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Global VLBI at mm wavelengths including ALMA
(ALMA Cycle 7, October 2019 - September 2020)
Proposal preparation
The phased ALMA is expected to participate in some GMVA and EHT observations during ALMA Cycle 7 (October 2019 - September 2020).Please note carefully the difference in proposing procedures and proposal deadlines:
- Any GMVA proposal including ALMA must be submitted via the NRAO Proposal Submission Tool (PST) before the GMVA deadline on 01 February 2019. In addition, a separate proposal must be submitted to ALMA via the ALMA Observing Tool (ALMA-OT) before the deadline on 17 April 2019.
- Information about how to propose for EHT+ALMA observations will be given in the ALMA Call for Proposals in March 2019.
GMVA + ALMA
Proposals requesting mmVLBI observations at 3mm have to be submitted both via the PST and the ALMA-OT. In the PST, proposers should- specify "ALMA" in the text field "Other Stations"
- select the default GMVA 3mm observing mode (2 Gbps, dual polarization)
- specify the amount of time and GST range(s) needed for ALMA separately, either in Session Constraints or Comments, or in the Technical Justification.
Please refer to the ALMA announcement or the GMVA Call for Proposals for detailed information on resubmissions, capabilities and restrictions for GMVA+ALMA in Cycle 7.
EHT + ALMA
Information about how to propose for EHT+ALMA observations will be given in the ALMA Call for Proposals in March 2019. The proposal to ALMA must be submitted via the ALMA-OT before the deadline for ALMA Cycle 7 proposals on 17 April 2019. Please note that the PI and all Co-Is must the registered ALMA users. Detailed information on how to propose and the ALMA-OT will be published on the ESO Science Portal together with the Call for Proposals. In addition, the German ARC node will offer interactive training sessions in March/April 2019.Scheduling and Observations
The scheduling of mmVLBI observations is NOT done by the proposers themselves, but by a team of mmVLBI experts from the VLBI network providers and the Joint ALMA Office (JAO). Besides maximizing the scientific output in the scheduled time slots by interleaving the different approved projects, the team also inserts all the necessary calibrators at appropriate intervals into the schedule. Any special requirements or requests regarding the scheduling of approved mmVLBI projects should be directed to the contact scientist (CS) of that project.In Cycle 7, observations are foreseen be taken in campaign mode at pre-defined dates during the GMVA Session I 2020 (usually scheduled in the period March to May). There are likely to be 43 ALMA antennas available in Cycle 7, but the phased sum used for VLBI will be formed only from those that lie within a circle of radius 0.5 km (or less, depending on atmospheric conditions). PIs of approved mmVLBI proposals should be prepared to provide additional information and feedback to the expert team in the weeks leading up to the mmVLBI campaign(s).
After the observations, the disk packs containing the recorded VLBI data are shipped from the stations to the correlations centers at the MPIfR in Bonn, Germany, and at MIT-Haystack, USA. Please note that the shipment of disk packs usually takes several weeks. The South Pole station closes for winter. Between February and October, there are no flights to or from that station. Hence, the disk packs from the 2020 mmVLBI campaign(s) won't be shipped from that station before November 2020.
Correlation and Data Access
Correlation of the VLBI data will be performed at the correlation centers at the MPIfR in Bonn, Germany, and at MIT-Haystack, USA. PIs are notified when their correlated data are available for download.The ALMA-only data, recorded in parallel, will undergo quality assessment and data reduction similar to ALMA data of standard observing modes. PIs are notified of the availability of their data by email. They can then download their data from the ALMA archive. The proprietary period for the ALMA-only data is one year, starting on the day of the noticifation email.
Data Reduction
Similar to VLBI data at lower frequencies, correlated mmVLBI data are usually reduced in AIPS, which offers a rich suite of VLBI tasks. Basic VLBI data reduction capabilities like a finge fitting procedure are under development and may be implemented in future CASA releases.The ALMA-only data can be reduced and analyzed as usual using CASA.