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 PLEASE REMEMBER : DEADLINE FOR PRE-REGISTRATION : 1st JUNE
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                 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

 DISKS OF GALAXIES: KINEMATICS, DYNAMICS AND PERTURBATIONS

           Puebla --- Mexico, November 5-9, 2001
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                      hosted by the

  Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica

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*                    FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT                    *
*                                                          *
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Dear Colleague:

An international conference on "Disks of Galaxies" will take
place in Puebla, Mexico, November 5-9, 2001.

The purpose of this First Announcement is to bring the meeting
to the attention of astronomers, and to solicit expressions of
interest in attending. This First Announcement contains the
preliminary registration form, and some relevant information.

SCIENTIFIC RATIONALE

Disks are probably the flattest subsystems of galaxies,
and their formation and evolution pose interesting problems.
How do they form, evolve and decouple from the other galaxy
subsystems, such as the halo and the bulge, in the process of
building a galaxy? Today there are numerous indications of
the dynamical evolution of disk galaxies, through various
secular or episodic processes, such as bar formation and
destruction, bulge growth and mergers, sometimes over periods
much shorter than the standard galaxy age of 10-15 Gyrs. 

Disks develop many sub-structures, either internally, both
spontaneously via instabilities and due to the interplay
with other components of the same galaxy, or externally, by
interactions with other galaxies. In the latter case the
fragility of the disk structure poses already interesting
constraints on the amount of interaction which can be
tolerated.  The sub-structures include bars, spirals, rings
and warps, each presenting interesting dynamical problems on
their own. 

Disks extend from the most central to the relatively outer
parts of each galaxy, permitting the study of the kinematics
and dynamics of the major part of a spiral galaxy using a
variety of tracers.  Since disks are quite responsive they
allow us to probe the different environments in which they
reside, from the black hole in their innermost parts, to the
halo that surrounds them. The importance of the HI layer to
test dark matter is well established, and the connection of
the HI and H_2 with the stellar disk yields clues about the
history of star formation in disks. 

Resonances play a crucial role in the dynamics of disks and
it is thus important to locate the main resonant regions.
For this, many photometrical and spectroscopical methods
have been proposed so far to detect them, but none of them
can be applied easily in a systematic way to large samples
of galaxies. Hence we still have not reached a global picture
concerning their importance. 

Star formation is occurring actively in the disk of galaxies.
The presence of fresh gas and dust allows new stars to form,
sometimes in an organized way due to the response to density
wave perturbations in the old disk population. This process
can at present be studied with IR-imaging facilities as well
as in the classical optical bands. 

TOPICS

-- Formation of galactic disks 
-- Dynamical evolution of galactic disks 
-- Evolution along the Hubble Sequence 
-- Disk + halo and disk + bulge connection 
-- Substructure in galactic disks 
-- Morphology of disks at different wavelengths 
-- Thin and thick disks 
-- Counter-rotating disks 
-- Bars, spirals, rings and warps 
-- Interactions and mergings
-- Cannibalism and mean-life time of small companions 
-- Local vs global star formation activity 
-- Stability and chaos in galactic disks 
-- Grand-design vs flocculent spirals 
-- Resonances in general 


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Invited Review papers
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E. Athanassoula : Secular evolution in barred galaxies. Theory
A. Bosma        : HI and dark matter in spiral galaxies
M. Bureau       : Structure, kinematics and dynamics of bulges
W. Dehnen       : Our Galaxy
H. Dottori      : The disc of the LMC and its perturbations         
J. Franco       : Magnetic fields and spiral structure
K.C. Freeman    : Optical structure of discs 
R. Ibata        : Minor mergers in disc galaxies          
K. Kuijken      : Warps       
M. Merrifield   : Secular evolution in barred galaxies. Observations  
M. Regan        : Gas Kinematics in Barred and Spiral Galaxies 
H.W. Rix        : TBC
J. Sellwood     : Recurring, transient spiral patterns and scattering        
I. Shlosman     : Dynamical Evolution of Central Kpc in Disk Galaxies        
L. Sparke       : Off-Plane Gas and Galaxy Discs
P. Teuben       : Velocity fields. Their derivation and the influence
                  of bars, ovals and warps.        

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SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
-------------------------------

E. Athanassoula (Chair) Observatoire de Marseille, France
J. Binney               Dept Physics, Oxford, UK
A. Bosma                Observatoire de Marseille, France
H. Dottori              Dept de Astronomia, IF-UFGRS, Brazil
J. Franco               IA-UNAM, Mexico
K.C. Freeman            Mount Stromlo Observatory, Australia
M. Merrifield           University of Nottingham, UK
M. Regan                Space Telescope Science Institute
J. Sellwood             Rutgers University, USA
I. Shlosman             University of Kentucky, USA
L. Sparke               University of Wisconsin, USA
P. Teuben               University of Maryland, USA

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LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
--------------------------

M. Chavez               INAOE
J.A. Garcia-Barreto     IA-UNAM
D. Mayya                INAOE
R. Mujica               INAOE
I. Puerari (Chair)      INAOE
E. Recillas             INAOE
S. del Rio              INAOE
D. Rosa                 INAOE
M. Valdez-Gutierrez     INAOE

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CONTACT ADDRESS

E-mail: disks01@inaoep.mx
WEB: http://www.inaoep.mx/~disks01/ghconf.html
FAX: +52 2 247 22 31

Secretary: secregh@inaoep.mx

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SEND THE PRELIMINARY REGISTRATION FORM TO disks01@inaoep.mx

************************************************************

              PRELIMINARY REGISTRATION FORM

                INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

 DISKS OF GALAXIES: KINEMATICS, DYNAMICS AND PERTURBATIONS

          Puebla --- Mexico, November 5-9, 2001


                 -------------------------
                    DEADLINE   1st JUNE
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Full Name (family name, first name, middle name):

Affiliation (Academy/University, Institute, Department):

Mailing Address (apt/street/city/zip code/country):


TEL:
FAX:
E-MAIL:
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Preliminary title of the proposed paper:


( ) Oral contribution
( ) Poster contribution

(please note that we may have to assign your paper to the
poster presentation)
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Number of Accompanying persons:

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