The school will be held at the Centre for Free-Electron Laser Science at DESY

Prof. Carmelo Giacovazzo will give a full week of lectures on the basics
of crystallography and modern phasing methods in protein crystallography.
The course will cover mathematical understanding of crystallographic point
and space groups, systematic absences, diffraction experiments, structure
factor calculations, and other related topics. Besides the lectures, there
will be talks on applications of protein crystallography using advanced
light sources, such as 3rd generation synchrotron and X-ray Free Electron
Lasers (FELs). The course is aimed at PhD students working in the field of
crystallography, but exceptions can be made for motivated PostDocs and MSc
students. This will NOT be a workshop covering protein crystallographic
programs.

Speakers: Prof. Carmelo Giacovazzo (University of Bari), Prof. Henry Chapman (CFEL / DESY, University of Hamburg), Prof. Arwen Pearson (CUI, University of Hamburg), Dr Thomas White (CFEL / DESY), Dr Adrian Mancuso (XFEL.eu), Dr Thomas Schneider (EMBL), Gleb Bourenkov (EMBL), more TBA

Besides the lessons there will be guided tours of PETRAIII/European XFEL, a BBQ and a harbor boat trip scheduled.

The registration fee is 100 EUR per person, and includes coffee breaks and
lunch.

Applicants must(!) provide a motivation letter and a CV, directly to the
organizer Max Wiedorn ([email protected]). The number of participants is
limited to 35. Accommodations can be made at the DESY Guest House: 70 EUR per person for 7 nights (28.05 - 04.06.2016).

Magnetic Structure Analysis by Neutron Diffraction Techniques

 The workshop will be structured as a series of lectures in the field of magnetic neutron scattering presented by organizers and invited speakers (including Branton Campbell, Huibo Cao, and Clarina Dela Cruz), and hands-on sessions where attendees will be assisted by the organizers. This workshop is part of this year’s American Crystallographic Association meeting in Denver, Colorado. Materials will be provided electronically to the students. Students will be required to install software on their computers before the workshop and will be required to bring their laptops for the workshop. They will be required to have access to a Windows operating system.  Tentative program:  7:45pm  Bus leaves Sheraton Hotel  8:00 AM Registration/Computer Setup  8:30 AM Intro to Neutron Diffraction/Refinement This lecture will introduce the formalism of neutron diffraction and offer a brief introduction to the Rietveld method.  9:15 AM Intro to Fullprof This lecture will give an overview of the Fullprof package for the refinement of magnetic structures.  9:45 coffee break  10:00 AM Hands on exercise in Fullprof This will introduce the students to the pcr file and how to perform a Rietveld refinement on a crystal structure using powder diffraction data.  11:30 AM Intro to Magnetic Structures Includes a brief talk on the different types of magnetic structures that students may encounter and will introduce FP_Studio for visualizing crystal structures  12 PM Lunch  1:00 PM Intro to Magnetic Structures (hands on) In this brief hands on, the students will use FP_Studio to visualize magnetic structures.  1:30 PM Intro to Representational Analysis This includes a lecture that will introduce the basic concepts of representational analysis and hands on with SARAh software to determine what types of magnetic structures are possible for a material.  2:30 PM Representational Analysis (hands on) In this hands on exercise, the students will use representational analysis to determine the possible magnetic structures for a material of a given wave vector.  3:00 PM Coffee break  3:15 PM Fullprof Magnetic Structure (hands on) In this hands on exercise, the students will use the K-search to determine the propagation vector, and will refine the magnetic structure of a material given powder diffraction data.  4:15 PM Advanced Fullprof Discussion of refinements using single crystals data and combined data sets  4:45 PM Intro to magnetic space groups This introduces the concept of magnetic space group and demonstration in using ISOTROPY software and the Bilbao Crystallographic server.  5:45 PM Wrap Up  Workshop will be held on the campus of the Auraria Higher Education Center. The campus is a dynamic and vibrant higher education community located in the heart of downtown Denver. The 150-acre campus is shared by three separate and distinct institutions of higher learning: Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and University of Colorado Denver.   Round trip bus transportation between the hotel and campus will be provided. The workshop will begin at 8:00am and end at approx. 6:00pm. Lunch will be provided.  Preregistration and payment is required. Registration fee for everyone is $110.  Organizers:  William Ratcliff NIST 100 Bureau Drive, MS 6102, Bldg 235 Gaithersburg, MD 20899, Phone:  301-975-4316, [email protected]  Ovidiu Garlea Quantum Condensed Matter Division Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P O. Box 2008 - 6473 Oak Ridge, TN 37831, Phone: 865-202-7546, [email protected]   More information is available at: http://www.amercrystalassn.org/wk.04-magnectic-structure http://www.amercrystalassn.org/2016-meeting-homepage Â

The World Largest Multidisciplinary Conference & Art Festival

• Symmetry Festival 2013, Delft
• Symmetry Festival 2009, 2006, 2003, Budapest
• Symmetry Congress 1998, Haifa
• Symmetry Congress 1995, Washington D.C.
• Symmetry Congress 1992, Hiroshima
• Symmetry of Structure Symposium 1989, Budapest.
  

This is now a biennal conference. It first took place first at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. in May 2001 and is traditionally held in a waterside location (Palm Cove, Porquerolles, Asilomar, Warnemüde Fukuoka, and Evanston).

Aim and target

This training course aims at providing a solid background in symmetry and group theory to students and scientists working on crystalline materials.

Program

The training course spans five full days, from 7 to 11 March, 2016. The program is essentially the same as that of the previous training courses

Exercices proposed during the whole course are an integral part of the course: participants are requested to actively take part in solving the proposed exercises. Evening sessions will also be proposed for discussion, practicals, solution to the exercises, questions and answers.

Didactic material will be distributed during the lectures and also made available in electronic form.

Monday, 7 March

• Matrix algebra
• Abstract algebra and the notion of group
• Introduction to crystallographic symmetry and lattices
• Evening: welcome reception

Tuesday, 8 March

• Morphological symmetry
• Stereographic projection, with exercises
• Crystallographic point groups and geometric crystal classes
• Symmetry elements with a translational component (screw axes and glide planes)
• Introduction to space groups: basic notions and the Hermann-Mauguin symbolism
• Graphical construction of space groups
• Evening (20:00-23:00): on-demand practicals, questions & answers optional session

Wednesday, 9 March

• Practicals on the graphical construction of space groups
• Metric tensor and applications
• Matrix representation of symmetry operations
• Change of axial settings and alternative settings of space groups
• Evening (20:00-23:00): on-demand practicals, questions & answers optional session

Thursday, 10 March

• Normalizers
• Chirality
• Wyckoff positions, wyckoff sets
• Factor groups, symmorphic groups
• Crystallographic orbits
• Evening (20:00-23:00): on-demand practicals, questions & answers optional session

Friday, 11 March

• Reciprocal lattice and systematic absences
• Group-subgroup relations
• Structure-substructure relations and applications to displacive phase transitions

Coffee breaks will be served at 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Lunch break is from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Language

The official language of the training course is Japanese. No simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Venue

The training course will be held at the KEK Tsukuba. Details will follow shortly.

Lecturer

Prof. Massimo Nespolo, Université de Lorraine, France (on behalf of MaThCryst)

Local Organizing Committee

Dr Maki Okube, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Prof. Takashi Kamiyama, KEK
Prof. Noriyuki Igarashi, KEK

Registration

Registration will open early 2016 at the Japanese website .

International School on Fundamental Crystallography
Fifth MaThCryst school in Latin America
Workshop on nanocrystallography

Havana, Cuba, 30 October - 5 November 2016

Change of date

The Commission on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography is strongly committed to promote education in all the fundamental aspects of crystallography that nowadays are overlooked in common University courses.This mission is accomplished through a series of meetings in a wide range of regions. In fall 2016we organize a school in Havana, where the series started in 2007, followed by schools in Montevideo, in Uberlândia and in La Plata.

Scientific Program

ISFC5: October 30 - November 4

Optional pre-school day: Sunday, October 30

Lecturers: Arbelio Penton Madrigal, Ernesto Estevez Rams, Leopoldo Suescun

• Introduction to matrix algebra with exercises
• Fourier transforms and convolutions

Monday, October 31, to Friday, November 4

SECTION I: INTRODUCTION AND BASIC CONCEPTS

Lecturers: Massimo Nespolo, Mois I. Aroyo

• Affine spaces vs. vector spaces
• Mappings: affine and Euclidean; isometries
• Sets; homomorphisms, isomorphisms, automorphisms
• Symmetry operations as special case of isometries
• Introduction to group theory: abstract groups, subgroups, cosets

SECTION II: CRYSTALLOGRAPHY IN DIRECT SPACE

Lecturers: Massimo Nespolo, Mois I. Aroyo

• Periodic structure of the crystalline matter
• Crystal lattice vs. crystal pattern and crystal structure
• Crystallographic calculations in direct space
• Symmetry directions in a lattice
• Unit cells: primitive cells, multiple cells, conventional cells in 2D and 3D
• Crystal families
• Symmetry groups and types of symmetry in direct space
  • morphological symmetry
  • symmetry of physical properties
  • symmetry of lattices
  • symmetry of the unit cell content
  • symmetry of crystallographic patterns
  • Hermann-Mauguin symbols for point groups
  • Lattice systems
  • Crystal systems
• Stereographic projection and the morphology of crystals
• Types of crystallographic point groups through the stereographic projection
• Symmetry operations with a glide component
• Space groups and types of space groups
• Exercises on the space group diagrams from Volume A of the International Tables for Crystallography
• Online tools for crystallography

SECTION III: CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC IN RECIPROCAL SPACE

Lecturers: Ernesto Estevez Rams, Leopoldo Suescun

• Fourier transforms and convolutions
• Crystallographic calculations in reciprocal space
• Diffraction symmetry: Laue classes, Friedel's law, resonant scattering
• Integral, zonal and serial reflection conditions and their use to determine the space-group type

SECTION IV: CRYSTALLOGRAPHY ONLINE

Lecturers: Mois I. Aroyo, Massimo Nespolo

• Introduction to the Bilbao Crystallographic Server
• Space Groups Retrieval Tools
• Group - Subgroup Relations of Space Groups
• Structure utilities and computer tools: different structure descriptions and structural relationships
• Tools for the study of structural phase transitions on the Bilbao Crystallographic Server

Workshop on nanocrystallography: November 5

Lecturers: Ernesto Estevez Rams, Ramundo Lora Serrano, Arbelio Penton Madrigal

• Definition of nanocrystals
• The truncated crystal model
• Diffraction effect in nanocrystals
• Surface relaxion in nanocrystals
• Total scattering methods in nanocrystallography
• Diffraction characterization of nanocrystals.

Posters exhibition

Monday, October 31 to Saturday, November 5

Venue

ISFC5 and workshop will be held at the Universidad des la Habana. Detailed information will follow.

Language

The official language of the school is English but the presence of Spanish speaking tutors familiarized in advance with the lectures will provid assistance to those needing it by translation or answering questions on the topic.

International Program Committee

• Prof. Mois Ilia Aroyo, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain, Chair
• Prof. Massimo Nespolo, Université de Lorraine, France
• Prof. Ernesto Estévez Rams, Universidad de la Habana, Cuba (1^st and 5^th ISFC, 2007, 2016)
• Prof. Leopoldo Suescun, Universidad de la República, Uruguay (2^nd ISCF, 2010)
• Prof. Raimundo Lora Serrano, Universidade Federal de Uberlandia, Brazil (3^rd ISCF, 2012)
• Prof. Gustavo A. Echeverría, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina (4^th ISFC, 2014)

Local Organizing Committee

• Prof. Ernesto Estévez (Chair)
• Dr. Arbelio Penton Madrigal
• Dr. Beatriz Concepcion Rosabal

Contact:

For inquiries about the scientific program, please contact [email protected]. For all inquiries about the organisation, please contact:
Prof. Ernesto Estévez Rams
Universidad de la Habana, Cuba
[email protected].

The Australian Synchrotron and Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand (SCANZ) are pleased to announce the Australasian Crystallography School 2016.Â

This school is intended for PhD students and early postdoctoral researchers wishing to develop their theoretical and practical skills in structure determination by X-ray crystallography.

The course will combine lectures by expert crystallographers with intensive hands-on computer-based practical sessions to provide a thorough introduction to the theory and practise of X-ray crystal structure determination.Â

It is open to people from institutions within Australia and New Zealand; although selected participants from overseas may also be considered (numbers will be limited).

SCANZ student members may apply online for consideration for Maslen scholarships as well as the crystal school.

HERCULES is a European course for PhD students and young researchers using Neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation for applications in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Hard & Soft Condensed Matter.

   The 1-month school includes lectures (60%), hands-on practicals and tutorials at partner institutes (DESY and European XFEL in Hamburg, Ellettra and FERMI in Trieste, ESRF, ILL in Grenoble, Soleil and LLB near Paris, SLS in Switzerland) and Grenoble Laboratories (CEA, CNRS, EMBL, IBS).

   The school includes a common part and two parallel sessions:

• Biomolecular, soft condensed matter structure & dynamics
• Physics and chemistry of condensed matter

  Â

   Why join Hercules ?

• to learn new techniques using neutron and synchrotron radiation
• to expand your theoretical and practical knowledge, not only for your present research but for your scientific career
• to experiment these techniques on world-class instruments & beamlines
• to build a network of relations with fellow young researchers and experienced teachers from all around the World

Deadline for application:Â Â 31 October 2015

Bursaries/reduced costs: a limited number of bursaries will be available either to reduce registration fees or cover travel costs.

Common Lectures:

• Interaction of X-rays and neutrons with matter (absorption, elastic and inelastic interactions, ...)
• Sources (neutron, synchrotron, XFEL)
• Detectors
• Optics &instrumentation
• Diffraction (single crystal, powder..)
• Scattering (elastic, inelastic..)
• Spectroscopy
• Imaging (Absorption, coherent,..)
• etc.
  

Session A: Applications to Biomolecular, Soft Condensed matter, Structure and Dynamics

• Protein structure and dynamics
• Studies in solutions
• Partially ordered systems
• Membranes, fibres and muscles
• Crystallography of viruses and ribosomes
• Structural genomics
• Biomedical applications (imaging, therapy)
• Time-resolved and ultra-fast X-ray science
• Biology with 4th generation sources
• etc.
  

Session B: Applications to Physics and Chemistry of Condensed Matter

• Neutron and X-ray (and UV and IR) spectroscopies
• X-ray reflectivity and diffraction of nano systems
• Single crystal and powder diffraction
• Coherent imaging and tomography
• Neutron and X-ray magnetic scattering
• Polarized X-rays and neutrons
• FEL and ultra fast X-ray science
  
• etc.

Third training course on symmetry and group theory

Osaka, Japan, 3-7 August 2015

Aim and target

This training course aims at providing a solid background in symmetry and group theory to students and scientists working on crystalline materials.

Pre-requisites

The participants are expected to know basic matrix algebra (how to multiply matrices and vectors, how calculate determinant and trace of a matrix: however, the first session of the training course is devoted to revise these notions), fundamental electromagnetism (waves, diffraction) and basic chemistry.

Program

The training course will span five full days, from 3 to 7 August, 2015.

Exercices proposed during the whole course are integral part of the course: participants are requested to actively take part in solving the proposed exercises. Evening sessions are also proposed for discussion, practicals, solution to the exercises, questions & answers.

Didactic material will distributed during the lectures and also made available in electronic form.

Monday, 3 August

• Matrix algebra
• Abstract algebra and the notion of group
• Introduction to crystallographic symmetry and lattices
• Evening: welcome reception

Tuesday, 4 August

• Morphological symmetry
• Stereographic projection, with exercises
• Crystallographic point groups and geometric crystal classes
• Symmetry elements with a translational component (screw axes and glide planes)
• Introduction to space groups: basic notions and the Hermann-Mauguin symbolism
• Graphical construction of space groups
• Evening (20:00-23:00): on-demand practicals, questions & answers optional session

Wednesday, 5 August

• Practicals on the graphical construction of space groups
• Metric tensor and applications
• Matrix representation of symmetry operations
• Change of axial settings and alternative settings of space groups
• Evening (20:00-23:00): on-demand practicals, questions & answers optional session

Thursday, 6 August

• Normalizers
• Chirality
• Wyckoff positions, wyckoff sets
• Factor groups, symmorphic groups
• Crystallographic orbits
• Evening (20:00-23:00): on-demand practicals, questions & answers optional session

Friday, 7 August

• Reciprocal lattice and systematic absences
• Group-subgroup relations
• Structure-substructure relations and applications to displacive phase transitions

Coffee break will be served at 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Lunch break will be from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner from 6 p.m.

Language

The official language of the training course is Japanese. No simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Venue

The training course will be held at the Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, seminar room at the first floor.

Lecturer

Prof. Massimo Nespolo, Université de Lorraine, France (on behalf of MaThCryst)

Local Organizing Committee

Dr. Maki Okube, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Prof. Takashi Kamiyama, KEK, Tsukuba
Prof. Noriyuki Igarashi, KEK, Tsukuba

Coordinator

Prof. Genji Kurisu, IPR, Osaka

Lodging, financial support and registration

Participation is free of charge. Details about lodging, application for financial support and registration form are available at the Japanese website .

The Organizers of the trainng course will observe the basic policy of non-discrimination and affirm the right and freedom of scientists to associate in international scientific activity without regard to such factors as citizenship, religion, creed, political stance, ethnic origin, race, colour, language, age or sex, in accordance with the Statutes of the International Council for Science. At this course no barriers existe which would prevent the participation of bona fide scientists.

Crystallography: Fundamentals, Online Tools and Applications

The European Crystallographic Association (ECA) and the University of Oviedo invite the world-wide crystallographic community (and all scientists and students working in any related field) to an intensive session of working together and learning crystallography from each other.

With help from our sponsors, we have achieved a registration cost of 570 euros (young academic, including accommodation and meals). We expect to have student bursaries available to reduce the cost further for a limited number of attendees. The number of attendees is limited to 90 students.

The application deadline is March 31st, 2015.

Programme

The programme schedule aims to answer the new and challenging requirements of the crystallography education and training during the 2nd century of modern crystallography. It is divided into four different modules:

Pre-school basic tools:

• Matrix calculus in crystallography
• Symmetry elements and symmetry operations
• Basic group theory
• Introduction to Reciprocal Space

Fundamental Crystallography:

• Symmetry groups and types of symmetry in direct space
• Space groups and their description in International Tables for Crystallography, Vol. A
• Group-subgroup relations â€" On line tools.
• Crystal-structure descriptions â€" On line tools.
• Crystal-structure relations â€" On line tools.
• Diffraction and Phasing.
• Diffraction Methods for Metal-Organic and Inorganic crystals.
• Diffraction Methods for biological crystals.
• Diffraction Methods for Nanomaterials â€" Electron diffraction.
• Diffraction Metodos for Magnetic Materials.
• Practical sessions on Online Tools â€" Tutorials : Sir/Expo-Janaâ€"Toposâ€"Fullprof

 Specific Subjects:

• Biological Crystallography
• Materials Crystallography
• On line tools â€" Tutorials: CCP4, SHELX, SIR

Hot topic Subjects:

• Time resolved Crystallography
• XFEL Crystallography
• Electron Crystallography
• Crystallography in the Space

The event is intended to teach the fundamentals of crystallography, starting from theoretical group theory and its applications in solid state and magnetic symmetry. A workshop where the participants can apply the methods taught directly on their cases at hand as well as having the opportunity to present their work will go in parallel, as part of the school.

We are pleased to announce the second International Summer School of Crystallography at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science at DESY, Hamburg (D). Prof. Carmelo Giacovazzo will lecture on the basics of crystallography, covering mathematical understanding of crystallographic point and space groups, diffraction experiments, structure factor calculations, systematic absences, determination of space groups, background of phasing for structure determination of biomolecules and many additional topics. Participants will also learn modern applications and instrumentation of protein crystallography experiments at advanced light sources, such as 3rd generation synchrotron and XFELs.

Speakers:

Prof. Carmelo Giacovazzo (University of Bari),

Prof. Henry Chapman (CFEL / DESY, University of Hamburg),

Prof. Arwen Pearson (CUI, University of Hamburg),

Dr Thomas Schneider (EMBL), Dr. Gleb Bourenkov (EMBL),

Dr Adrian Mancuso (European X-FEL),

Dr Thomas White (CFEL / DESY)

The summer school program is geared for PhD students working in the field of crystallography, but exceptions for motivated PostDocs and MSc students can be made. The course will mostly cover mathematical background of crystallography, hence we are looking for students, having a (bio)physics background. This will NOT be a workshop covering protein crystallographic programs but rather will be theory oriented.

Besides the lessons there will be guided tours of PETRAIII/European XFEL, a BBQ and a harbor boat trip scheduled.

Accepted applicants will be asked to pay a registration fee of approx. 100 EUR (includes coffee breaks and lunch). In addition, participants will have to pay for their own travel expenses, accommodation will cost 70 EUR at the DESY Guest House (the rest will be covered by the school budget).

The application deadline is on the 15th of March, 2015. Notification of accepted applicants will be sent end of March. Places and accommodation are limited to 30 students in total.

The application is as simple as follows:

Applicants must provide a motivation letter, as well as, a CV, directly to the organizer Cornelius Gati ([email protected]).

Pre-requisites

The participants are expected to know basic matrix algebra (how to multiply matrices and vectors, how calculate determinant and trace of a matrix: however, an optional half-day is devoted to revise these notions), fundamental electromagnetism (waves, diffraction) and basic chemistry.

Program

The training course will span five full days, from 9 to 13 March, 2015. Monday morning (March 9) is optional for those needing to revise general concepts about matrix algebra and abstract algebra (general introduction to group theory). Exercices proposed during the whole course are integral part of the course: participants are expected to actively participate and solve the proposed exercises.

Monday, 9 March

• Morning: optional session on matrix and abstract algebra
  
• Afternoon: introduction to crystallographic symmetry and lattices
  

Tuesday, 10 March 15

• Morphological symmetry
• Stereographic projection, with exercises
• Crystallographic point groups and geometric crystal classes
• Matrix representation of point group operations
• Symmetry elements with a translational component (screw axes and glide planes)

Wednesday, 11 March

• Introduction to space groups
• Graphical construction of space groups
• Metric tensor and applications
• Change of axial settings and alternative settings of space groups

Thursday, 12 March

• Reciprocal lattice and systematic absences
• Matrix representation of space group operations
• Crystallographic orbits

Friday, 13 March

• Group-subgroup relations
• Structure-substructure relations and applications to displacive phase transitions

A workshop dedicated to the centenary of the publication of P. Debye’s paper on «Zerstreuung von Röntgenstrahlen» (Feb. 25th, 1915), which first provided an expression for the diffraction from a randomly oriented powder of scatterers.Â

Over the past twenty years, the rising interest in nanomaterials, and the ever growing power and availability of computers has revived interest in the Debye Scattering Equation (DSE), which is now a paradigm in the analysis of the matter at the nanoscale. Besides and beyond the DSE, stemming from the same root, Total Scattering methods have grown steadily, gaining increasingly popularity with the Pair Distribution Function (PDF) approach. The common root is in the description of scattering based on atomic distances in clusters of atoms/molecules and nanoparticles, as an alternative to the concept of unit cell and translational symmetry of the traditional crystallography for ideal bulk crystals.

This workshop is dedicated to DSE history, methodology, new ideas and representative applications, with further interest in PDF and Total Scattering methods to study matter at the atomic scale independently of its degree of order, be it amorphous, nanocrystalline or simply a disordered crystal.

As a focused and intensive workshop DSE2015 is limited to 50 participants. Besides a restricted number of invited speakers, admission to the workshop is conditioned by the acceptance of an abstract; as an alternative to an abstract, a motivation letter can also be presented. Admission is decided (no appeal) by the Scientific Committee (Billinge-Cervellino-Neder-Scardi). Title and abstract submitted at this stage can then be modified if/when necessary before the workshop.

The program, distributed over four days, provides for a single session with extended time for discussion after keynote and contributed talks. A half-day session is dedicated to Poster presentations.

The choice of a limited and selected participation and the location in a comfortable resort nearby a small town of the Dolomitic mountain area of Italy, are intended to promote free discussions and to foster the beginning of collaborations and projects.

Written contributions of accepted talks/posters will be considered for publication â€" after the workshop â€" in special issues of peer-reviewed (ISI-Scopus) Journals. More details to be provided soon.

Â

In the framework of the International Year of Crystallography, the IUCr Commission on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography organizes a training course on "symmetry and group theory" at Tsukuba, Japan, on 15 to 17 August 2014.

Pre-requisites

The participants are expected to know basic matrix algebra (how to multiply matrices and vectors, how calculate determinant and trace of a matrix), fundamental electromagnetism (waves, diffraction) and basic chemistry.

Program

The training course will span three full days, from 15 to 17 August, 2014. An optional pre-school day is organized on August 14 for those needing to revise general concepts about matrix algebra and abstract algebra (general introduction to group theory).

Thursday, 14 August

Optional session on matrix and abstract algebra (2 p.m. onwards)

Friday, 15 August (9 a.m. - 7 p.m.)

Introduction to symmetry and periodicity
Lattices and crystallographic symmetry in 2 and 3 dimensions
Choice of the unit cell
Crystallographic point groups
Morphological symmetry
Stereographic projection, with exercises

Saturday, 16 August (9 a.m. - 7 p.m.)

Matrix representation of point group operations
Screw axes and glide planes
Introduction to space groups
Graphical construction of space groups, with exercises
Metric tensor and applications

Saturday, 16 August (9 a.m. - 7 p.m.)

Reciprocal lattice and systematic absences
Matrix representation of space group operations
Group-subgroup relations
Structure-substructure relations and applications to displacive phase transitions

Coffee break will be served at 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Lunch break will be from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. The evening of August 15 a welcome reception will be organized.

Language

The official language of the training course is Japanese. No simultaneous interpretation will been provided.

Venue

The training course will be held at the KEK main research building, meeting room No. 1.

Lecturer

Prof. Massimo Nespolo, Université de Lorraine, France (on behalf of MaThCryst)

Local Organizing Committee

Dr. Maki Okube, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Prof. Takashi Kamiyama, KEK
Prof. Noriyuki Igarashi, KEK

Registration and accommodation

Online registration and information about the accommodation is available at the local website.

Symmetry relationships between crystal structures with application to structural phase transitions

MaThCryst Workshop on Mathematical Crystallography

Symmetry relationships between crystal structures with application to structural phase transitions

Banaras, India, 27-31 October 2014

In cooperation with the IUCr Commission on Inorganic and Mineral Structures

Venue

Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, INDIA

ProgramÂ

1st day: Basic facts on crystallographic groups

Coordinator and main lecturer: M. Nespolo

• Symmetry groups and types of symmetry in direct space: morphological symmetry; symmetry of physical properties; symmetry of lattices; symmetry of the unit cell content; symmetry of crystallographic patterns; Hermann-Mauguin symbols for point groups.
• Space groups and their description in International Tables for Crystallography, Vol. A. Classification of space groups: Lattice systems and crystal systems. Hermann-Mauguin symbols for space groups. Symmetry-elements and general-position space-group diagrams. General and special positions, site-symmetry groups, crystallographic orbits.
• Practical: Description of space groups in International Tables for Crystallography, Vol. A.

2nd day: Symmetry relationships between crystal structures

Coordinator and main lecturer: M.I. Aroyo

• Group-subgroup relations (general considerations): index, coset decomposition and normal and conjugate subgroups. Subgroups of space groups: types of subgroups of space groups; Hermann theorem and maximal subgroups. Relations of Wyckoff positions for a group-subgroup pair. Supergroups of space groups.
• Practical: Online tools for subgroups of space groups on the Bilbao Crystallographic Server.
• Crystal-structure descriptions. Basis transformations and crystal-structure descriptions; structure descriptions compatible with symmetry. Equivalent crystal structure descriptions. Comparison of crystal structures.
• Practical: Online tools for comparison of crystal structures on the Bilbao Crystallographic Server.
• Crystal-structure relations. Group-subgroup relations between space groups and the construction of structure family trees (Baernighausen trees). Structural pseudosymmetry. Pseudosymmetry search for new ferroics.
• Practical: Online tools for the analysis of crystal-structure relations and pseudosymmetry search on the Bilbao Crystallographic Server.

3rd day: Representations of crystallographic groups

Coordinator and main lecturer: M.I. Aroyo

• Representations of point groups: General remarks on representations. Equivalent, reducible and irreducible representations. Characters of representations and character tables. Simple applications of representations in solid-state physics and chemistry problems.
• Practical: Online tools for representations of point groups on the Bilbao Crystallographic Server.
• Representations of space groups: Representation of the translation group. Star of a representation. Little groups and small representations. Representations of symmorphic and non-symmorphic groups.
• Practical: Online tools for representations of space groups on the Bilbao Crystallographic Server.

4th day: Structural phase transitions

Coordinator and main lecturer: J.M. Perez-Mato

• Representation theory tools in the analysis of phase transitions. Primary and secondary order parameters; couplings and faintness index. Order parameter direction and isotropy subgroups. Group-theoretical formulation of the necessary conditions for second-order phase transitions.
• Practical: Online tools for analysis of structural phase transitions
• Symmetry-mode analysis of structural phase transitions. Hierarchy of modes.
• Symmetry-modes applications in structure refinement.
• Practical: Online tools for symmetry-mode analysis.

5th day: Phase-transition studies of advanced materials

Coordinator: D. Pandey

• 1. Lecturer: Juan Rodriguez Carvazal / J.M. Perez-Mato
• • Application of representation theory to magnetic structures and magnetic phase transitions. Derivation of some simple magnetic configurations with an introduction to Bertaut's representation analysis.
  • Practical : Simultaneous Rietveld refinement of magnetic and nuclear structures
• 2. Lecturer: B Mihailova
• • Interpretation of Raman and IR spectra of displacive ferroelectrics using representation theory
• 3. Lecturer: D Pandey
• • Structural aspects of Ferroelectric, Antiferroelectric, Quantum Ferroelectric, Antiferrodistortive and Multiferroic Phase Transitions