Capitol Chats 2015

June 8-10, 2015

The first Capitol Chats meeting was focused on gamma-ray bursts and the radiation mechanisms responsible for the gamma-ray emission. This meeting brought together 20 experts on gamma-ray burst observations and theory, from GWU, the greater DC area, and other universities and national labs in and outside of the US. The four main themes of the meeting were the nature of the central engine, launching and acceleration of the jet, emission mechanisms, and new theoretical and observational directions. There were many long discussions on the status, progress, and future directions of this field of research. At the end of the meeting, small working groups were established to push forward the research in some of these areas, i.e. particle acceleration simulations, model-data comparisons, photospheric emission, evolution of the jet inside the star, and magnetars versus black holes as central engines. The great atmosphere during these three days helped in getting the most out of the sometimes passionate but always constructive discussions. Finally, as part of the meeting, the participants had lunch on one of the days with the GWU astrophysics group, in particular for the students and postdocs to present their research and discuss their ideas with some of the world experts in their research fields.

About Capitol Chats

The Capitol Chats is an initiative established at GWU by Chryssa Kouveliotou in 2015. The Capitol Chats are a series of annual meetings, with 15 to 20 astrophysicists getting together for up to three days, to discuss specific and focused questions on an astrophysical subject matter, and brainstorm on the possible answers. These meetings are geared towards open discussion rather than the usual presentations/questions format. Nonetheless, participants are encouraged to come to the meeting prepared with a few slides that they think would illustrate their argument best. Participation to these meetings is by invitation only.