EUROPEAN VLBI NETWORK CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The European VLBI Network (EVN) invites observing proposals
for the 1 June 2002 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
Asia operated by an international Consortium of institutes.
Consult the
EVN User Guide
for the following:
The EVN encourages use of the Network by astronomers not specialised in
the VLBI technique. 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 Michael Garrett (garrett@jive.nl) for information about
The JIVE EVN Support Group
In particular, the EVN is in receipt of an award from the European
Commission's Access to Research Infrastructures Programme (an
action of the Improving Human Potential Programme) that supports
EVN projects led by non-EVN institute PIs affiliated to EU and
Associated State Institutes. As well as providing access to the
EVN, the programme provides financial support for visits to the EVN
observatories and JIVE. Contact Michael Garrett (garrett@jive.nl)
for information or see the
EC ARI Page
at JIVE.
EVN Observing Sessions in 2002/3
2002 Session 3 |
Nov 07 - Nov 28 |
18/21cm (with Jb-1 & Cm), 6cm+MERLIN, 1.3cm + MERLIN |
2003 Session 1 |
Feb 06 - Feb 27 |
18/21cm + MERLIN, 5cm, 6cm? +... |
2003 Session 2 |
May 22 - Jun 12 |
6cm, 18/21cm +... |
2003 Session 3 |
Nov 06 - Nov 27 |
Frequencies to be determined |
Proposals received by 1 June 2002 will be considered for scheduling in
Session 3, 2002 or later. Finalisation of the planned observing wavelengths will
depend on proposal pressure. Projects will only be scheduled during sessions.
Special features for Sessions in 2002/3
- 1.3cm EVN+MERLIN session in Nov 2002 should include the resurfaced
Noto telescope and a new receiver at Torun.
- 512 Mb/s capabilitity a at 6cm and 18cm.
- Phase referencing performance now greatly improved with new
telescope
positions
- EVN Data Analysis pipeline is now in operation.
Combining EVN antennas with other arrays
Proposers may request EVN antennas together with other telescopes and arrays.
EVN + MERLIN Observations
MERLIN is an 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. Most EVN sessions usually include some
combined MERLIN + EVN observations at 18 or 6cm.
MERLIN + EVN time will be allocated by the EVN PC, but the case for joint observations must be made in the proposal.
Including other antennas
Antennas of the NASA DSN, including the 70-m at Robledo, and the
300-m Arecibo antenna may be available for a small number of projects
requiring very high sensitivity. The 25-m antenna at Hartebeesthoek,
South Africa, provides useful N-S resolution for low-declination
sources.
Global VLBI
GLOBAL projects add the NRAO VLBA and/or other US antennas, creating
an array of up to 20 elements, suitable for very high dynamic range
imaging, and "snap-shot" observations of many sources.
Submitting EVN Proposals
Deadlines
Proposals must be received by 1st Feb, June or Oct.
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
- EVN proposals, including EVN+MERLIN, EVN+Arecibo etc, should be sent to
Dr. R. Porcas, EVN Scheduler,
MPIfR,
Auf dem Huegel 69,
D 53121 Bonn
GERMANY.
Email: proposevn@HP.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
EVN proposals which request MERLIN, Arecibo, Hartebeesthoek, or DSN telescopes need not be submitted elsewhere.
- EVN "Global" proposals which also request NRAO resources, ie, one or
more VLBA antennas, the VLBA Correlator, the VLA or GBT
must ALSO be sent to:
The Director, NRAO,
Edgemont Road,
Charlottesville,
VA 22903-2475, USA
Email: propsoc@nrao.edu
- Requests for THE VLBA+EFFELSBERG ALONE must be sent to both NRAO AND MPIfR.
Instructions for VLBA+Eb proposals
- Requests for any other antennas NOT affiliated with the EVN or NRAO should
be indicated in the proposal but the PROPOSER MUST SEND A COPY to the
Director/Scheduler of the observatory involved, and will be responsible for
arranging all aspects of their participation, including observing support,
tape supply and acquiring telescope time for the EVN time allocated.
See also the Code of Practice for operational details.
Rules for email submission
Proposals may be submitted as postscript files by email via the addresses above, following the following guidelines. See also the
NRAO guidelines on submitting proposals
- Do not submit by email if this is at the expense of including essential
diagrams and other material
- Send proposals A FEW DAYS BEFORE the deadline; only in this case can
proposers be notified if the file fails to print !!
- Write a 3-4 word title as the subject line for proposal identification
- Avoid grey-scale plots and scanned graphics, which can create very
lengthy files.
- EVN will accept separate postscript files for the coversheet and the
scientific justification if sent as attachments to a single message,
or a single concatenated postscript file in the body of the message.
NRAO do not accept attachments.
- IF you specify paper size for printing, only use size A4 for "proposevn"
(but do NOT specify A4 size for "propsoc")
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 Abstract.
Guidelines on what to include in proposals
All proposals should include the VLBI proposal cover sheet (see below) and a
text NOT EXCEEDING 2 SIDES. This 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 6 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 MERLIN, 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 dg
Phase-referencing observations
Observers are advised to find phase calibrators as close as possible
to their target source and warned that at 18cm phase calibration is affected by
the ionosphere which is still active after the recent solar maximum.
The
VLBA Calibrator Survey , which now has updated source positions from VLBA 'geodetic observations', may be useful here.
For proposals where
phase-referencing is essential, the calibrator source(s) should be specified.
Previous EVN Observations
Lists
of previous observations have been compiled by Tiziana Venturi.
The VLBI Proposal Coversheet
The VLBI Proposal Coversheet must be used for all proposals.
The up-to-date version should be obtained via
JIVE
- Select a wavelength band
- Select a recording format compatible with the requested correlator
(select "VLBA" for VLBA-compatible MKIV modes)
- For SPECTRAL LINE proposals, specify the exact observing frequencies
and the (baseband) channel bandwidths
- Select EVN antennas using the 2-character codes given in the EVN STATUS
TABLE.
- For EVN+MERLIN proposals, add "MERLIN" to the EVN antenna list
- Specify the GST ranges for Asian antennas separately, if appropriate
The scheduling program
sched
can be used to select appropiate ST ranges.
- For selection of Processor (Correlator) see below
Correlation of EVN observations
Correlation of EVN projects at JIVE
The capacity of the
EVN MkIV Data Processor at JIVE has been increased recently and
its main limitation is in terms of data transfer. The minimum
integration time for read-out of the entire correlator is 4s (2s has
been recently tested). The maximum number od spectral points per
baseline when using the entire correlator is 512 for 16 telescopes or
2048 for 8 telescopes. These spectral channels can be spread
arbitrarily over sub-band/polarization with a minimum of 16 spectral
points per individual product.
All EVN proposals are subject to a technical assessment by correlator
staff, and any technical difficulties of correlation are discussed
during EVN proposal review. See the
update on the JIVE correlator capabilities or
or email Huib van Langevelde (langevelde@jive.nl) for 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 EVN projects in Socorro
For experiments which cannot yet be correlated at JIVE, the VLBA
correlator in Socorro may be available for a limited number of
"EVN-only" experiments. Proposers should submit such proposals to NRAO
and the EVN. See the
VLBA Observational Status Summary
for correlator capabilities.
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 logitisics of tape 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 PC, who will, at his discretion, authorise scheduling
in any gaps in the session plan. They are intended to allow the EVN to
respond to urgent "targets of opportunity", or to facilitate short, pilot
observations, if needed in preparation for a full proposal. They can only
be granted limited resources (number of telescopes, tapes, correlator time)
and must use standard recording modes. They should not involve any special
observing set-ups. The present EVNPC Chairman is: Simon Garrington,
Jodrell Bank Observatory, Macclesfield SK11 9DL, UK. Tel +44 (0)1477 571321
Fax +44 (0)1477 571618 Email: stg@jb.man.ac.uk
Large projects
Most proposals request 12-48hrs onserving time. The EVN PC also encourages
larger projects (>48 hrs) but these may be subject to more detailed scrutiny,
and the EVN PC may, in some cases, attach conditions on the release of the
data.
Access to Proposal Information
Note that the following data from the proposal will be stored in machine-
readable form: PI name and email, wavelength, observing mode, program title,
requested telescopes, EVNPC rating. The data will be distributed to the EVN
Scheduler, VLBA scheduler. For proposals supported
under the IHP program "Access to Research Infrastructures", the title, author
list, and amount of time granted (or a brief reason for rejection) will be
made available to the EC in Brussels. Copies of all EVN+MERLIN
proposals will be made available to the MERLIN TAC Chairman, together with
the EVNPC rating. Coversheets of proposals requesting use of the VLBA
correlator will be forwarded to NRAO for checking technical feasibility.
Copies of proposals requesting ARECIBO will be forwarded to the Arecibo
Observatory for technical review.
Further Information
Informal enquiries about technical feasibility of EVN or EVN+MERLIN
projects may be directed to Michael Garrett (JIVE EVN Support Group, garrett@jive.nl)
Future EVN Calls for Proposals and other VLBI news can be received from the
VLBI e-mail exploder. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe vlbi" in
the body (not the subject line) of an e-mail to: Majordomo@zia.aoc.nrao.edu