The OASI group have been active in Antarctica since 1986: from the pioneering period,though the 2.62 m mm telescope activity at Terra Nova Bay to the first observing campaigns atDome C.The group activity significantely contributed to the development of mm Italian Antarcticastronomy, acting as a pathfinder for present success and future development. The overallitalian activity is characterised by interesting scientific results, obtained even when adequatefunding was not available.The historical evolution of the italian mm activities in Antarctica will be illustrated and theperspective for future experiments will be reported.

This chapter is primarily intended as an introductory text, a pedagogical platform, on the phenomenon ofturbulence in fluids. For the sake of simplicity, the discussion is mostly limited to the case of anincompressible (constant-property) newtonian fluid in simple three-dimensional turbulent flows. Additionalcomplexities related to thermal convection, magnetic forces, nuclear reactions and so forth are ignored onpurpose.The main motivation is to exhibit the general problematic of turbulence in an as simple as possible physicalsetting. Modelling prospecting, which aims at elaborating numerically tractable mathematical models of turbulence,is also brought up.

Chondritic meteorites constitute the most ancient rock record available in the laboratory to study the formation of the solar system and its planets. Detailed investigations of their mineralogy, petrography, chemistry and isotopic composition and comparison with other primitive solar system samples such as cometary dust particles have allowed through the years to decipher the conditions of formation of their individual components thought to have once been free-floating pieces of dust and rocks in the early solar nebula. When put in the context of astrophysical models of young stellar objects, chondritic meteorites and cometary dust bring essential insights on the astrophysical conditions prevailing in the very first stages of the solar system. Several exemples are shown in this chapter, which include (1) high temperature processes and the formation of chondrules and refractory inclusions, (2) oxygen isotopes and their bearing on photochemistry and large scale geochemical reservoirs in the nebula, (3) organosynthesis and cold cloud chemistry recorded by organic matter and hydrogen isotopes, (4) irradiation of solids by flares from the young Sun and finally (5) large scale transport and mixing of material evidenced in chondritic interplanetary dust particles and samples returned from comet Wild2 by the Stardust mission.


We report our recent progress on extragalactic spectroscopic and continuum observations,including HCN(J=1–0), HCO+(J=1–0), and CN(N=1–0) imaging surveys of local Seyfert and starburst galaxies using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array,high-J CO observations (J=3–2 observations using the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) and J=2–1 observations with the Submillimeter Array) of galaxies, and λ 1.1 mm continuum observations of high-z violent starburst galaxiesusing the bolometer camera AzTEC mounted on ASTE.

We show that the X-ray emission observed towards the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is consistent with a strong (2.1 M⊙/yr) outflow powered by both cosmic-ray pressure and thermal-gas pressure. In addition, the inferred launch parameters of such an outflow seem consistent with conditions inferred in the central Milky Way and other galaxies (although it is not clear if a significant vertical magnetic field exists in the center of the Galaxy). We also show that in galaxies with cosmic-ray pressure, gas pressure, and a vertical magnetic field component, cosmic-ray pressure can yield outflows over a wider range of conditions.

The status of the AMICA project is reported. Final tests are currently running at Teramo Observatory before moving the instrument to Antarctica. AMICA is a camera equipped with two array detectors to perform astronomical imaging in the 2–28 μm band. It will be mounted at the IRAIT focal plane. Its very special feature is the antarctic operability. AMICA subsystems have been tested at typical antarctic conditions, in order to adopt technological solutions that ensure the correct operation of AMICA even on the antarctic plateau. Moreover, since human operations are not possible during the antarctic “winter", AMICA has been designed to operate in a completely automatic mode. AMICA is essentially aimed to demonstrate the potential of Antarctica for Infrared Astronomy and should therefore produce significant data, both for astronomy and site-testing. In addition, the experience gained in its technological development will be useful for building future astronomical instruments for extreme environment sites.


Using hydrodynamical cosmological simulations we investigate the effect of baryonic dissipation on halo shapes. We show that dissipational simulations produce significantly rounder halos than those formed in equivalent dissipationless simulations. Gas cooling causes an average increase in halo principal axis ratios of ~0.2−0.4 in the inner regions and a systematic shift that persists out to the virial radius, alleviating any tension between theory and observations. Although the magnitude of the effect may be overestimated due to overcooling, cluster formation simulations designed to reproduce the observed fraction of cold baryons still produce substantially rounder halos. Subhalos also exhibit a trend of increased axis ratios in dissipational simulations. Moreover, we demonstrate that subhalos are generally rounder than corresponding field halos even in dissipationless simulations. All of these results highlight the vital role of baryonic processes in comparing theory with observations and warn against over-interpreting discrepancies with collisionless simulations on small scales.

The MIMAC project is based on a matrix of Micro Time Projection Chambers (μ-TPC) for Dark Matter search, filled with He3 or CF4 and using ionization and tracks. The first measurement of the energy resolution of this μ-TPC is presented as well as its low threshold.

Laboratory measurements aimed at studying the properties of carbonaceous materials and their evolution under simulated space conditions support the idea that interstellar carbon dust evolves through exposure to UV and cosmic rays, gas and heat. After summarizing the principal aspects of the laboratory approach to the problem of cosmic carbon dust, we discuss recent laboratory results showing how carbon grains influence the properties and evolution of ices mantles and the formation of molecular hydrogen.

Due to severe time constraints, the joint discussion for sessions I-IV has be beenextremely short considering the number of hot topics related to GRB prompt emissionstudies and the physics of GRB ultra-relativistic outflows. I attempt to briefly describethe main issues raised in the talks and posters presented during the conference.

Non-LTE modelling for a particular atom requires accurate collisional excitation and ionization cross-sections for the entire system of transitions in the atom. This review concerns with inelastic collisions with electrons and neutral hydrogen atoms. For the selected atoms, H i and Ca ii, comparisons are made between electron impact excitation rates from ab initio calculations and various theoretical approximations. The effect of the use of modern data on non-LTE modelling is shown. For most transitions and most atoms, hydrogen collisional rates are calculated using a semi-empirical modification of the classical Thomson formula for ionization by electrons. Approaches used to estimate empirically the efficiency of hydrogenic collisions in the statistical equilibrium of atoms are reviewed.

CRESST is an experiment for the direct detection of dark matter (WIMPs) via nuclear recoil measurement. The expected very low event rates and the low energy transfer in the keV range demand low background rates and extremely sensitive detectors. Thus the need for detector crystals with good optical and phonon properties combined with high radioactive purity arises. To achieve these goals, the control over the raw materials and their processing, in particular the crystal growth, is important. A new Czochralski furnace has been installed at the crystal laboratory of the Physik-Department in Garching to meet the delicate conditions required to grow CaWO4 crystals of sufficient size.

Substructure in ΛCDM provides a number of interesting puzzles. While the missing satellites problem is well-studied, there are suggestions of an opposite problem on the bright end. Subhalos large enough to host luminous satellites are uncommon, so the existence of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) orbiting the Galaxy can potentially be a challenge for ΛCDM. Hence, we describe a search for analogs to an isolated galaxy pair like the Milky Way/LMC system in the SDSS and interpret these results with cosmological simulations. We note that while the LMC may not be unusual based on its luminosity, it is remarkably blue for such satellites. Thus, color may have implications for the LMC’s orbital history.

We use the weak gravitational lensing effect to study the mass distribution of asample of 50 southern Abell clusters (0.05 < z < 0.3) having LX > 5 × 1044 erg s-1 observed with ESO-VLTunder uniform sky conditions and subarsecond (0.6'') image quality. Their dynamicalequibrium is assesed through comparison of the clusters mass estimates made by weak-lensing,velocity-dispersions and X-ray techniques. So far, for 24 clusters (Cyprianoet al. 2004),we find: a) the center of their mass and light distributions are coincident for77% of the sample; b) the elongations of the fitted mass profiles and of the lightof the cD galaxies generally match with each other; c) although mostof the clusters are found to be in dynamical equilibrium, those with TX ≥ 8 keV(or σv ≥ 1120 km s-1) are the discordant ones. The preliminary bright arc statistics for our whole sample (LZLS) suggests the presence of acut-off at z ~ 0.07 which is qualitatively consistent with predictions donein a ΛCDM cosmology (Meneghetti et al. 2003).

As a by-product of β Cephei and δ Cephei radiative model surveys we have found interesting cases of multimode pulsation. In case of β Cephei stars, we found two multimode domains with two or three modes being involved. The origin of the multimode pulsation can be traced to one of the two different mechanisms: either to the non-resonant coupling of the two excited modes (double-mode pulsation) or to the 2ω1$\simeq$ω0 + ω2 parametric resonance (triple-mode pulsation). In case of δ Cephei models, a triple-mode pulsation domain, connected with the 2:1 resonance, 2ω0$\simeq$ω2, is found. These models are of theoretical interest only, since they do not obey a proper mass-luminosity relation.

We discuss the potential role that tidal flows in asynchronous binary stars may play in transporting chemically enriched material from deep layers towards the surface and the corresponding observational consequences of these processes. We suggest that the time-dependent velocity field induced by asynchronous rotation may contribute significantly to the mixing, thus providing a channel for the formation of chemically enriched slowly rotating massive stars.

We present a new 3D continuum radiative transfer code, MCFOST, based on a Monte-Carlo method. The reliability and efficiencyof the code is tested by comparison with five different radiative transfer codespreviously tested by Pascucci et al. (2004), using a 2D diskconfiguration. When tested against the same disk configuration,no significant difference is found between the temperature and SEDcalculated with MCFOST and with the other codes. Thecomputed values are well within the range of values computed by theother codes. The code-to-code differences are small, they rarelyexceed 10% and are usually much smaller.

Observations of spectroscopic double stars with long baseline optical interferometry have resolved many pairs, allowing their orbits to be measured and stellar masses and distances to be derived. A number of these measurements have accuracies worthy of comparison with high quality results from eclipsing binaries, thus able challenge stellar evolution models. I will review the contributions, and also show recent results, among them observations of massive O-stars and multiple systems.

We discuss the support for the cooling of gas directly at the disk-halo interface as a mechanism to continually fuel a galaxy. This may be an important reservoir as there is not enough cold gas observed in galaxy halos and simulations indicate the existing cold clouds will be rapidly destroyed as they move through the surrounding halo medium. We show possible evidence for a net infall of the WIM layer in the Milky Way, simulation results showing the recooling of warm clouds at the disk-halo interface, and GALFA HI data of small, cold HI clouds that could represent this recooling.