Workshop Venue
Workshop Poster

Welcome
In 1613 Galileo Galilei reported
in the "l'Istoria e dimostrazioni
intorno alle macchie solari e loro accidenti"
the evidence of solar spots and the interpretation of their motion as
due to solar rotation. After 400 years we are able to quantify, thanks
to extremely fine experiments like SOHO, details of the internal and
surface rotation of the Sun, and to measure, thanks to precise
photometry obtained with the Kepler and COROT satellites, rotation
periods for
thousands of stars. In addition, projected rotational velocities
(Vsini) are now available for thousands of them, thanks to ground-based
high resolution spectroscopy. These data offer a unique possibility to
study in detail the behaviour of the rotation of the Sun in time, as
well as the evolutionary behaviour of stellar rotation all along the HR
Diagram.
In the meantime it is clear that stellar rotation is not only a
key ingredient to properly understand solar and stellar angular
momentum evolution. This fundamental parameter can also provide
important constraints for models of stellar evolution, as well as
important information on the presence of external rotational brakes,
tidal interactions in binary systems and on the mechanisms controlling
stellar activity. Rotation plays also a primary role in stellar
chemical evolution and it reflects the complex interaction between
stars and circumstellar/proto-planetary disk in the PMS phase.
To celebrate the 400 years of the public announcement of Sun's
Rotation by Galileo Galilei, the workshop "400 Years of Stellar
Rotation", co-sponsored by the European Southern Observatory and the
International Institute of Physics of Natal, will be held in Natal,
Brazil, at the Ocean
Palace Beach Resort and Bungalows. In
addition, this relatively large conference will be a unique meeting to
present the state of the art of stellar rotation coming from the space
missions CoRoT, Kepler and Spitzer.
The "400 Years of Stellar Rotation" workshop will start with an Opening
Welcome
reception on the evening of Thursday, November 21,
2013. Science sessions will run from Friday, November 22 through
Tuesday, November 26, 2013. The "400 Years of Stellar Rotation" workshop
will
consist of invited talks on the topics of general interest, as well as
a number of contributed talks, and poster contributions, which will be
in exhibition for the entire duration of the meeting. Two special
sessions will be devoted to discuss the results presented in poster
contributions.
Looking forward to seeing you in Natal!
The Scientific Organizing Committee