From awootten at NRAO.EDU Thu Aug 1 16:36:41 2002 From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten) Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2002 16:36:41 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [asac]Agenda for Telecon 7 August Message-ID: <200208012036.QAA28946@polaris.cv.nrao.edu> Folks, The Agenda with links, etc. is at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/asacaug02agenda.html As ALMA enters construction, project documents will be kept in a more formal manner; the ASAC area may be found at: http://almaedm.tuc.nrao.edu/forums/alma/dispatch.cgi/documents/folderFrame/100505/0/def/f2d9 Several of the last telecon agendas and minutes and the Tokyo report have been entered in a searchable form. This is a password protected site, but for now use userid almaguest and pw almaguest (think Ptolemaically!); I don't think you have userids at this time. ALMA Science Advisory Committee Draft Agenda for ASAC Telecon Weds 7 August 2002 Conference Date: August-7-2002 (Wednesday) Here's the dial-in information for the telecon: CALL TIME: 10:30 AM EASTERN TIME 1430 Universal Time (Follow the link for times in other time zones as various nations change to and from summer time) CALL DATE: AUGUST-07-2002 (Wednesday) DURATION: 1 hr USA Toll Free #:888-790-1715 International #: +1-630-395-0192 PASSCODE: 30111 LEADER: Al Wootten Agenda items: Old Business (1) Please approve the minutes of the July Telecon. Agenda and Minutes of recent telecons may be viewed at the ALMA Sitescape documentation site. (2) The agenda for the next face-to-face meeting is: Friday Sept 6: Visit Vertex antenna pm The Vertex antenna is being assembled, see the webcam where the backup structure is just hidden by orange packing crates to the right of the crane. Sept 7-8, meeting Sept 9 fly out to next meeting or home New Business (1) Status Report: (P. van den Bout, M. Tarenghi, R. Kurz, M. Rafal.) ESO Council ACC teleconference Chile the Vertex prototype antenna (2) Interim reports from Working Groups on Charges from the ACC to the ASAC and discussion (Guilloteau; ) - Site evaluation and stringency - N. Evans - Early Science - P. Cox (3)Japanese community meeting on Japan's participation in the ALMA project - S. Yamamoto (4)The next teleconference is nominally 4 September 1430 UT Clear skies, Al From awootten at NRAO.EDU Tue Aug 6 15:28:30 2002 From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten) Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2002 15:28:30 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [asac]Reminder--telecon tomorrow Message-ID: <200208061928.PAA04155@polaris.cv.nrao.edu> Folks, The Agenda with links, etc. is at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/asacaug02agenda.html Clear skies, Al From tetsuo.hasegawa at nao.ac.jp Tue Aug 6 20:04:02 2002 From: tetsuo.hasegawa at nao.ac.jp (Tetsuo Hasegawa) Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2002 09:04:02 +0900 Subject: [asac]ASAC - Letter from Kaifu Message-ID: Dear colleagues, In the ASAC telecon today, we report that Kaifu-san sent a draft proposal summary of Japanese participation to ALMA to the EACC members on August 1. Below is a copy of his letter (a MS Word version is also attached): ********************* ( Letter from Kaifu) Dear EACC memberss, I am sending attached our draft proposal summary of Japanese participation to ALMA and a proposal for an interim framework in the transition phase. It is meant for a preview of our full proposal that we will send to the ALMA Coordination Committee (ACC) in mid August. In the following, I explain some background of the draft plan. Guiding Principle: Toward the Trilateral ALMA Last year, with enthusiastic contribution by scientists in Europe, North America, Japan, and Chile, ASAC has worked out an ideal line of instrumentation and functions for the trilateral ALMA, which was indeed a valuable achievement. We have set a guiding principle to realize this trilateral ALMA plan as much as possible by Japanese participation while minimizing the overheads by simple interfaces between Japan and the preceding partners. NAOJ has drafted a new plan of Japanese participation to ALMA referring to the ASAC recommendation and further inputs from the Japanese scientific community. The plan should also be consistent with our prior request for ALMA construction funding. I would point out that the inclusion of the four 12-m antennas in our proposal as a part of the ACA system is critically important in this respect, in addition to the scientific reasons. Japanese funding status and time line The Japanese government has funded the R&D for the ALMA project for FY 2002 and 2003. It includes the funding of the 12-m prototype antenna with other new developments such as photonic technologies, and a new building at NAOJ that houses the development/fabrication?facilities related to ALMA. Japanese major research facility projects have been 100% funded after such a major governmental investment in R&D. To affirm the formal Japanese participation by getting funds for ALMA construction at a satisfactory level, we are making a new round of negotiation with our government. The new round involves a Working Group of the MEXT Science Council that reviews the Japanese participation in ALMA in terms of its content and the size of the Japanese budget. The WG has already started its review process with very positive response to our basic plan of participation as attached in this letter. Their report will be submitted to the Council in December. Our goal is to have a good understanding about the funding plan of ALMA-J among NAOJ, MEXT, and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) by the end of this year. After the submission of the MEXT budget request of the ALMA-J starting from FY2004 to MoF in August 2003, MEXT will be ready to make a formal statement of its intent. It is needless to say that the above process in Japan must proceed in parallel with the negotiation with the European and North American partners. In particular, we understand that the EACC and ALMA Board meetings planned in September - October this year will be a critically important occasion for the realization of Japanese participation to ALMA. I would very much appreciate your cooperation and fruitful discussion in coming meetings toward our bright goal, which would provide wonderful scientific excitements to us all. Japanese prototype antenna and participation in the joint antenna evaluation In May this year, the NAOJ has made a contract with Mitsubishi Electric Company for the Japanese 12-m prototype antenna. We had a CDR in June with a participation of Jaap Baars and Jeff Kingsley, and the construction of the antenna is in good progress. The operation of ALMA will last at least 30 years. We can easily see that scientific pressure for submillimeter-wave observation will grow even larger in the course of the operation. To keep up with this evolving requirement, new frequency bands or new generation signal processors would be added. However, it will be almost impossible to replace the antennas. This was the reason why the partners of ALMA have decided to build the prototype antennas and to make the joint evaluation based on the careful consideration of technical risks. We are willing to share the responsibility to finish this activity in a fruitful and timely manner, so that scientists can enjoy the high potential of the ALMA antenna in the coming decades. With best wishes, Norio Kaifu, Director General National Astronomical Observatory of Japan August 1, 2002 ******* The draft proposal summary of Japanese participation National Astronomical Observatory of Japan August 1, 2002 1) The ACA system Build a system of twelve 7-meter antennas and four high-performance 12-meter antennas. They are equipped with all the required frontends with the baseline receiver cartridges and the IF/backend systems. The 12-meter antennas are equipped with the nutating subreflectors and will be dedicated to accurate single-dish measurements and calibration of the 7-meter antenna array. The ACA system will significantly enhance the imaging and photometric capability of ALMA. 2) New Receiver Bands Fabricate and install receiver frontend cartridges of two or three bands to the 64 antennas in the baseline ALMA and the 16 ACA system antennas. For the receiver bands to add, we propose Band 10 with the highest priority and Bands 8 and 4 with the second priority. This will bring new observing windows to ALMA particularly at submillimeter wavelengths. 3) The Second Generation Correlator Build the second generation correlator to be used for both the 64-element array and the ACA system. It will enhance the spectroscopic capability of ALMA by enabling observations with full bandwidth without sacrifice of number of spectral channels (i.e., spectral resolution) and sensitivity. This will make ALMA even more efficient and open a new field of science. 4) Contribution to Infrastructure and Operation NAOJ will contribute to the infrastructure of the whole trilateral ALMA with a proper share. It includes the one needed for installation and operation of the proposed Japanese instrumentation. NAOJ will contribute a proper share of the operational cost of ALMA. ******** Interim framework in the transition phase: a proposal Considering the importance of the mutual communication and the coordination efforts to be made in the transition phase from the bilateral project to the formal start of the trilateral project, I propose the following; 1) To continue the EACC function as a table for discussion on the Japanese participation and related matters, 2) To continue the Japanese involvement in the ASAC activities. In discussion on the Japanese participation plan, the Japanese members should have an official status equal to the members from Europe and North America, 3) To continue the ALG activities to keep the best liaison between the current Joint ALMA Office and the Japanese project management, and 4) To keep close communication in the DH/TL level between the bilateral project and the Japanese team. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Leter_from_Kaifu02.08.01.doc Type: application/msword Size: 40960 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- -- _______________________________________________________________ Tetsuo HASEGAWA, D. Sc. ALMA-J Project Scientist Professor, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan Phone +81-422-34-3780 / FAX +81-422-34-3764 _______________________________________________________________ From awootten at NRAO.EDU Wed Aug 7 13:15:48 2002 From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten) Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2002 13:15:48 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [asac]Plans for your visit Message-ID: <200208071715.NAA28034@polaris.cv.nrao.edu> Dear ASAC Folks, Please note that the visit to the antenna has been moved to a 3pm AOC departure on Friday to accommodate early pm arrivals in ABQ. When you have made your travel arrangements, please fill out the visitor page: http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/cgi-bin/visitor.cgi When you have made your travel arrangements, please fill out the visitor information URL page and submit it. In general, you will probably only need to fill out section A. Please let us know whether or not you intend to visit the ATF in the comments section on the form. You will receive a response from the AOC travel coordinator. A block of motel rooms has been set aside for you. The AOC travel coordinator will give you the details of that, and options for ABQ-AOC transit. We're looking forward to hearing your answers to the official state question--"Green or Red?" Clear skies, Al From awootten at NRAO.EDU Tue Aug 13 02:00:08 2002 From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten) Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 02:00:08 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [asac]Meeting update Message-ID: <200208130600.CAA20857@polaris.cv.nrao.edu> Folks, Sixteen people have filled in their reservation forms. Ten want to stay in a motel, but only four have guaranteed their rooms. Too few people as yet to try to schedule a van from the airport, so please try to make your arrangements and fill in the visitor form asap. Only four people indicated they wanted to see the antenna but I'm going to assume this was an oversight and that all would like to see it. Clear skies, Al From awootten at NRAO.EDU Fri Aug 16 12:23:22 2002 From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten) Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 12:23:22 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [asac]forwarded message from Billie Rodriguez Message-ID: <200208161623.MAA03525@polaris.cv.nrao.edu> An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Billie Rodriguez Subject: [allemploy] FYI #7 - ALMA Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 11:12:15 -0400 Size: 3195 URL: From soliver at NRAO.EDU Fri Aug 16 12:12:12 2002 From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver) Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 09:12:12 -0700 Subject: [asac][almanews] ALMA Memo 431 Released Message-ID: ALMA MEMO #431 First Astronomical Fringe of a Test Correlator for the ALMA: Simultaneous Achievement of Wideband and High Resolution Sachiko K. Okumura(NRO,NAO-J), Satoru Iguchi(NAO-J), Yoshihiro Chikada(NAO-J), Munetake Momose(Ibaraki University), Mahoko Okiura(The University of Tokyo/NRO,NAO-J 2002/08/15 Keywords: 2-nd generatin correlator, spectroscopic observations, Orion-KL The first astronomical fringe of a test correlator for the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is obtained. The newly-developed test correlator system consists of two 4096-Msps Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) and an FX-type correlator that can divide a 2-GHz correlation signal from one baseline into 131072 frequency channels. A fringe spectrum that contains 20 line features as well as continuum emission at $\sim 86.2$ GHz was obtained by an interferometric observation of the Orion-KL regions using this test system connected to the Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA), demonstrating that the realization of high frequency resolution over a wide bandwidth is technically feasible. The installation of such a correlator system in the ALMA will greatly enhance its capability of multi-line imaging. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #431. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma431/memo431.pdf Download a postscript version of ALMA Memo #431. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma431/memo431.ps _______________________________________________ Almanews mailing list Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews