Summary of the decisions taken at the Rome meeting "Towards a proposal for FP7" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The meeting took place February 9 and 10 2009 at the IASF in Rome. 34 institutes were represented. All activities considered in the frame of the AHEAD proposal were presented and discussed. A consensus emerged that in order to be effective the proposal should concentrate on some number of activities where the available funds could allow the European high energy community to make real progress. It was also stressed that since that number is limited it is of very high importance to include several institutes in these central activities and to have also a very broad set of activities that are also taken into consideration. Metaphorically this is to be seen like a centrally peaked function with broad wings. The discussions took into consideration also the particularities of the expected call. This lead to some reorganisation of the activities between joint research activities and networking activities. In particular, it appears that the software related activities would appear as networking rather than as joint research activities. The following is a summary of the decisions taken, it also gives the present status of the structure of the proposal. In summary, the meeting was very fruitful and lead to a significant progress. The participants were grateful to the local organisation for a smooth and pleasant meeting Thierry Courvoisier -------------------------------------------- Synthesis of the Joint Research Activities defined at the Rome meeting ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JRA1, Enabling technologies and detectors for high energy astrophysics Coordinator: Jan Willem den Herder WP1: Magnetic micro-calorimeters. Consider also the link wit other micro-calorimeter technologies and ensure coordination with other developments in Europe. Lead: Jan Willem den Herder WP2: Low power electronics. Lead Jochen Greiner WP3: Trade off between Si and CdTe (CdZTe). Lead Jochen Greiner JRA2, Optics for high energy astrophysics Coordinator: Mike Watson WP1: Active optics for X-ray astronomy. Lead: TBD WP2: Plastic optics. Lead: Marco Barbera WP3: Laue lenses in conjunction with additional "optical" elements, optimisation of the parameters. Lead Peter von Ballmoos JRA3, Laboratory astrophysics Coordinator: Ehud Behar Coordination of the existing efforts in the properties of nuclei relevant for astrophysics applications Study of K-shell transitions in high Z elements JRA4, System design for new missions Coordinator: Karl Budtz Jorgensen Make use of the available facilities to perform early system studies of selected mission concepts. JRA5, Background modeling for high energy astrophysics Coordinator Lorenzo Natalucci WP1: Develop a tool with which it is possible to use given global radiation models to estimate the particle environment in any given orbit. WP2: Adapt Geant4 for use in the modeling of background rates. to be done in close coordination with ongoing geant4 modifications. Synthesis of the Trans National Activities defined at the Rome meeting ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TNA1, Access to ground facilities for the benefit of high energy astrophysics Coordinator: Salvatore Sciortino The facilities are the X-ray beams in Palermo, Ferrara and Leicester Synthesis of the Network Activities defined at the Rome meeting ---------------------------------------------------------------- NA1, Management Coordinator: Thierry Courvoisier NA2, Identification of Science goals and associated requirements for high energy astrophysics experiments Coordinator: L. Piro NA3, Coordination of research facilites (associated with TNA1 activity) Coordinator: Salvatore Sciortino NA4, Exchange of personnel for collaborations, exploitation of data etc Coordinator: TBD NA5, Meetings and Conferences Coordinator: Iossif Papadakis NA6, Outreach activities Coordinator: Gregor Rauw (temp) NA7, Data software coordination Coordinator: ????????, Marc Audard to follow the early steps.