Report on the Twelfth United Nations/European Space Agency Workshop on Basic Space Science

Pursuant to recommendations of the United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) and deliberations of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), annual UN/European Space Agency workshops on basic space science have been held around the world since 1991. These workshops contributed to the development of astrophysics and space science, particularly in developing nations. Following a process of prioritization, the workshops identified the following elements as particularly important for international cooperation in the field: (i) operation of astronomical telescope facilities implementing TRIPOD, (ii) virtual observatories, (iii) astrophysical data systems, (iv) concurrent design capabilities for the development of international space missions, and (v) theoretical astrophysics such as applications of nonextensive statistical mechanics. Beginning in 2005, the workshops focus on preparations for the International Heliophysical Year 2007 (IHY2007). The workshops continue to facilitate the establishment of astronomical telescope facilities as pursued by Japan and the development of low-cost, ground-based, world-wide instrument arrays as lead by the IHY secretariat.Comment: PDF, 9 page

Analytical results connecting stellar structure parameters and extended reaction rates

Possible modification in the velocity distribution in the non-resonant reaction rates leads to an extended reaction rate probability integral. The closed form representation for these thermonuclear functions are used to obtain the stellar luminosity and neutrino emission rates. The composite parameter {C} that determines the standard nuclear reaction rate through the Maxwell-Boltzmann energy distribution is extended to {C}^* by the extended reaction rates through a more general distribution than the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. The new distribution is obtained by the pathway model introduced by Mathai in 2005 [Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 396, 317-328]. Simple analytic models considered by various authors are utilized for evaluating stellar luminosity and neutrino emission rates and are obtained in generalized special functions such as Meijer's G-function and Fox's H-function. The standard and extended non-resonant thermonuclear functions are compared by plotting them. Behavior of the new energy distribution, more general than Maxwell-Boltzmann is also studied.Comment: 20 pages, LaTe

Stochastic processes via the pathway model

After collecting data from observations or experiments, the next step is to build an appropriate mathematical or stochastic model to describe the data so that further studies can be done with the help of the models. In this article, the input-output type mechanism is considered first, where reaction, diffusion, reaction-diffusion, and production-destruction type physical situations can fit in. Then techniques are described to produce thicker or thinner tails (power law behavior) in stochastic models. Then the pathway idea is described where one can switch to different functional forms of the probability density function) through a parameter called the pathway parameter.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, LaTe