[Everyone] [Lofar-proposals] Call for LOFAR Proposals Cycle 13

Thu Jul 4 09:41:27 EDT 2019

International LOFAR Telescope 
Proposal Call to the Worldwide Community 
Cycle 13: 1 December 2019 - 31 May 2020  
Submission deadline Wednesday 11 September 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
(
https://old.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
December 2019 – 31 May 2020). 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 International LOFAR Telescope (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
(
https://old.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.
OBSERVING TIME, PROCESSING, AND DATA RIGHTS: Allocations will consist
of observing time, as described above and detailed online
(
https://old.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
13, there will be 700 observing hours, 1200 processing hours and 1.8 PB
of archive storage available. Of the 700 observing hours available, up
to 500 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
(
https://old.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://old.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. 
PRIORITISED 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 in the target list. In case only a partial
allocation can be made, the ILT-PC may decide, based on its scientific
assessment, to deviate from the proposed priorities, but these must
anyway be clear in advance.
SYSTEM CAPABILITIES: The 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
(
https://old.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
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/lofar-system-capabilities/responsive-telescope/responsive-telescope)
should get in contact with Science Operations & Support through the
Radio Observatory helpdesk system
(
https://old.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. Details about this pipeline,
including its performance, are given online
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/lofar-system-capabilities/major-observing-modes/interferometric-mode/processing--3)
. Commissioning of Prefactor in the operational system is in an advanced
stage of completion. While Prefactor cannot yet be widely offered in
Cycle 13, the Radio Observatory will select a sample of appropriate
projects that will be offered the opportunity to obtain data products
processed through this pipeline. In this respect, PIs who are interested
in taking advantage of this option for the reduction of their data in
the operational system should clearly indicate that in their proposals. 

CO-OBSERVING WITH THE SURVEYS KSP PROGRAMME: The ILT encourages
co-observing and co-processing of data for the Surveys KSP team and the
PIs of standalone Cycle proposals requiring targeted imaging. By
utilising the multi-beam capability of LOFAR, some Surveys KSP Tier-1
pointings could be observed alongside other science targets, maximising
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
(
https://old.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
(
https://old.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 solicited 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
requested to verify the (current or forthcoming) availability of Survey
Tier 1 data for their targets at HYPERLINK
"https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team"this
page
(
https://old.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
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/radionet-transnational-access-programme/radionet-transnational)
.

R.C. Vermeulen 
Director, International LOFAR Telescope 

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