Recent news
The ALMA project received some good news in June when the ALMA Coordinating Committee agreed to seek funds for a three-way ALMA project costing roughly $750M (U.S.). This amount represents a cost saving to the North American and European partners of 10% compared to the original bilateral project. Current estimates suggest that this budget will be sufficient to allow all the main enhancements that have been proposed to be included. These are a compact array of perhaps 12x7m antennas, four additional receiver bands, and an enhanced correlator. The project would still like the ALMA Science Advisory Committee to provide them with the scientific priorities among these enhancements.
Closer to home, the first meeting of the Canadian ALMA Science Steering Committee took place at the end of August. A summary of that meeting and the terms of reference of the committee are given at the end of this report.
ALMA Science Advisory Committee
The ALMA Science Advisory Committee met in Santiago, Chile September 11-12, 2001. We were all very shaken by the tragic news from the U.S. which arrived just one hour into our meeting, but did our best to carry on with the business at hand. The main task for this meeting was to assign scientific priorities to the various proposed enhancements that will be enabled by Japan's participation in the project. We were able to reach consensus on the priorities for the various enhancements; details will be published in the next newsletter, since the ASAC report is not officially available yet.
In addition to the proposed enhancements, the committee heard about plans for ALMA software and considered a report on ALMA operations that had been prepared by a subcommittee of the ASAC. Discussion of these two issues will clearly continue for some time. We also heard an update on the status of the three prototype antennas; the first prototype is expected to be handed over to the project at the VLA site in April 2002.
The location of the ASAC meeting allowed many astronomers to visit the proposed site of ALMA on the Chajnantor plane near San Pedro de Atacama. This visit took place before the main ASAC meeting. About 40 people (including me) visited the site on September 10; we were driven to the site in a regular bus (!) and were treated to views of a herd of llamas along the way. We visited the Japanese site testing equipment at the slightly lower site of Pampa la Bola and the NRAO and ESO containers on Chajnantor itself. We were also driven to the proposed array center and had a chance to visit the CBI experiment led by Tony Readhead from Caltech, who took advantage of the low winds to open the canvas dome and slewed the telescope around to show us how it operates. It was very encouraging to see a real science experiment operating at the ALMA site! I really enjoyed seeing the site in person and trying to visualize 64 antennas operating on the site in about 10 years time. However, it was definitely a more difficult environment for me than the summit of Mauna Kea, which I have visited many times: a thousand metres makes a big difference!
ALMA Developments in Canada
(a) Water Vapour Radiometers
The 183 GHz radiometer was installed on the SMA in August by Cunningham, Rodriguez (HIA), and Wiedner (CfA). Initial tests showed good system temperatures on the new device, but astronomical tests involving tracking a source were delayed by problems with the drive on one of the brand-new SMA antennas. We hope to carry out tests soon and a longer campaign of observations later this fall.
Work continues on the construction of the Phase III infrared water vapour radiometer (IRMA) working at 20 microns in David Naylor's group at Lethbridge. Planning is beginning for a campaign in Chile next winter or early spring.
(b) Canadian ALMA Science Steering Committee
In consultation with the CASCA Board and NRC, I have set up a Canadian ALMA Science Steering Committee. The initial members are David Naylor (Lethbridge), René Plume (Calgary), Chris Pritchet (Victoria), Jean-René Roy (Gemini), Ernie Seaquist (Toronto), and myself, with Lorne Avery and Simon Lilly serving as ex-officio members and Doug Johnstone as secretary. The committee held its first meeting August 24-25, 2001 at HIA in Victoria with all members present except Lilly and Johnstone. I will be seeking independent funding for the activities of this committee; in the meantime, the HIA is covering the costs of travel.
The goals for this first meeting were (1) to bring committee members up to date on the current status of the ALMA project, and (2) to solicit advice from committee members on current issues in the ALMA project, both on the Canadian and international scene. The terms of reference of the committee are given below.
The meeting began with an overview of the baseline (bi-lateral) ALMA project. This overview was followed by a description of the three enhancements that may be enabled by Japanese participation in ALMA as a third equal partner, namely the Atacama Compact Array, four receiver bands, and an enhanced correlator. This was followed by a review of the current issues being considered by the international ALMA Science Advisory Committee, the most important of which is the scientific prioritization of the three enhancements. The current status of funding proposals by the three major partners and Canada were reviewed, as well as plans for ALMA work in the current fiscal year. The committee also heard a report on the recent visit to HIA by key NRAO personnel, which included the status of various Canadian proposals for involvement in receivers, imaging software, and the archive. The meeting finished with a brief discussion of efforts for community and public outreach.
The committee broadly endorsed HIA's position that Canada's contribution to ALMA should be focussed in three main areas: (a) development and production of a complete set of receivers (possibly Band 3, which covers 2.6-3.4 mm or 86-116 GHz, and will be one of the first-light receivers on ALMA); (b) development of real-time imaging software; and (c) as much involvement for CADC in ALMA archiving activity as possible. The IRMA project should also be promoted as a possibly superior approach to water vapour monitoring. Finally the committee suggested a more vigorous outreach to the Canadian astronomical community should be undertaken about ALMA and its scientific capabilities.
Terms of Reference
Role:
Provide advice, as the committee deems appropriate, to HIA's Director General, the Canadian Project Scientist and Project Manager, on Canada's role in the international ALMA project.
Examples of committee responsibilities include:
(1) Review and recommend procedures and policies for coordinating and managing Canadian contributions to ALMA.
(2) Provide input to help establish a unified Canadian position on general ALMA issues such as: priority in which receivers are brought on-line; decisions regarding correlator; decisions regarding software and imaging capabilities and performance; and maintaining 3-way parity among the partners (Europe, North America, Japan)
(3) Provide advice on Canadian contributions to ALMA. Examples are: priority ranking of several possible contributions (receivers, radiometers, software); feedback on ideas for new contributions; ideas for ways to improve existing contributions.
(4) Act as a liason between ALMA and the Canadian astronomy community. This would occur both by knowledge gained by members of the Steering Committee in meetings and through interaction of the Steering Committee members with the broader Canadian community.
(5) Help with outreach beyond the astronomy community (schools, public, politicians).
(6) Other roles suggested by CASSC members.
Structure:
(1) five to seven members, including the Canadian Project Scientist
(2) includes as ex-officio members the Canadian Project Manager, the HIA Director General (or his designate to the ALMA Coordinating Committee), and a secretary from within HIA
(3) preferably includes at least one or two members from outside the Canadian radio astronomy community (optical observers, theorists, non-Canadian radio astronomers, etc.)
(4) face-to-face meetings once per year; regularly scheduled mid-year telecon; additional telecons and/or email if urgent feedback is required between meetings
(5) terms for members 3 years with possibility of renewal
Chris Wilson wilson@physics.mcmaster.ca
Canadian ALMA Project Scientist