Eisenhower Metro $99-$155
703 960 3400, 2460 Eisenhower Ave, Alex VA 22314

Red Roof Inn $69-$89
703 960 5200, 5875 Richmond Hwy, Alex VA 22303

Traveller's Motel $65-$79
703 329 1310, 5916 Richmond Hwy, Alex VA 22303

One of our regular visitors to NRL, Peter Sturrock, likes to
stay in Alexandria Old Town itself. The Holiday Inn there is
$199-229, (703 549 6080, 480 King St, Alex VA 22314) if
anyone likes the good life.  They do advertise AAA
discounts. I am also told that the Watergate is quite
nice... but way over anyone's per diem!


Cas A VLP Analysis Meeting Tentative Agenda
-------------------------------------------
 
May 6th Start at 10.00 am 
-------------------------
Discussion of Specific Proposal Goals, i.e., element
abundances, nucleosynthesis, asymmetric explosions and the
science/data analysis needed to move this forward:

Welcome to NRL and Introduction to Cas A proposal, 
spectral modelling and data reduction/analysis.  
Martin Laming/Una Hwang
 
Cas A Dynamics Measurements. Tracey Delaney/Larry Rudnick

May 7th 
-------
Other topics: 

Models for hydrodynamics in the jet regions How are
Truelove/McKee SNR models changed in clumpy plasma?
(Roger Chevalier and Alexei Khokhlov have indicated that
they are more likely to be available on the Friday, and
their expertise is clearly central to these topics).
 
Synchrotron emission and particle acceleration, electron-ion
equilibration at shock fronts at elsewhere.

Point source.

Potential projects so far, with a few tentative names:
----------------------------------------------------- 
Fe census, - Hwang/Laming

Quantitative Fe vs Si morphology, - Hughes
 
Proper motions and Doppler shifts of X-ray knots , -
Delaney/Rudnick?
 
Detailed fitting of a number of X-ray knots for explosion
asymmetry and element abundances, - everyone who can bear
it!
    
Search for Fe knots in the jet regions. If overdense
compared to elsewhere, then Fe will be thermally unstable
for a wider range of initial mass coordinates and might not
be visible. Can we place limits on this if Fe is not found?

Characterize southwest counterjet
 
Other faint high velocity ejecta, - Hughes

Look for inner shell lines of Sc and Ca in the faint inner
regions, as 44Ti and 44Sc decay by K shell electron capture
to 44Sc and 44Ca?
    
Refine models to produce theoretical spectra (not just
ionization balance, and electron temperature), for direct
comparison with data. Might not be able to bypass XSPEC
completely, but this would be an important check.
 
Point source and interaction with ejecta, - Hughes