First Circular
The 26th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics will be held in São Paulo city, Brazil, from December 15-20, 2012, hosted by National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The Symposium will be held at Hotel Bourbon Convention Ibirapuera. If you want to reserve a room, please send an e-mail to reservas.conv@bourbon.com.br, with a CC to texas2012sp@gmail.com, and let they know you are attending TEXAS2012, there is a special price of R$ 302,00 (around USD 170) per day + 5% for people attending the symposium and for the period of December 15-20.

As in the previous editions of the Texas Symposium, Texas 2012 will cover recent developments in Cosmology, Gravitation, Astroparticle Physics and related areas of Relativistic Astrophysics with emphasis on the most recent developments in the field.

The plenary sessions will take place in the mornings and the parallel sessions in the afternoons. The Symposium will also have poster sessions.

Topics of the plenary talks:
1) State of the Universe Properties of Primordial Fluctuations from CMB and other data;
2) CMB;
3) LHC Results and Their Impact to Cosmology;
4) The Accelerating Universe: Dark Energy (main topic) and Alternative Models(to be mentioned);
5) Dark Matter (main topic) and Alternative Models (to be mentioned);
6) Large-Scale Structure, Galaxy and SMBH Formation and Growth, and the Milky Way Case;
7) Tidal Disruption Events;
8) Relativistic Jets (main topic) and Cosmic Magnetic Fields (secondary topic);
9) Gravitational Lensing;
10) Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics;
11) Astrophysical tests of general relativity in the strong-field regime;
12) Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays: Theory, Results, and Prospects;
13) Gamma ray Astronomy from GeV to TeV Energies;
14) SNe;
15) Crab Pulsar/Nebula;
16) Electromagnetic Signals that Accompany Neutron Stars Mergers, Supernova Shock Break Out and Low Luminosity GRBs;
17) Pulsars and Magnetars;
18) Astrophysics with the First Hard X-ray Imaging Telescopes: NuSTAR and the Future ASTRO-H;
19) Gravitational-Wave Detection using Laser Interferometer Systems and Pulsar Timing Arrays;
20) Gravitational Wave Observatories: the science they are telling us already and the LOOCUP Project;
21) Numerical Relativity;
22) New Frontiers in Relativistic Astrophysics: The Event Horizon Telescope and other Future Projects/Missions;

Scientific organizing committee (SOC):
Odylio D. Aguiar (INPE, Brazil) - chair
Jorge Horvath (USP, Brazil) - co-chair
Felix Aharonian (Max Planck Inst., Germany)
Roger Blandford (KIPAC/Stanford, USA)
J. Richard Bond (CITA, Canada)
Catherine J. Cesarsky (CEA Saclay, France)
George Ellis (U. Cape Town, South Africa)
Valeria Ferrari (U. Rome, Italy)
Joshua Friemann (University of Chicago, USA)
Carlos O. Escobar (Unicamp, Brazil)
Jose A. Freitas Pacheco (OCA, Nice, France)
Gabriela Gonzalez (LSU, USA)
Victoria Kaspi (McGill, Canada)
Edward Kolb (Chicago, USA)
Avi Loeb (Harvard, USA)
Richard Manchester (ATNF, Australia)
Gustavo E. Romero (IAR-CONICET, Argentina)
Mario Novello (CBPF, Brazil)
Angela Olinto (U. Chicago, USA)
Thanu Padmanabhan (IUCAA, India)
Dany Page (UNAM, Mexico)
Tsvi Piran (The Hebrew University, Israel)
Martin Rees (Cambridge, GB)
Ronald Remillard (Harvard, USA)
Joe Silk (Oxford, GB)
Susan Scott (ANU, Australia)
Alexei Starobinsky (Landau Institute, Russia)
Thaisa Storchi-Bergmann (UFRGS, Brazil)
Virginia Trimble (UC Irvine & Las Cumbres Obs., USA)
Clifford Will (Washington University, USA)

Local Organizing Committee (LOC):
Jose Carlos N. de Araujo (INPE) - chair
Odylio D. Aguiar (INPE) - co-chair
Marcio E.S. Alves (UNIFEI)
Maria Luiza Bedran (UFJF)
Cecilia Chirenti (UFABC)
Cesar Augusto Costa (INPE)
Carlos Frajuca (IFSP)
Jorge Horvath (USP)
Nadja S. Magalhaes (UNIFESP)
Nelson Pinto Neto (CBPF)
Marcelo B. Ribeiro (UFRJ)
Cesar Augusto Z. Vasconcellos (UFRGS)

The website of Texas 2012 will be on the air in a few weeks.
The second circular will announce it.

To know a little bit about São Paulo have a look at

http://www.visitesaopaulo.com/en/
http://www.cidadedesaopaulo.com/sp/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0Mq6eggFNE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sao_Paulo

We look forward to seeing you in São Paulo in December!

LOC
Texas 2012 SP
texas2012sp@gmail.com