[mmaimcal] FYI: 21 Nov BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Tue Nov 22 13:53:40 EST 2005
Folks,
Comments?
-Al
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Nov 21, 2005 -- Dec 5, 2005
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT****************************
A scientific Meeting was held on
'Physique stellaire avec ALMA' November 14/15, 2005, GRAAL - Montpellier,
France. Jerome Pety reports considerable interest in ALMA in this
community, with interesting discussions of science goals achievable with
the array.
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Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
See also the JAO ALMA Calendar overview at:
http://www.alma.cl/alma_project
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General Happenings
OSF: An anniversary celebration will be held in San Pedro de Atacama to
celebrate the community's founding.
Tender documents for grading of the Vertex contractor area have been released.
Bidding process for OSF, AOS Technical Building finishes, camp services, and
road finish (culverts, arroyo crossings etc) are all at various levels of
progress. Rough work on road in progress at km 40. There are about 125
persons working at the site.
AOS: Construction continues on AOS Technical Building shell. ASTE
reports no damage from the northern Chile earthquake last week.
ATF: Preparations continue for optical pointing tests. The AEC antenna
has stirred into action.
AOC: Two line length corrector (LLC) modules and one laser synthesizer module
delivered to prototype system integration (PSI).
Antenna to AOS Technical Building simulation test completed with excellent
results.
NTC: Beam patterns measured on B6 (1.3mm) cartridge no. 2 show significant
improvement. Construction of cartridges 4 and 5 under way.
Correlator Quadrant No. 2 bin and power rack assemblies completed.
First tunable filter bank (TFB) card with final components passed tests and
was shipped.
NAASC: Computing IPT Leads meeting was held in Charlottesville, along
with meeting of the Science Software Requirements committee.
The program for the Z-Machines meeting has been published
on the meeting website
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/zmachines.
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DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
Mon 21 November
All Day: SSR Meeting, Charlottesville
Tue 22
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested
parties) (434)296-7082
Wed 23
Thu 24
Thanksgiving Holiday, U. S.
Fri 25
NRAO Holiday, U. S.
Sat Nov 26
Sun Nov 27
Mon Nov 28
Tue Nov 29
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested
parties) (434)296-7082
Wed Nov 30
Thu Dec 1
Fri Dec 2
Sat Dec 3
Sun Dec 4
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ****************************
* Nov 21-22 -- SSR Meeting, Charlottesville
* Nov 30-Dec 1 -- National Science Board meets
* Dec 7-8 -- ESO Council Regular Meeting
* Dec 7 -- ASAC Telecon
* Dec 7 -- ANASAC Telecon
* Dec 22 -- ALMA Board Telecon
* Jan 4-7 -- URSI/NA, Boulder
* Jan 12-14 -- ALMA Zmachines workshop
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ****************************
ALMA Memo 543: Estimating Calibrator Counts at 250 GHz Using MAMBO
Observations of Flat Spectrum Quasars
Author: M.A. Holdaway, Chris Carilli, Axel Weiss, Frank Bertoldi
Abstract: We analyze the 250 GHz MAMBO fluxes of cm-selected bright,
compact,flat spectrum quasars, match them with 8.4 GHz CLASS flux
measurements, and derive a distribution for the spectral index between
8 GHz and 250 GHz. This spectral index distribution, when combined
with Condon's 5 GHz flat spectrum source counts and the distribution
of core fraction taken from the flat spectrum members of the 3CR2
sample, provides us with an estimate of the source counts of bright,
compact, flat spectrum quasars which will be available to ALMA at
250 GHz for various calibrations. Over the entire sky at 250 GHz, we
find there should be about 28,000 quasars brighter than 10 mJy, 2230
quasars brighter than 100 mJy, and 70 quasars brighter than 1 Jy. The
source count estimates in the current memo exceed the estimates of
Holdaway and Owen (2005) at 250 GHz by 14% at 10 mJy, 33% at
100 mJy, and 55% at 1 Jy. The higher estimated counts as derived in
this current work are a direct result of sources observed to have a
very flat or even inverted spectral index between 8 and 250 GHz which
were largely missing in Holdaway and Owen's spectral index distribution.
A pdf copy of this memo is on edm.alma.cl and at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma543/memo543.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALMA Memo 544: Quasi-Optical Verification of the Band 9 ALMA Front-End
Author: M. Candotti, A. M. Baryshev, N. A. Trappe, R. Hesper, J. A. Murphy,
J. Barkhof, W. Wild
Abstract:
The front-end optical design for band 9 (600 to 720GHz) of the Atacama
Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is now completed and verified. A frequency
independent design approach is used to couple radiation to the two
orthogonal polarized mixed detectors from the large 12m ALMA Cassegrain
telescope. As it is a heterodyne receiver, two local oscillator beam
paths are integrated into the front-end optical system. Due to the
large number of interferometer elements (64 antenna units) to be built,
installed and maintained in the remote site of the Atacama Desert,
reliability of the optical system should be ensured. A modular and
compact optical design is also important. In addition a cheaper
fabrication process is considered, at these more tolerant higher
frequencies, by milling the mirror surfaces near the surface roughness
limit. In this paper we verify the optical design and estimate system
efficiency by means of experimental measurement and software simulation
comparisons. Precision planar scans of near field beam patterns
(amplitude and phase) have been measured. Experimental beam measurements
were taken at the output of the mirror coupling system (telescope focal
plane location) for both polarization paths and for both local oscillator
beam guides. At the same measurement locations, software simulations of
a highly accurate geometrical model of the mirror coupling system were
predicted using the commercial package GRASP8. These comparisons at some
fundamental locations along the beam paths, allow the assessment of the
quasi-optical beam coupling system design. The local oscillator power
budget analysis is carried out from results obtained using GRASP8. In
the conclusion we summarize the current status and describe future
analysis plans.
A pdf copy of this memo is on edm.alma.cl and will eventually appear at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma544/memo544.pdf
******************************ALSO OF INTEREST*****************************
APEX has detected the 13-12 line of CO at 1496.9229090 GHz with a
hot-electron bolometer. This is the highest frequency spectral line
detected from Chajnantor (and perhaps any earthbound site), and the
highest frequency spectral line detected by a Vertex antenna.
------------------TENURE TRACK ASTRONOMER POSITIONS------------------------
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites outstanding
applicants for tenure track astronomer positions. In the next few years,
the NRAO expects to make one or two appointments per year. Appointments
are not restricted to radio astronomers. See
http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml#tenure
---------------------------ALMA Postdocs-----------------------------------
2006 Postdoc Position at the North American ALMA Science Center/ALMA
Construction
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory expects to invite applications
for a NRAO Postdoctoral appointment at the North American ALMA Science
Center in Charlottesville, Va. These positions provide 50% time for
independent research, with the remaining 50% assigned to project
and operational duties at the sites.
The position is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation
through the ALMA Construction Project. See
http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml#alma
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