 |
European VLBI Network -- Call for Proposals
Deadline 1 June 2008
|
The European VLBI Network (EVN)
invites observing proposals
for the 1 June 2008 deadline.
See below for further details
and instructions on how to submit proposals.
Introduction
The EVN consists of a VLBI network of radio telescopes in Europe
and beyond, operated by an international Consortium of institutes.
Consult the
EVN User Guide
for the following:
Use of the Network by astronomers not specialised in the VLBI technique
is encouraged. The
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE) can provide support for
schedule making, correlation and data analysis of EVN projects, as well
as advice during proposal preparation.
Contact Bob Campbell (campbell@jive.nl) for information about
EVN User
Support.
In particular, the EVN is able to support users via
RadioNet, an
Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (I3) that is funded under the EC FP6
(Sixth Framework Programme). Eligible projects are those where both the PI
and at least half of the full list of proposers work at institutes located
in EU Member or Associated States, excluding the Netherlands (host country
of JIVE). As well as providing Transnational Access to the EVN, the programme
provides financial support for visits to the EVN observatories and JIVE.
Contact Bob Campbell (campbell@jive.nl) for more information or see the
"Access to the EVN" menu item of the EVN
web page, which is turn links to the
Transnational Access section
of the RadioNet page.
EVN Observing Sessions in 2008-2009
| 2008 Session 3 |
Oct 16 - Nov 06 |
18/21cm, 6cm, 1.3cm (+ possibly 3.6cm, 7mm) |
| 2009 Session 1 |
Feb 26 - Mar 19 |
18/21cm, 6cm, 5cm, +... |
| 2009 Session 2 |
May 28 - June 18 |
18/21cm, 6cm, +... |
Proposals received by 1 June 2008 will be considered for scheduling in
Session 3, 2008 or later. Finalisation of the planned observing wavelengths
will depend on proposal pressure. Other wavelengths which may be scheduled
in 2008-2009 are 90cm, 50cm, 30cm and S/X. Projects will only be scheduled
during sessions.
Special features for Sessions in 2008-2009
- Proposals at 1.3 cm and 7 mm are encouraged as these frequencies are
likely to be available in Session 3, 2008.
- In addition, e-VLBI observing opportunities with a recording rate of
512 Mb/s and at least a 7-station array, including Effelsberg, are
available during additional 24-hour slots in September, November and
December 2008. See the
e-VLBI Call for
Proposals for further details.
- Target of Opportunity (ToO) proposals in response to a high-priority
unanticipated astronomical event may be submitted at any time for
observations at any time, inside or outside scheduled EVN sessions.
See the EVN
ToO policy for a description of the procedures to apply for such
ToO observing time.
- MERLIN is now available for joint EVN+MERLIN observations in all
sessions, for any EVN wavelengths which MERLIN supports (18/21cm,
6/5cm, 1.3cm). However, limited resources during e-MERLIN construction
mean that joint EVN+MERLIN will be scheduled at no more than two of
these bands (usually 18/21cm and 5/6cm) in any one session.
Combining EVN antennas with other arrays
Proposers may request EVN antennas together with other telescopes and arrays.
EVN + MERLIN Observations
MERLIN is a radio-linked array of 6 telescopes in England with a
maximum baseline of 217 km.
Combined EVN+MERLIN projects add the short
MERLIN baselines (10-217 km), which will help to image more
extended sources, as well as providing VLBI baselines to
the CAMBRIDGE antenna.
MERLIN+EVN time will be allocated by the EVN Program Committee, but
the case for joint observations must be made in the proposal.
Including other antennas
Antennas of the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN), including the 70-m at
Robledo (Spain), and the 300-m Arecibo antenna (USA) may be available
for a small number of projects requiring very high sensitivity.
Global VLBI
GLOBAL projects add the NRAO
Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and/or other US antennas
(e.g. the VLA or GBT), creating a larger array suitable for very high
dynamic range imaging and "snap-shot" observations of many sources.
Submitting EVN Proposals
Deadline
Proposals must be received by 23:59:59 UTC on 1 June 2008.
Contact
Before submission the PI should ensure that all named co-proposers
have given their consent to be included in the list of investigators.
All communication between the Proposer(s), and the EVN Program Committee
or Scheduler will be via the Contact Author designated in the proposal.
How to submit
- All EVN and GLOBAL proposals (except ToO proposals) must be submitted
with the new ONLINE TOOL NorthStar.
- EVN proposals can optionally include MERLIN and/or Arecibo and/or
telescopes of the EVN affiliate DSN.
- Global proposals will be copied to both the EVN and to NRAO for
assessment; proposers do not need a separate submit action to NRAO.
- Proposers WHO DO NOT REQUEST THE EVN, and in particular proposers
who request ONLY NRAO, or the
VLBA+Effelsberg ALONE, or HSA resources,
or the Global 3mm VLBI Array, should NOT use NorthStar, and should
continue to follow instructions in the call for proposals issued by
these institutions and networks separately.
- Requests for inclusion of any other antennas or resources NOT AFFILIATED
with the EVN or NRAO should be indicated in the proposal, but the
PROPOSER MUST SEND A COPY (printable file can be downloaded from
NorthStar) to the Director/Scheduler of the observatory involved, and
will be responsible for arranging all aspects of their participation,
including observing support, disk supply and acquiring telescope time
for the EVN time allocated. See also the
Code of Practice for operational details.
Guidelines on using Northstar
- To use Northstar, people should
register (only for the first proposal submission), enter the
information about the investigators and the technical specifications
of the proposed observations (equivalent to that previously in the
coversheet) using the on-line forms, and upload a scientific justification
in pdf or ps format. The preparation of the scientific justification
is a separate activity that can take place at any time.
- Once people have registered, proposals can be created, edited, previewed,
and, eventually, submitted. Online help is available. An email notification
will be sent by Northstar to all co-proposers when a proposal is submitted.
- NorthStar supports retraction, further editing, and resubmission of
proposals until the deadline. The final submission remains the
responsibility of the Contact author (others can view or even edit
but not submit or retract a proposal).
- Proposers are STRONGLY ADVISED to prepare and submit proposals
A FEW DAYS BEFORE the deadline; only in this case can JIVE personnel
intervene to assist novice users if needed (contact Antonis Polatidis,
polatidis@jive.nl).
Old LaTex/e-mail way
This style of submission has been discontinued for ALL EVN and GLOBALS,
starting with the 1 June 2007 deadline.
After submission
A list of all
proposals received will be posted shortly after the deadline.
All communication between the Proposer(s), and the EVN Program Committee
or Scheduler will be via the Contact Author designated in the proposal. The
results from proposal review will be communicated after the next meeting of
the EVN Program Committee, and will be SENT BY EMAIL unless otherwise
requested in the proposal.
Guidelines on what to include in proposals
All proposals should include a text NOT EXCEEDING 2 SIDES that must be
uploaded to Northstar. This text
should contain both a scientific and a technical justification for the
resources
requested. It should include a brief summary of any related EVN proposals
which have already been observed or scheduled. Proposers should indicate
if it is a resubmission of an earlier proposal. Up to 2 additional sides
with diagrams may be included; the total, including cover sheet, should
not exceed 4 sides.
- Proposers should identify any individual antenna(s) whose inclusion is
considered ESSENTIAL for achieving their goals.
- Only a limited amount of time is available at some antennas for joint
observations with the EVN - these include ARECIBO and the DSN.
A SPECIAL JUSTIFICATION is needed for requesting any of these facilities.
- Hartebeesthoek will not normally observe sources north of declination +30 deg.
Phase-referencing observations
Observers are advised to find phase calibrators as close as possible
to their target source. The
VLBA Calibrator Survey may be useful here. For proposals where
phase-referencing is essential, the calibrator source(s) must be specified.
Note that there cannot be more than 12 source changes per hour on the Lovell
telescope due to slewing limitations.
Previous EVN Observations
A list of previous EVN observations
compiled by Tiziana Venturi can be used to search for observations of particular
sources, and provides links to the relevant experiments on the EVN data
archive for experiments correlated at JIVE. In addition, the EVN archive
itself provides a FITS-finder utility. Searches can key to source names
or coordinates, observing frequency, and/or participating telescopes,
among other characteristics. The EVN archive is accessible as menu items
in either the main EVN or JIVE web page
Correlation of EVN observations
Correlation of EVN projects at JIVE
The capacity of the EVN MkIV
Data Processor at JIVE depends on both the physical load (number
of baselines, IFs, polarizations, spectral points) and the output rate.
The maximum number of spectral points per baseline is 512 for 9-16
telescopes or 2048 for 8 or fewer telescopes. These maximum numbers assume
that you have only 1 IF and 1 polarization per baseline; if you have
more IFs and/or polarizations, then the maximum number of spectral
points must be divided by (N_if*N_pol). The minimum integration time
when you use the maximum spectral points above is currently 1/4 second.
All EVN proposals are subject to a technical assessment by the
correlator staff, and any technical difficulties of correlation are
discussed during EVN proposal review. See the
updated JIVE
correlator capabilities or e-mail Bob Campbell
(campbell@jive.nl) with questions.
Correlation of EVN projects at Bonn
Limited time may be available for the correlation of EVN experiments
at the
Bonn Mk4 VLBI Correlator
, but only by PRIOR arrangement with the MPIfR correlator staff.
Suitable projects will be those for which the scientific advantage of using
the MPIfR Correlator is given in the proposal, or those which include
an MPIfR collaborator who wishes to have closer "hands-on" approach
to the data flow. For details contact the Correlator Manager,
Walter Alef (walef@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de), or see the
Bonn Mk4 Correlator Status Page.
Correlation of Global VLBI Projects
Proposers of GLOBAL projects must use VLBA/MKIV-compatible recording
modes. Either the VLBA correlator or the EVN correlator at JIVE may
be explicitly requested for technical reasons, in which case the PI
should make a case for the choice of correlator.
The EVN Program Committee and the NRAO and EVN Schedulers will
consider the correlator requested for each proposal submitted and
assign one if no preference was given, also taking into account the
load on the correlators, the logistics of disk distribution and the
proximity of the PI to the correlator.
Short Observations
"Short" observations (< 4 hours) may be proposed up to 6 weeks before
an observing session begins, by means of a brief justification to the
Chairman of the EVN Program Committee, who will, at his discretion,
authorise scheduling in any gaps in the session plan. They are intended
to facilitate short, pilot observations, if needed in preparation for
a full proposal. They can only be granted limited resources (number of
telescopes, disks, correlator time) and must use standard recording modes.
They should not involve any special observing set-ups. From 1 June 2008,
the new EVN Program Committee Chair will be : Tiziana Venturi, Istituto,
di Radioastronomia, INAF, via Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy
Tel +39 051 639 93 70, Fax +39 051 639 94 31
Email: tventuri@ira.inaf.it.
Large projects
Most proposals request 12-48hrs observing time. The EVN Program Committee
(PC) also encourages larger projects (>48 hrs); these will be subject
to more detailed scrutiny, and the EVN PC may, in some cases, attach
conditions on the release of the data.
Further Information
Informal enquiries about technical feasibility of EVN, EVN+MERLIN, or
global projects may be directed to Bob Campbell (JIVE Science Operations
and Support Group, campbell@jive.nl).
Future EVN Calls for Proposals and other VLBI news can be received from the
VLBI email exploder. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe vlbi" in
the body (not the subject line) of an email to: Majordomo@zia.aoc.nrao.edu.