IXPE summer school – Registration

The ‘Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Summer School’ will take place in Pisa, Italy, on September 11-15, 2023. Deadline for applications is June 23rd, 2023

IXPE, a NASA/ASI X-ray space observatory, was launched on December 2021 and is the first mission devoted to X-ray polarimetry. In its first year of observations it has already increased the number of sources with positive polarization detection from one to about twenty. All data are immediately public. While the baseline mission will end on February 2024, a possible extension to September 2025, with a Guest Observer Program, is presently under consideration by NASA.

The purpose of the school is to introduce PhD students and young post-docs of the Italian scientific community to the IXPE analysis and data acquisition process. Real IXPE data acquired during the first year of the mission will be used for the hands-on sessions.
The school will comprise both theoretical lectures, with the aim of introducing X-ray polarimetry with a clear focus on the IXPE mission, and practical hands-on sessions in small groups. Students will spend time working directly with experts in instrumentation, analysis, theory, and modeling to learn IXPE data analysis.

The school will exclusively be held in-person to guarantee optimal tutoring for the hands-on sessions.

Invited lecturers are:
Matteo Bachetti (INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari)
Luca Baldini (Università di Pisa)
Niccolò Bucciantini (INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri)
Laura di Gesu (ASI)
Alessandro Di Marco (INAF-IAPS Roma)
Riccardo Ferrazzoli (INAF-IAPS Roma)
Andrea Marinucci (ASI)
Giorgio Matt (Università degli Studi di Roma Tre)
Fabio Muleri (INAF-IAPS Roma)
Simonetta Puccetti (ASI)
Paolo Soffitta (INAF-IAPS Roma)
Roberto Taverna (Università degli studi di Padova)

Topics of the School:
• IXPE instrument and observatory
• X-ray polarimetry statistical tools
• Targets observed during the first year of the mission: AGNs, supernova remnants, black holes,
pulsars, magnetars
• IXPE data format
• IXPE data analysis with HEASARC software tools and IXPEOBSSIM

Participants are expected to bring their laptops, equipped with the IXPE software package already installed. Participants will have the chance to present their work during the last session. The school will be limited to 30 participants and priority will be given to PhD students and young post-docs. Financial support, which covers fee, food, lodging, and travel, is available for a limited number of
participants with Italian affiliation (INFN, INAF, Italian University).

We request to the applicants to provide a CV and a short motivation letter. Applicants are also requested to provide an identity document and the authorization for audio-video recordings for administrative reasons.

Send the application documents to: francesco.fenu@asi.it and arianna.miraval@asi.it

Applications without such documents will not be considered.

There is a registration fee of 300 euro, which covers lunches, coffee breaks and social dinner.

Deadline for applications is June 23rd, 2023.

For further information on financial support we invite the candidates to contact:
luca.baldini@pi.infn.it for INFN and paolo.soffitta@inaf.it for INAF depending on the affiliation of the candidate.

For all the candidates without INFN or INAF association please contact:
elisabetta.cavazzuti@asi.it

For more information and to apply please visit: https://forms.office.com/e/rFgyXneULm

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