It is quite simple to build a Newtonian dynamics without Newton's absolute space which nevertheless gives exactly the same relative motions of the bodies as Newton's dynamics when the latter is applied in a non-rotating Universe like ours.
The small Machian effects discovered in General Relativity by Einstein have now been worked out even when the effects are strong. However they are not just due to matter and its motion. The energy and angular momentum of swirling gravitational waves can accelerate and rotate the inertial frame far from the wave itself just as the energy and angular momentum of a rotating shell of matter rotates ('instantaneously'!) the inertal frame in the flat space far inside it. Gravitational waves have no matter tensor; thus the matter tensor in the Universe is not the only source of inertia; it is energy, not matter, that matters. Arguments are given suggesting that space-time may disappear as its energy content is removed. In the presence of a lambda term this only works if the value of lambda depends on some positive power of the energy content of the Universe rather than being a fundamental constant. ","",""];
March[2]=["17","Roman Rafikov","Princeton","Accretion Disks, Gravitational Instability, and Planet Formation","","",""];
March[3]=["24","Alex Lazarian","U. Wisconsin","Fast 3D Reconnection of Weakly Stochastic Magnetic Field:
Reconnection without Discrimination","
With the progress of collisionless Hall-MHD reconnection models a really burning question arises. Is the reconnection rate fast in collisionless environments and slow when collisions are important? The positive answer to that question means that all MHD simulations, including those of interstellar medium, do not represent astrophysical reality, as high diffusivity of codes makes numerical reconnection fast.
I shall discuss the results new 3D MHD numerical simulations that support the model of reconnection proposed in Lazarian & Vishniac (1999). This model does not appeal to any plasma physics effects and provides fast reconnection of magnetic field in the presence of weak magnetic field stochasticity. The simulations provided in a generic 3D configuration with a substantial guide field provide reconnection rates which do not depend on the Ohmic resistivity, but are functions of the turbulence injection strength and the turbulence injection scale. The observed dependences correspond to the theoretical predictions.
The model is applicable to both collisionless and collisional environments and does not show dependences on anomalous resistivities that were introduced in some of the numerical runs to mimic plasma effects. The predictions of the model include First Order Fermi acceleration of energetic particles, flares of reconnection, which can be associated with Solar Flares etc..","",""]; March[4]=["31","Ramesh Narayan","CfA","Measuring Black Hole Spin","","",""]; April[0]=["7","Chris Reynolds","U. Maryland","The role of AGN in Cooling Core Clusters of Galaxies","","",""]; April[1]=["14","Serguei Komissarov","Leeds","The Blandford-Znajek Mechanism and Gamma-Ray Bursts","","",""]; April[2]=["21","Jerry Ostriker","Princeton","Two Distinct Phases in the Formation of Giant Elliptical Galaxies","","",""]; April[3]=["28","Ray Pierrehumbert","U. Chicago","Habitability Zones in Space and Time for Super Earths","","",""]; May[0]=["5","Tim Heckman","JHU","The Co-Evolution of Black Holes and Galaxies: Clues in the Local Universe","","",""]; May[1]=["12","Peter Goldreich","IAS","Spin-Orbit Coupling","","",""]; May[2]=["19","Roger Blandford","KIPAC/Stanford","(Massive) Black Hole X-ray Binaries","Stellar mass black holes with stellar companions on circular orbits can become powerful X-ray sources when mass is transferred from the star to the hole. In this talk, inspired by recent observations of RE J1034 +396, I will consider what happens when the black hole is massive and resides in a galactic nucleus. I will argue that stars on bound orbits will spiral inward under the action of gravitational radiation and often overflow their Roche lobes close to the hole. At this point the orbit is likely to expand while the star transfers mass to the hole via a relativistic torus and creates periodic X-ray emission from an orbiting hot spot. Prospects for observing this phenomenon and exhibiting general relativistic features will be discussed.","",""]; June[0]=["2","Rashid Sunyaev","MPA","The Polarization of X-Ray Lines from Clusters of Galaxies as a Way to Investigate Tangential Velocity of the Bulk Flows","","",""]; September[0]=["15","Tod Lauer","NOAO","The Demographics of Massive Black Holes","","",""]; September[1]=["22","John Kormendy","U. Texas","Structure and Formation of Elliptical and Spheroidal Galaxies -- Correlations With Supermassive Black Holes","","",""]; September[2]=["29","Jacob Bekenstein","Hebrew University Jerusalem/IAS","The Saga of the Varying Fine Structure Constant","","",""]; October[0]=["6","Ira Wasserman","Cornell","Dynamics of the R Mode Instability of Rotating Neutron Stars","","",""]; October[1]=["13","Andrei Beloborodov","Columbia","Mechanism of GRB Emission","","",""]; October[2]=["20","Adam Burgasser","MIT","Galactic Orbits of Ultracool Subdwarfs","","",""]; October[3]=["27","Jason Tumlinson","STSci","The First Stars and the Fossil Record","","",""]; November[0]=["3","Adam Riess","STSci","Dark Energy and the Hubble Constant from a Differential Distance Ladder","","",""]; November[1]=["10","Jill Knapp","Princeton","Chromospheric Activity in Low-Mass Stars","Magnetic activity in the Sun manifests itself as sunspot activity, flares, and reversals in the CaII H and K lines, and is believed to originate in the transition region between the convective and radiative zones. Lower-mass stars become fully convective at about 0.3 solar masses, and must produce magnetic fields via a fully-convective dynamo. Magnetic activity in stars is studied using the incidence and variability of chromospheric emission lines, of radio emission and of X-ray emission. The enormous photometric and spectroscopic stellar data base produced by the SDSS has been used to measure the incidence of chromospheric activity with spectral type and age, the rate of flares and the correspondence with chromospherically active stars, the short-time-scale variability, and the effect of binary membership. Stellar activity is present at a low level, about 10%, of late type stars and abruptly rises to almost 100% at spectral type M4, corresponding to the mass at which stars become fully convective. Variability on the several minute time scale also rises towards the latest M-type stars, and shows an approximately exponential dependence on amplitude except for the largest-amplitude events (flares). Dwarf M stars which are binary companions to white dwarfs show an increased incidence of activity, but this appears to be confined to close pairs, former common-envelope binaries, suggesting the regeneration of the dynamo by angular momentum transfer.","",""]; November[2]=["17","Eugene Churazov","MPA","Non-Thermal Pressure in Early-Type Galaxy Atmospheres and AGN Feedback","","",""]; December[0]=["1","Matias Zaldarriaga","IAS","Non-Gaussianities from Inflation","","",""]; December[1]=["8","Simon White","MPA","The Fine-scale Structure of Dark Matter Halos","","",""]; December[2]=["15","Omer Blaes","UCSB","Stability, Energy Transport, and Variability of High Luminosity Accretion onto Black Holes","","",""];