EVENT E1.4 at the next 39th 
COSPAR Scientific Assembly - Mysore, India, 14-22 July 2012 with the 
title:

UNVEILING THE PROPERTIES OF SUPERGIANT FAST X-RAY TRANSIENTS

Duration: 2 half-days

Commissions E (Research in Astrophysics from Space)


*********************IMPORTANT DATE****************************

**** ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS 2012 FEBRUARY 10 ****


Scientific rationale:

A new field of research in High Energy Astrophysics has been opened thanks 
to the survey of the Galactic plane performed by instruments onboard 
INTEGRAL: a new subclass of High Mass X-ray Binaries showing short 
outbursts has been recognized, the so-called Supergiant Fast X-ray 
Transients. The outburst mechanism at work in these hard X-ray transients 
associated with OB supergiants is still unknown, as well as their actual 
duty cycles, the properties of the compact object and of the accreting 
supergiant wind, their link with massive X-ray binaries displaying 
persistent X-ray emission. Their total number in our Galaxy is highly 
uncertain, but they could be a dominant population of massive binaries. 
They also represent a challenge for theory and stellar population 
synthesis models. Future generation of instrumentation, both by monitoring 
the hard X-ray sky and thanks to in-depth investigations of single 
sources, are expected to solve several of these open issues.

Scientific Organizing Committee:

Lara Sidoli (Main Scientific Organizer, INAF/IASF-Milano, Italy),
Vito Sguera (Deputy Organizer, INAF/IASF-Bologna, Italy)

Angela Bazzano   (INAF/IASF Rome, Italy)
Tony Bird   (University of Southampton, United Kingdom)
Ed van den Heuvel   (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Ignacio Negueruela   (Universidad de Alicante, Spain)
David Smith   (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA)
John Tomsick   (University of California, Berkeley, USA)


Invited Speakers:
Tony BIRD, Sylvain CHATY, Atsuo OKAZAKI, Lidia OSKINOVA, Thomas TAURIS.

The precise dates of the Event will be announced as soon as they are
fixed.

*********************IMPORTANT DATE****************************

**** ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS 2012 FEBRUARY 10 ****

Information on the 39th COSPAR Scientific Assembly can be found
at
http://www.cospar2012india.org/
and
http://www.cospar-assembly.org/