ALMA Cycle 6 Information and Cycle 4 and Cycle 5 Statistics

Transcription

1 ALMA Cycle 6 Information and Cycle 4 and Cycle 5 Statistics Yu-Nung Su (ASIAA) on behalf of Taiwan ARC node ALMA Cycle 6 Users Workshop March 26, 2018 Photo Credit: Wei-Hao Wang

2 Cycle 6 Timeline (23:00 TW)

3 Cycle 6 Proposal Call Proposals for ALMA are prepared and submitted using the ALMA Observing Tool (hereafter OT). The OT is available for download from the ALMA Science Portal ( Any changes, clarifications, or bugs that are discovered after the publication of this Proposer s Guide are documented in the following Knowledgebase Article: View/401 All proposers should check this article regularly, especially just before submitting their proposals.

4 What s New in Cycle 6 Technical and Observing Capabilities Circular polarization observations for bands 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 Changes to simultaneous observations with the 12-m Array and the ACA Band 8 stand-alone ACA Band 6 IF extension increased by 0.5 GHz to extend from 4.5 GHz - 10 GHz This will enable CO, CO and C O J=2-1 to be observed simultaneously with broader spectral windows

5 What s New in Cycle 6 (cont.) Proposal SpecificationsProposal format the figure captions, tables and references included in the proposal Scientific Justification (SJ) must use a 12-point font Observing Tool features The minimum time on source (adding all the sources in a given Scheduling Block or SB) will be the largest of 5 minutes or 50% of the total calibration time (amplitude and bandpass) For calculation of the Executive Balance, the affiliation of a user, as well as his/her , at the time of a proposal s last submission will be considered The OT will issue a validation error if a given SG exceeds the instantaneous maximum data rate of 70 MB/s.

6 Cycle 6 Capabilities Time for Science: 12m array 4000 hrs ; ACA 3000 hrs Number of Antennas: at least 43 in main array; at least 10 in 7m array, and 3 in TP Receiver bands: bands 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 12m Array Configurations: 10 configurations, with max baselines ranging from km to 16.2 km (same as CY5) all 10 configurations are available for bands 3, 4, 5, and 6 max baselines of 8.5 km for band 7 (C43-1 to C43-8) max baselines of 3.6 km for bands 8, 9, and 10 (C43-1 to C43-7) Files containing representative antenna configurations suitable for CASA simulations are available from

7 Cycle 6 Capabilities (cont.) Spectral Line, Continuum and Mosaic Observations: Spectral line and continuum with the 12-m array and the 7-m array in all bands Mosaics observations with the 12-m array and the 7-m array in Bands 3 to 9 (i.e., no mosaics for b10) max pointing number: 150 Single dish spectral line observations in Band 3 to 8 (i.e., no TP b9/b10 observations) Polarization: Single pointing, on axis, full (linear and circular) polarization capabilities for continuum and full spectral resolution observations in Bands 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 on the 12-m Array The field of view of linear and circular polarization observations is limited to the inner one-third and the inner one-tenth of the primary beam, respectively.

8 What ALMA can do in Cycle 6 The Cy6 Primer is a brief introduction to ALMA observing, to submillimetre terminology, and to interferometric techniques, that should prove useful for investigators who are new to radio astronomy. Several example science projects illustrating the Cycle 6 capabilities are also provided.

9 Stand and Non-standard Observing Mode Standard observing modes are those that have been used in previous Cycles and the observations can be calibrated with the ALMA data reduction pipeline. Non-standard modes are not as well characterized, and require manual calibration by ALMA staff Bands 9 & 10 observations (Band 8 is standard in CY6!!) Band 7 observations w. max. baselines > 5 km All Polarization Observations Spectral Scans Bandwidth Switching Projects (aggregate bandwidth < MHz) Solar Observations VLBI Observations User-defined calibrations Astrometric observations Large Program proposals and standard alone ACA observations must include only standard mode. Up to 20% ( i.e., 800 hrs 12 m Array time) of the available time will be allocated to projects that include non-stand modes.

10 Proposal Types Regular: 12m Array time (< 50 hrs) or ACA time in stand alone mode (<150 hrs); standard and non-standard observing modes Target of Opportunity (ToO) Director Discretionary Time (DDT): DDT proposals can be submitted at any time during Cycle 6. Up to 5% of the CY6 available time To qualify for DDT usage, proposals must fulfill the conditions specified at almascience.org/proposing/ddt-proposals Large Program: > 50 hrs on the 12-m Array (with or without accompanying ACA time) or > 150 hrs on the ACA in stand-alone mode. Standard modes only, no time-critical or ToO Up to 15% of the available time, i.e., 600 hrs of 12-m array time and 450 hrs of standard-alone ACA time mm-vlbi Proposals: VLBI observations with ALMA in Bands 3 and 6 are offered Up to 5% of the CY6 available time

11 Proposal Types ALMA continues to encourage the community to submit Regular Proposals that request over 10 hours of 12-m Array time. The requested time of the majority of Cycle 5 proposals is between two and ten hours of 12-m Array time. The success rate of proposals was roughly constant up to at least 30 hours of requested 12-m Array time

12 Cycle 5 6 Configuration Schedule The extended, long-baseline, configurations for Cycle 6 will occur from June to August. The best months for high frequency observations are from May to November. In Cycle 7 the array configuration schedule will likely complement this plan.

13 Cycle Weather 5 Configuration Schedule Conditions

14 Angular Resolutions and Maximum Cycle 5 Configuration Schedule Recoverable Scales

15 Cycle 5 Configuration Schedule Duplicate Observations To ensure the most efficient use of ALMA, duplicate observations of the same location on the sky with similar observing parameters (frequency, angular resolution, coverage, and sensitivity) are not permitted unless scientifically justified. Observations are considered duplicates if the conditions indicated in Appendix A of the Users Policies are met. Proposers are responsible for checking their proposed observations against the Archive and the ongoing list of observations provided by the ALMA to avoid duplicate observations. See for information on checking for duplications. In OT, the proposal cover sheet contains a section where PIs can justify proposed duplicate observations. PIs are also advised to justify their proposed observations in cases where they are similar to previously executed or accepted programs but are not formal duplicates. The ALMA Review Panels (ARPs) will determine if the requested duplicate observation is scientifically justified.

16 Cycle 5 Configuration Schedule Resubmission of unfinished proposals Proposal teams that submit a Cycle 6 proposal to observe some or all SGs of a currently active but unfinished project will have the relevant SGs identified as a resubmission by ALMA. For such resubmissions, the relevant portion of the Cycle 6 proposal will be cancelled if the observations are successfully completed in Cycle 5. A scientific justification must be provided if the proposers request one or more additional epochs of observations in Cycle 6 even if the Cycle 5 observations are completed. The ALMA Proposal Review Committee (APRC) will decide if such resubmissions are accepted.

17 CycleProposal 5 Configuration Schedule Preparation The total length of the PDF document is limited to 4 pages for Regular, ToO, mmvlbi proposals and to 6 pages for Large Program proposals (A4 or US Letter format), with a font size no smaller than 12 points. Figure captions, tables and references must use 12-point font The recommended breakdown is 2 pages for the science case and 2 pages for figures, tables, and references, but proposers are free to adjust these numbers within the overall page limit. Large proposals are allotted an additional 2 pages to describe the management plan and data products. In the science case, It is also recommended to provide a brief justification of the requested sensitivity and angular resolution, with full details provided in the Technical Justification If you have any question, first check the Helpdesk Knowledgebase. If needed, submit a helpdesk ticket (TW Helpdesk Triage Person Pei-Ying Hsieh will receive it)!!! You can also us at arc@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw or have a f2f meeting with us.

18 Cycle 5 Evaluation Configuration Proposal andschedule Selection ALMA programs in Cycle 6 will be selected through competitive peer review Accepted proposals will be assigned letter grades of A, B, or C. Grade A proposals have the highest priority, followed by Grade B and then Grade C. Up to 33% of the available time will be assigned to Grade A proposals, and 67% to Grade B proposals. The primary criteria to rank all proposals are the overall scientific merit of the proposed investigation and their potential contribution to the advancement of scientific knowledge only Grade A are eligible to be rolled over to Cycle 7, if necessary Grade C will be assigned to proposals up to an additional 50% of the nominal available time, to ensure that an adequate number of projects are available for all configurations and LST in case the actual observing efficiency or weather conditions differ from expectations

19 Cycle 4 Completion Rate (preliminary)

20 Cycle 4 Completion Rate (preliminary)

21 Cycle 5 Statistics

22 Cycle 5 Statistics

23 ALMA-Taiwan Proposal Statistics For ALMA Cycle 5, Taiwan users submitted a total of 77 proposals, of which 5 received grade A, 16 grade B, and 9 grade C. In short, about 5% accepted proposals from Taiwan

24 ALMA-Taiwan Proposal Statistics More proposals submitted through NA Among 77 proposals submitted, 54 requested EA time, 22 for NA time, and 1 for shared EA/NA time Out of the successful proposals, 16 have been granted EA time and 5 NA time Large Programs We have one ALMA-Taiwan Co-PI (Nanase Harada) of a successful Large Programme L (PI: Francesco Costagliola)

25 Publication delay

26 Correlation between a proposal rank and its scientific impact