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Latest news - updated October 24th

Practical Information

The workshop will take place at the CNR Research area in Bologna. You will have to show your ID at the main gate on your arrival on the first day, and your conference badge from the second day. The sessions will take place in room #215 on the first floor, just above the main hall.  Further information on how to reach the meeting venue are given in this page.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, lunch will be served at the venue and coffee breaks will also be provided. There will be no formal social dinner. Instead, we plan an informal night out at a local pub on Thursday, offering an opportunity to meet and interact in a relaxed setting. Participation will be at each participant’s own expense.

Presenters are requested to upload their presentations in advance, at least half a day before their scheduled session. Please use the following drive link. If you have difficulties accessing the drive, please contact us by email.  The preferred format for presentations is PDF; we will also support PowerPoint and OpenOffice formats. Please note that each presentation slot includes dedicated time for discussion:

• Long talks (20 minutes or more): 5 minutes for questions and discussion

• Short talks: 3 minutes for questions and discussion

Wi-Fi access and other on-site information will be shared at registration.

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Rationale

Developments of multi frequency receivers with shared optical paths are bringing new scientific and technological opportunities to Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). Operations at frequencies above 22 GHz, thanks to the technique of frequency phase transfer (FPT), are becoming feasible at sites with ordinary atmospheric conditions, as shown by the performance of the Korean VLBI Network (KVN). Several telescopes in Europe, including the three INAF radio telescopes, are in the process of developing or installing three-band (22/43/86 GHz) receivers. Combined with source-frequency phase referencing (SFPR), this holds an exceptional discovery potential that would strongly impact a number of scientific fields, ranging from fundamental cosmology and black hole physics to stellar astrophysics and studies of transient phenomena.

This workshop aims at extending the activities started after the 2022 Bonn workshop. It will feature reports from the science and technology working groups, status updates from the institutes in the process of designing/installing/operating three-band receivers, an overview of the possible extension of the FPT technique to even higher frequencies, a series of reviews of the evolving multimessenger context, and ample discussion sessions devoted to science opportunities, technical development, and organisational challenges. We expect the meeting to foster international collaboration and exchanges, particularly by encouraging the engagement of the Italian community. The workshop also sets a goal of converging on a reference “baseline” configuration for a global array, to be taken as a reference for the development of science cases.

In addition to the above described sessions by invitation, we expect to be able to accommodate several contributed talks. Contributions are encouraged on scientific, technical, and organisational topics. Abstract submission will remain open until May 30 and we expect to announce the full workshop programme on July 1st. 

Important Dates

• 2025 June 15: Abstract submission deadline
• 2025 July 7: Preliminary programme announcement
• 2025 September 26: Registration closes
• 2025 October 28-30: workshop in Bologna
• 2025 October 31: visit to Medicina radio telescopes

Logistics

There will be no registration fee.  Coffee breaks and lunches will be provided, while a conference dinner will be organised but will be at each participant’s own expense.  The workshop will take place at the CNR Research area in Bologna.

On the day after the sessions (Friday, October 31st), we will organise a visit to the Medicina radioastronomical station for interested participants.  The Medicina station is undergoing major upgrades, with the installation of the active surface on the 32m dish that is currently underway, refurbishment of the Northern Cross, and preparation for the installation of a LOFAR 2.0 station.  Please indicate your interest in the visit through the registration form.

Invited Speakers

• Pietro Bolli
• Alberto Colombo
• Pablo de Vicente
• Richard Dodson
• Mareki Honma
• Giulia Illuminati
• Hiroshi Imai 
• Taehyun Jung
• Wu Jiang
• Micheal Lindqvist
• Tuomas Savolainen
• Roberta Zanin
• Guangyao Zhao

Scientific Organising Committee

• John Conway
• Marcello Giroletti
• Federica Govoni
• Andrei Lobanov
• Maria Rioja
• Eduardo Ros
• Bong Won Sohn
• Corrado Trigilio
• Tiziana Venturi

Local Organising Committee

• Marcello Giroletti
• Rocco Lico
• Cristiana Spingola
• Matteo Stagni
• Alice Tabellini
• Tiziana Venturi

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SCAM Emails warning

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We have received some alerts of email scams being sent to participants that look like the following - please be aware and ignore them.

Greetings ,

Kindly inform us of your arrival and departure dates in Bologna and we will reserve your room for the conference in October.

Your prompt response would be appreciated so that we may email you the hotel booking link and confirm the reservation.

Remember that our reservations are fully flexible, able to be refunded, and modifiable up to 14 days prior to the arrival date.

Thank you,

Do contact the Global Travel Team at:
United Kingdom Office : (+44) 208 0808439
Canada Office : (+1) 833 833 2107

Our team is ready to support you.