During the Symposium the strange and non-strange mesons induced processes studies at the DAFNE collider at LNF-INFN, Italy, and at the J-PARC and RIKEN facilities in Japan will be discussed in a unitary framework. The experimental research is focused on several complementary key processes, resulting either from stopped or low-energy kaon induced reactions at the DAFNE collider, from high-energy kaons induced reactions at J-PARC to pionic atoms studied at RIKEN. Studies of kaonic atoms and pionic atoms , of the hyperon-nucleon interactions, as well as the search for deeply bound kaonic nuclear states deliver new constraints on the antikaon-nucleon/nuclei and pion-nucleon/nuclei interactions. Taking advantage of advanced detector systems, such as high precision X-ray detectors, active targets, trackers and calorimeters, and considering the opportunity to use the Italian and Japanese facilities in the coming years, we face the unique chance for resolving the ambiguities and shed new light on the structure of the neutron stars and arrive to a new understanding of the role of strangeness in the Universe.

The Symposium is organized with the support of the StrangeMatter (Strangeness in the compact stars? High precision experimental and theoretical studies of the strange matter nuclear interactions at low-energies) project, financed by the Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale, Direzione Generale per la Promozione del Sistema Paese.

Organizers:

Catalina Curceanu, LNF-INFN (Chair)
Kenta Itahashi, RIKEN (Japan)
Masahiko Iwasaki, RIKEN (Japan)
Fuminori Sakuma, RIKEN (Japan)
Alessandro Scordo, LNF-INFN (Italy)
Johann Zmeskal, SMI-Vienna (Austria)