ASIAA SMA Call for Proposals

Regular Proposals for 2011B

The ASIAA SMA Time Allocation Committee solicits Taiwanese proposals for the 2011B semester.

Observing period : 2011 Nov. 16 - 2012 May 15 (2011B semester)

Proposal deadline: 2011 Sept. 15th, 4:00AM (Taiwan time) [= Sept. 14th, 10:00AM, Hawaii Time].

SAO Call for Proposals : http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/call.html

Status of the Array and Technical Information : http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/status.html

SMA proposal submission facility : http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/proposing.html

Information for Taiwan Users

ASIAA and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) have been jointly handling their SMA proposals since 2008 fall. Therefore most of the information in the SAO call for proposals above applies to Taiwan users. The following are the differences between the ASIAA and SAO calls and additional information for our domestic users.

Share of Observing Time

Our share of the SMA observing time is 13%. SAO/CfA and Univ. of Hawaii have 72% and 15%, respectively. SAO/CfA accepts external (including Taiwanese) proposals within its share. For our 13% share, we expect about 16 satisfactory tracks if the coming semester has average weather conditions. About half of the tracks will be taken under the condition of pwv=2.5-4mm suitable for 230 band observations and the other half under pwv < 2.5mm including one or two tracks under pwv < 1mm (pwv=precipitable water vapor in the atmosphere).

Eligibility for ASIAA Time

The ASIAA SMA time is open to researchers and students who are affiliated to a Taiwanese university or a Taiwanese research institute. If you are not sure about your eligibility for the ASIAA time, you should make an inquiry in advance to ASIAA TAC Chair (email: ksakamoto AT asiaa.sinica.edu.tw). The ASIAA TAC expects each PI, whose affiliation determines the eligibility, to genuinely lead his/her project and to be the first author of the resulting paper. If this is not the case, e.g., for a collaboration project, the reason should be provided in the proposal.

Legacy Project

We do not have the system. CfA's Legacy slot is open to external researchers including those in Taiwan.

Proposal Format

Proposals must be written in English. There are format rules; "The scientific justification is limited to a maximum of two US-letter sized pages of text (11pt or larger) plus two US-letter sized pages of figures, tables and references." Proposers are strongly encouraged to check their pdf files with AdobeReader for display problems or inclusion of non-English fonts before final submission.

Proposal Submission

All proposals must be submitted through the SMA proposal submission facility listed above. When submitting to the ASIAA queue, PIs should select "ASIAA" for their "Proposal destination".

New Users

SMA is a complex instrument. Researchers who have no prior experience with the SMA or radio interferometry are encouraged to consult the SMA users around them or in ASIAA about their project.

Project for PhD Thesis

In order to encourage PhD students to use the SMA, the ASIAA SMA TAC will make some considerations to proposals for PhD thesis projects. If a PhD student (as PI) and the supervisor (as Co-I) have a definite plan to use the proposed SMA observations as a main material for the student's PhD thesis, please state so in the proposal (in the Technical Justification page of proposal). Additional supporting statements [such as the total amount of observations planned and the timeline over 1 to 3 years for data acquisition, data processing, data analysis, and thesis writing] would also help the ASIAA SMA TAC understand the situation for the PhD candidate and supervisor.
On average, about four student tracks were put in the observing queue each semester in the last three years. This includes projects to which the above consideration does not apply.

TAC Members in Taiwan

Shih-Ping Lai, Naomi Hirano, and Wei-Hao Wang served in the ASIAA-CfA joint SMA TAC in 2011A and Kazushi Sakamoto was (and is) the ASIAA TAC chair.

Kazushi Sakamoto
first post on 2011 July 12, updated on 2011 Aug. 15