[Everyone] [Lofar-proposals] Call for LOFAR Proposals: Cycle 17

Thu Jul 8 03:50:12 EDT 2021

International LOFAR Telescope 
Proposal Call to the Worldwide Community 

Cycle 17: 01 December 2021 – 31 May 2022 
Submission deadline Wednesday 08 September 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:

Proposals concerning Long-Term science already reviewed following the
March 2021 deadline are not eligible for the present call.

Proposals should request only the available system observing modes and
functionalities described online
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/observing-capabilities-cycle-17/availability-o)
.

WORLD-WIDE ACCESS: Time on the ILT is available to scientists from the
worldwide community. The single-cycle time offered in this call 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. 
SINGLE-CYCLE ONLY: For Cycle 17, only single-cycle proposals are
invited in any supported general-user mode. Single-cycle projects should
achieve their science goals with an allocation only in the upcoming
semester (1 December 2021– 31 May 2022). It is expected that about 590
hours may be allocated, roughly evenly split into priority A and B
(explained below).
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 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-17/lst-availabi)
. Some further limitations due to look-ahead time assigned earlier are
not shown, since the ILT-PC may still tension off the merits of Cycle 17
proposals for that time.

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 ASTRON 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)
. Note the restrictions on functionalities offered in Cycle 17, as
described in this page
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/observing-capabilities-cycle-17/availability-o)
.

PILOT PREFACTOR PROJECT: ASTRON is currently implementing in production
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/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/pilot-prefactor-pipeline-cycle-17/pilot-prefac)
. While Prefactor cannot yet be widely offered in Cycle 17, we will
select a sample of appropriate projects that will be given 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 should clearly indicate that in the
technical justification of their proposals.

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS: 

Proposals should request only the system observing modes and
functionalities described online
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/observing-capabilities-cycle-17/availability-o)
.

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-sdc-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.

ASTRON will explore the possibility for a few users unfamiliar with the
reduction of LOFAR data to come to the institute (or have online
interaction) 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 through the Europe-funded ORP
project. Further details are given online
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/radionet-transnational-access-programme/radionet-transnational)
. 

Dr. R.C. Vermeulen 
Director, International LOFAR Telescope 

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