Proceedings of RAGtime 14-16

Published in December 2014 in Opava

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Content

 Preface

Since 1999, the RAGtime meetings have been organized by the Relativistic Astrophysics Group (RAG) at the Institute of Physics, the Faculty of Philosophy and Science of the Silesian University in Opava in order to provide opportunities for discussing the recent advances and developments in the field of relativistic astrophysics. During the past sixteen years, RAGtime has grown from a small workshop to become a regular international conference that brings together collaborators of the Opava’s reseach group who are coming from EU, USA, China and Japan. It has also provided a starting point for many new collaborations. Among the involved institutions are the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the Charles University in Prague, the International School for Advanced Studies and the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, the Institute of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, the Department of Astrophysics of the University in Gothenburg, the Institute of Astronomy of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Harvard University, the Cornell University, the Hiroshima University, the Fudan University, and the Xiamen University.

Concordantly, the scope of the topics discussed at the meetings has widened considerably in recent years. New results have been presented at the conference from different areas, such as the alternative theories of gravitation and their astrophysical implications, physics of plasma and magnetic fields in the presence of a strong gravity and X-ray variability modelling connected, but not limited, to the proposed ESA X-ray missions ATHENA and LOFT. However, the main focus of the meeting remains on the general physical phenomena connected to accretion processes onto black holes and neutron stars and the internal structure of neutron stars and quark stars.

The RAGtime workshops and conferences have always provided an important and unique opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students of the Silesian University to meet and discuss problems with the world’s leading astrophysicists. Among the regular guests are Marek Abramowicz, John Miller, Włodzimierz Klu´zniak, and Vladimír Karas, Jeff McClintock, Shoji Kato, Ron Remillard, Didier Barret, Luciano Rezzolla, Yasufumi Kojima, Wen Fei Yu.

We would like to thank all the authors for a careful preparation of their contributions. This publication has been made possible through the support provided in the framework of the project “Supporting Integration with the International Theoretical and Observational Research Network in Relativistic Astrophysics of Compact Objects”, CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0071. The project is co-financed by the European Social fund and state budget of the Czech Republic. 

 Opava, Prague, December 2014

Z. Stuchlík, G. Török and T. Pecháček,
editors

Colophon

Title: 
Proceedings of RAGtime 14–16: Workshops on black holes and neutron stars, 18–22 Sept./15–18 July/11–19 Oct., 2012/2013/2014, Opava, Prague, Czech Republic

Published by:
Silesian University in Opava, Faculty of Philosophy and Science, Institute of Physics, Bezručovo nám. 13, CZ-746 01 Opava, Czech Republic

Editors:
Z. Stuchlík, G. Török and T. Pecháček

Cover design:  Otakar Karlas

© Faculty of Philosophy and Science, Silesian University in Opava, 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Publisher.

1st edition

Printed by :
Z + M Partner, s.r.o., Valchařska 3261/17, CZ-702 00 Ostrava-Moravská Ostrava, Czech Republic

Published in December 2014

The publication was prepared as the study material in the framework of the project “Supporting Integration with the International Theoretical and Observational Research Network in Relativistic Astrophysics of Compact Objects”, CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0071. The project is co-financed by European Social fund and state budget of the Czech Republic.

ISBN 978-80-7510-127-3 
ISSN 2336-5668 (Print)
ISSN 2336-5676 (Online)

Typeset in LATEX