[Everyone] [Lofar-proposals] LOFAR proposal call: Long-Term (LAST opportunity) and Single-Cycle

Fri Jan 22 03:35:28 EST 2021

International LOFAR Telescope
Proposal Call to the Worldwide Community 

LONG-TERM: 01 June 2021 – 31 May 2023 
AND 
Cycle 16: 01 June 2021 – 30 November 2021 

Submission deadline Wednesday 03 March 2021, 12 UT

		  Submission only via the online tool NorthStar
( https://lofar.astron.nl/proposal) .  

		  ** Proposers must ensure 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)
. ** 
		  NOTE: 
This call represents thelast long-term opportunityfor users to propose
observations with the LOFAR1 system before its upgrade to LOFAR2.0. 

Follow-up proposals concerning Long-Term science already reviewed at
this round cannot be submitted for future Cycles during the same
long-term period.

WORLD-WIDE ACCESS: Time on the ILT is available to scientists from the
worldwide community. All of the Long-term time is allocated by the
ILT-PC through Open Skies rules and endorsed by the ILT Board, while the
single-cycle time is allocated in tandem between National Consortia and
the ILT-PC. Scientific excellence and breadth as well as the technical
strength of the proposals are taken along in the evaluations. The ILT-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.

LONG-TERM PROPOSALS: Alast opportunity is offered to propose for the
use of LOFAR1 functionality in Long-Term (4-semester cycles) observing
projects. Proposals covering the period 01 June 2021 to 31 May 2023
(Cycles 16 through 19) may either request to initiate fully new
projects, or request to augment and/or extend Long-Term allocations
already obtained in Cycles 16 and 17; in any case a full science and
technical justification is required.

All remaining LOFAR1 Long-Term time will be allocated entirely from
proposals in response to the present call; no further Long-Term call is
foreseen. About5900 hours of Long-Term may be allocated, of which about
3600 hours will be assigned now as Priority A (explained below).
Indicative look-ahead allocations will cover roughly a further 2300
hours; in future semesters these hours can be either confirmed (probably
as priority B), or reassigned to other projects, when the ILT-PC
tensions off the demands in its full portfolio (that will successively
include new single-cycle proposals and progress reports). The final
availability in 2023 is the most uncertain, as it relates to the start
of the LOFAR2.0 upgrade. 

While there are no explicit limits, the Long-Term queue is intended for
proposals that either require a more substantial amount of observing
time than can realistically be allocated within one semester cycle, or
that demonstrate that the observing has an intrinsic long-term or
persistent nature.

Long-Term projects must adopt the system observing modes and
functionalities as they will become available during the next four
cycles (see description online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/observing-capabilities-cycle-16-19/availabilit)
). In particular, some observing modes will initially be offered with a
limited set of functionalities. Proposers should take this into account
when planning their projects.  

Projects that do not qualify for Long-Term status may be proposed
successively for each semester cycle, provided that the appropriate
observing functionality has been advertised.
Follow-up proposals concerning Long-Term science already reviewed
cannot be submitted in answer to the future calls within this long-term
period.

Proposers are strongly encouraged to seek timely advice in case of
questions regarding the eligibility for Long-Term status of their
intended project. Proposers can contact the Science Data Center
Operations group through the JIRA helpdesk
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/submit-support-request/jira-ro-helpdesk-ticketing-system)
.

SINGLE-CYCLE PROPOSALS: In addition, this call more traditionally
covers all of the further observing time that will be available within
the single semester Cycle 16, 01 June – 30 November 2021. It is expected
that about 590 hours may be allocated in Priority A (explained below),
while additional priority B time may be considered by the ILT-PC in
competition with Long-Term allocations. 

The list of available Cycle 16 functionality is available online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/observing-capabilities-cycle-16-19/availabilit)
.

PRIORITY CLASSES: Due to ongoing upgrade work, system availability and
stability will vary with time. The ILT-PC will classify observing
allocations as A and/or B priority time. Allocations in A priority will
have a high likelihood to yield a successful observation in the period
concerned; in case such an observation suffers substantial failures, it
will be repeated (once) at a later date. Allocations in priority B will
likely be realized partially; they are carried out on a best-efforts
basis, where the total of all priority B allocations requires an
optimistic availability scenario.

LST AND RESOURCE AVAILABILITY:The availability of observing time as a
function of LST after taking into account the already active long-term
projects is presented online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/lst-availability-during-cycles-16-and-17/lst-a)
. 

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. Required
support for the proposed projects is taken into account during
allocation. An online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/support-load-instructions/support-load-instruc)
 tool is available to understand whether a proposal entails a low,
medium, or high support load of the observatory staff. During the
allocation process, the ILT-PC will be advised about the amounts of
support effort requested and available, and these will be used as
boundary conditions for proposal allocations; support will be treated as
a scarce resource in the same way as has become customary on LOFAR for
processing and data storage resources. Advice is available online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/support-load-instructions/support-load-instruc)
 on how proposers can reduce the support load of their project by a
prudent choice of observing mode. The proposal may also indicate that
the support will be carried out by members of the proposing team; in
that case, both the expertise and the work plan must be carefully argued
in the proposal. 

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)
. 

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS: 

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). If the stated minimum time or
other requirements cannot be allocated, the proposal will not be carried
out at all. 

When preparing the proposal, please take into account proper ordering
of the target list (see details online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/target-list-order/target-list-order)
) and check if any data is already available in the LOFAR Long Term
Archive
( https://lta.lofar.eu/) . 

For standard HBA and LBA imaging, the possibility is offered of
co-observing with the LOFAR Survey project (see details here
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team)
 for HBA and here
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/lba-co-observing-strategy/lba-co-observing-str)
 for LBA). 

OBTAINING ADVICE: In view of the novel and evolving character of the
ILT, proposers are strongly urged to get in contact with Science Data
Center Operations at ASTRON through the JIRA helpdesk
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/submit-support-request/jira-ro-helpdesk-ticketing-system)
 well ahead of the deadline. Novice groups may wish to seek or request
to be connected to suitable collaborators, and should also consider
keeping the scope of initial projects modest while they become familiar
with the complexities of data handling and analysis.

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 ASTRON 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)
. 

René Vermeulen 
Director, International LOFAR Telescope 

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