The USIC discussion forum is retained as a historical record only, as it has been supplanted in practice by the OLBIN email distribution and other mechanisms of the IAU and the International Interferometry Forum..

USIC Discussion Forum
This page is an area for open comments and discussion concerning USIC plans and activities. Feel free to request Wiki space membership and contribute. Please avoid editing other people's comments and simply add your own, identified, statements at the top of this page separated by a horizontal rule.

The working groups for the white paper to the Decadal Panel have been formed and consist of:

Rafael Millan-Gabet (NExSci) (chair confirmed)

Jorg-Uwe Pott (Keck)
Julien Woillez (Keck)
Christopher Tycner (Central Michigan)
Bob Stencel (Univ Denver)
Mathew Muterspaugh (Tennessee State Univ)
Denis Mourard (Obs Azur)
John Monnier (Univ Mich)
Chris Haniff (Cambridge)

R. Akeson (chair confirmed)

H. McAlister
T. Ten Brummelaar
P. Wizinowich
M. Creech-Eakman
E. Bakker
S. Ridgway

Tom Armstrong (chair confirmed)

Nicholas M. Elias (Heidelberg)
Jean Phillipe Berger (Grenoble)
Julien Woillez (Keck)
Guy Perrin (Obs Paris)
Christian Hummel (ESO)
John Young (Cambridge)
Dave Leisawitz (Goddard)
Sam Ragland (Keck)

P. Wizinowich (chair confirmed - temporary)

H. McAlister
S. Ridgway
D. Hutter
M. Creech-Eakman
Bill Danchi
Gerard van Belle (ESO)

M. Creech-Eakman (chair confirmed)

H. McAlister
P. Wizinowich
S. Ridgway
Denis Mourard (Obs Azur)
Michael Hyrenevych (Keck)
Ben Lane (Draper)
C. Townes

6. A roadmap for the future development of interferometry.

Dave Mozurkewich (chair confirmed)

Jorg-Uwe Pott (Keck)
Julien Woillez (Keck)
Jean Phillipe Berger (Grenoble)
Mathew Muterspaugh (Berkeley)
Theo ten Brummelaar
Josh Eisner (Arizona)
Dave Buscher (Cambridge)

If you wish to participate in any of these groups please contact the relevant Chair.

We have finished the final version of the OIP whitepaper. It has accreted two new authors. This latest version contains a few small additions, clarifications, and assorted minor tweaks. It can be found here.

If you would like to be listed as an “interested party” on the OIP homepage, please let me know.

Regards, Nick Elias
n.elias@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de

We have updated the Optical Interferometric Polarimetry (OIP) white paper. Additions include: depolarization issues and OIP ancillary science with space-based interferometers (complete list at end of paper).

Also, I have just created an OIP homepage. It contains a list of interested persons and a bibliography. If you would like to be included in the list, or if you know of an article that should be in the bibilography, please let me know.

Regards, Nick Elias
n.elias@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de

Here is the first mature draft of the Optical Interferometric Polarimetry (OIP) white paper. There is good information in it, including possible sources and instrument issues. There are also nice pictures as well. Our group is using this as a starting point for developing the science, hardware, and algorithms. The document will be updated as needed. I hope that it will be useful for the decadal report.

Gentle Persons,

Two small items:

The email list has been updated, so as always if you have received this in error or more than one copy just let me know.

Also, I have added a discussion page to the USIC WiKi site which you can find at

http://usic.wikispaces.com/USIC+Discussion+Forum

I will add the emails sent to this list (unless specifically asked not to by the author), and all are welcome to add comments of their own. Just join the WiKi and type away, but please resist the temptation to edit other peoples comments. The first contribution comes from Matthew Muterspaugh which I also include below.

Theo

Thanks for organizing this effort. My primary item of feedback is one I've said before—perhaps a better strategy would be to include space based long-baseline interferometry, rather than just focusing on ground-based interferometry. I notice that in almost every instance in the draft wording, the “ground-based” modifier is used. I think this misses an excellent opportunity to support space interferometry. If a space interferometry mission happens, the interferometry community might expect support for ground-based facilities that can be used for a range of programs, with the justification that it supports and trains a workforce with crucial skills to that mission. Because even the smallest space mission gets funding orders of magnitude larger than any ground based effort, the relatively minimal cost to the space mission budget represented by investment in ground-based partners is easy to leverage. This has been true of many previous space/ground partnerships.

Success of a space interferometry mission will also bring broader interest in long-term future investments in interferometry of all kinds due to its high profile nature, including

I don't see many negatives for the USIC community supporting space interferometry. It's not like space interferometers with 300m baselines are realistically planned for 2010-2020, so ground-based still has unique and complementary operating roles. The two do not compete with each other for science.

Also, there's the point that space interferometry can do really exciting science that we should all be eagerly anticipating, but that's another discussion entirely….

Gentle Persons,

You are receiving this email because you expressed an interest in the United States Interferometry Consortium (USIC). Please let me know if your either don't wish to receive further emails or have received this one more than once.

We will hold another break-out session on Tuesday the 26th at the winter AAS meeting in Long Beach, and you are all invited to attend. By the time of this next session we hope to have a draft of the white paper for circulation, and you should soon be hearing from me asking for contributions to this paper.

In the mean time, please have a look at our WiKi pages at: http://usic.wikispaces.com

Should you wish to contribute to these pages feel free to join the space and let me know.

Theo (USIC Chair)