Speaker: Prof. Maurizio Falanga (International Space Science Institute in Beijing)

Moderator: Prof. ZHANG Shuangnan

Time: 10:30 AM, January 16, 2014

Place: ROOM C305, IHEP Main Building

Speech 1:

The fundamental INTEGRAL contributions to advance the millisecond X-ray pulsars research fields

Abstract:

The speaker will review 10 years of fundamental INTEGRAL contributions to advance pulsars research fields and the discoveries of new accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars (AMXP). Five of these objects have also been discovered by INTEGRAL. The last discovered AMXP source, IGR J18245-2452, with INTEGRAL finally proved also what the scientists waited for more than 40 years; The link between Radio millisecond pulsars and its (now proven) progenitors accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars. IGR J18245-2452 is the first source observed to unambiguously show swings between activity powered by the rotation of its magnetic field, and emission due to mass accretion. The existence of an intermediate unstable phase during which radio and X-ray pulsar states alternate on very short timescales, reflecting the interplay between the pulsar magnetosphere, and the matter in-falling towards the neutron star.

Speech 2:

The International Space Science Institute in Beijing (ISSI-BJ) to facilitate international collaboration

Abstract:

The speaker will introduce the International Space Science Institute in Beijing (ISSI-BJ) that has been recently jointly established by the National Space Science Center (NSSC) and the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland with the support of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). The main mission of ISSI-BJ is to contribute to the achievement of a deeper scientific and technological understanding of future space missions as well as of the scientific results from current and past missions through multidisciplinary research, possibly involving, ground based observations and laboratory experiments, using similar tools as ISSI, i.e. Forums, International Teams, Workshops, Working Groups or individual Visiting Scientists. The Program of ISSI-BJ covers a widespread spectrum of space science disciplines, including solar and space physics, planetary science, astrobiology, microwave gravity science and Earth observation from space. It offers a complement to the ISSI program with special emphasis on future scientific opportunities. The speaker will also introduce how the scientific communities can apply to ISSI-BJ with their own research projects.

About the speaker:

Professor Maurizio Falanga was born in Basel, Switzerland and graduated in Theoretical Physics at the University of Basel. He received his Ph.D. degree in Astrophysics at the University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. After his PhD, he held various research fellowship positions in high-energy astrophysics departments in Paris, France. Falanga worked on accretion and emission physics in neutron stars, white dwarfs, and black holes for more than 15 years as a scientist and teacher. He published over 100 papers in his research fields, and has been invited to serve on a number of high-level international committees. During the last four years he has been involved in space science administration as the science programme manager at ISSI in Bern, Switzerland. Since September 2013, Prof. Maurizio Falanga has been appointed as the first Executive Director of ISSI-BJ and will share his time between Bern and Beijing. He will lead ISSI-BJ in its formation and in promoting space sciences research by worldwide collaborations using similar tools to those used by ISSI in Bern.