[Everyone] [Lofar-proposals] Call for LOFAR Proposals Cycle 12

Thu Jan 31 09:51:14 EST 2019

International LOFAR Telescope 
Proposal Call to the Worldwide Community 
Cycle 12: 1 June 2019 - 30 November 2019 
Submission deadline Wednesday 6 March 2019, 12 UT 
Submission only via the online tool NorthStar
( https://lofar.astron.nl/proposal) . 
** Proposers must ensure that their justification files adhere to the
instructions given in Northstar, including restrictions on formats and
proposal length, repeated online here
(
http://astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/justification-file-instructions/instructions-j)
. ** 
SINGLE-CYCLE ONLY: Proposals are invited for new projects, in any
supported general-user mode. Single-cycle projects should achieve their
science goals with an allocation only in the upcoming semester (1 June
2019 – 30 November 2019). While they may, of course, stem from results
of any previous LOFAR observations, they should stand on their own, and
should not request supplements to Long-Term projects that are already
allocated for Cycles 10-13. Genuine filler and expert shared-support
projects are only considered for long-term projects, and such proposals
thus are not admitted to this proposal round. The next long-term
proposal opportunity will be offered in the Cycle 14 proposal call, in
2020.
COMMUNITY ACCESS: Time on the ILT is available to scientists from the
worldwide community. It is allocated in tandem between National
Consortia and the ILT-PC, and endorsed by the ILT Board. Scientific
excellence and breadth as well as the technical strength of the
proposals are taken along in the evaluations. In view of the novel and
evolving character of the ILT, first-time proposers are strongly urged
to get in contact with Science Operations & Support at ASTRON through
the Radio Observatory helpdesk system
(
http://www.astron.nl/radio-observatory/submit-support-request/jira-ro-helpdesk-ticketing-system)
 well ahead of the deadline, or to seek suitable collaborators; novice
groups should also consider keeping the scope of initial projects modest
while they become familiar with the complexities of data handling and
analysis. 
TIME, PROCESSING, AND DATA RIGHTS: Allocations will consist of
observing time, as described above and detailed online
(
http://www.astron.nl/radio-observatory/astronomers/requesting-observations-and-data/lofar-announcement-opportunities-earl)
. Restrictions on the available processing resources and on the total
data storage in the archive will also be taken into account. For Cycle
12, there will be 750 observing hours, 1000 processing hours and 2.2 PB
of archive storage available. Of the 750 observing hours available, up
to 250 hours could be observed at night. The availability of observing
time as a function of LST after taking into account the already
allocated long-term projects is presented online
(
http://www.astron.nl/radio-observatory/cycles-allocations-and-observing-schedules/time-requests-lst/time-requests-lst)
. Each proposal must request processing time to match the observing time
within appropriate documented ratios (see documentation online
(
https://www.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-capabilities/depth-technical-information/major-observing-modes/major-obs)
), or should justify how processing will proceed elsewhere. In relation
to this, if a proposing group needs the data to be archived at a
specific LTA site, this should be explicitly requested and justified in
the proposal. The PC will define restricted data access rights (default
period 1 year) based on the specific science goals and arguments in the
proposal. Other groups may be allocated simultaneous access for
different science. 
MINIMUM USEFUL ALLOCATIONS: For all proposals, the technical case must
argue both the optimal and the minimal required total amount of time and
other resources (and any requirements on cadence or time span).
Appropriate fields in NorthStar are available to specify this. If the
stated minimum requirements cannot be allocated, the proposal will not
be carried out at all. 
PRIORTISED OBSERVING LIST: If proposals request multiple observations
(e.g. multiple fields/pointings, or multiple instrumental settings)
these will be taken in all cases to be listed in decreasing order of
preference/priority of the proposers. In case only a partial allocation
can be made, the ILT-PC may, based on its science assessment, decide to
deviate from the proposed priorities, but the proposer priorities must
anyway be clear in advance. 
SYSTEM CAPABILITIES: The International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) is a
powerful radio telescope for frequencies below 240 MHz that offers
state-of-the-art observing capabilities thanks to its phased-array
technology with digital beam-forming. LOFAR delivers correlated
visibility data for synthesis imaging, plus in/coherently added single
and multiple station data (several beam-formed modes) as well as
transient buffer read-out, for example for studies of pulsars,
transients, and cosmic rays. LOFAR capabilities are described in detail
online
(
http://astron.nl/radio-observatory/astronomers/technical-information/lofar-technical-information)
. LOFAR is now a responsive system capable of automatically responding
to triggers within 5 minutes, overriding any lower priority
observations. PIs interested in using the latest system enhancements or
who are otherwise unsure of the possibilities for their projects after
studying the details given online
(
http://www.astron.nl/radio-observatory/lofar-system-capabilities/responsive-telescope/responsive-telescope)
 should get in contact with Science Operations and Support through the
Radio Observatory helpdesk system
(
http://www.astron.nl/radio-observatory/submit-support-request/jira-ro-helpdesk-ticketing-system)
. The ASTRON Radio Observatory is currently implementing in production
Prefactor
( https://github.com/lofar-astron/prefactor) , the
direction-independent calibration pipeline, which produces
direction-independent calibrated visibilities and wide-band images of
the target field, and diagnostic plots. Commissioning of Prefactor is
currently in progress. While Prefactor cannot be widely offered in Cycle
12, the Radio Observatory may select a sample of appropriate projects
that will be offered the opportunity to obtain data products processed
through this pipeline. 
CO-OBSERVING WITH THE SURVEYS KSP PROGRAMME: The International LOFAR
Telescope encourages co-observing and co-processing of data for the
Surveys KSP team and the PIs of standalone Cycle proposals requiring
targeted imaging. By utilizing the multi-beam capability of LOFAR, some
Surveys KSP Tier-1 pointings could be observed alongside other science
targets, maximizing the telescope efficiency. As a benefit of
co-observing, the PIs of the standalone projects will receive the
standard results of the data processing performed by the Surveys KSP
team (see details online
(
http://astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team)
). There will be no requirement for joint science analysis or
publications
To apply for this option, the observing setup of the standalone project
should be the same as that of Surveys KSP Tier-1 observations (see
details online
(
http://astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team)
). Any of the proposers interested in this opportunity should clearly
state so in their proposals. Moreover, they should confirm that their
observations could adopt the Surveys KSP Tier-1 observing and processing
setup.
While planning their projects, proposers are encouraged to check the
availability of public LOFAR data for their targets in the long-term
archive
( https://lta.lofar.eu/) . Additionally, in case the Survey
observing/processing setup could apply to their observations, they are
solicited to verify the (current or forthcoming) availability of Survey
Tier 1 data for their targets at this page
(
http://www.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team)
.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 
The Observatory will explore the possibility for a few users unfamiliar
with the reduction of LOFAR data to come to ASTRON for assistance with
this by Observatory personnel. If this is desired, it must be specified
in the proposal. Limited travel subsidies for eligible users can be
supported by RadioNet. Further details are given online
(
http://astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/radionet-transnational-access-programme/radionet-transnational)
. 

R.C. Vermeulen 
Director, International LOFAR Telescope 
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