Proposals for IRAM Telescopes

The next deadline for submission of observing proposals on IRAM telescopes, both for the interferometer and the 30m, is

September 11th, 2003, 17:00 MEST (UT + 2 hours)

The scheduling period extends from 15 November 2003 to 15 May 2004, covering roughly the winter period at our observatories.

Proposals are submitted through our web-based submission facility. Instructions are found on our web page at URL:

http://www.iram.fr/GENERAL/
submission/submission.html

The submission facility will be opened about three weeks before the proposal deadline. Proposal form pages and the 30m time estimator are available now.

Please avoid last minute submissions when the network could temporarily be congested. As an insurance against network congestion or failure, we still accept, in well justified cases, proposals submitted by:

• fax to number: (33/0) 476 42 54 69 or by
• ordinary mail addressed to:
  IRAM Scientific Secretariat,
  300, rue de la Piscine,
  F-38406 St. Martin d'Hères, France

Proposals sent by e-mail are not accepted. Proposals containing grey scale plots should exclusively be submitted through the web facility in order to avoid deterioration of image quality in the copying. Color plots will be printed/copied in grey scale. If the proposers want their color plots to be passed on to the program committee, the entire proposal must be sent in by ordinary mail in 12 copies.

Soon after the deadline the IRAM Scientific Secretariat sends an acknowledgement of receipt to the Principal Investigator of each proposal correctly received, together with the proposal registration number. To avoid the allocation of several numbers for the same proposal, send in your proposal only once. Note that the web facility allows cancellation and modification of proposals before the deadline. The facility also allows to view the proposal in its final form as it appears after re-compilation at IRAM. We urge proposers to make use of this facility as we always receive a number of proposals with formal defects (figures missing, blank pages, etc.).

Valid proposals contain the official cover page, up to two pages of text describing the scientific aims, and up to two more pages of figures, tables, and references. Proposals should not exceed these 5 pages of scientific material. Excepting the technical pages for the interferometer, longer proposals will be cut.

Proposals should be self-explanatory, clearly state the aims, and explain the need of the requested IRAM telescope. The amount of time requested should be carefully justified (see below).

The cover page, in postscript or in L^ATEX format, and the L^ATEX style file proposal.sty may be obtained from the IRAM web pages¹ at URL ./GENERAL/submission/proposal.html. In case of problems, contact the secretary, Cathy Berjaud (e-mail: berjaud@iram.fr). Please, make sure that your proposals use the current form pages. This is particularly important at the current deadline, since the style file has been modified at a number of places for facilitating a detailed computerized handling of the proposals.

In all cases, indicate on the cover page whether your proposal is (or is not) a resubmission of a previously rejected proposal or a continuation of a previously accepted proposal. In both cases we request that the proposers describe very briefly in the introductory paragraph (automatically generated header ``Proposal history:'') why the proposal is being resubmitted (e.g. improved scientific justification) or is proposed to be continued (e.g. last observations wiped out by bad weather).

Do not use characters smaller than 11pt. They could render your proposal illegible when copied or faxed. If we notice any formal problems sufficiently before the deadline, we will try to contact the principal investigator and solve the problem together.

VLBI observations are possible with both IRAM telescopes. All available dishes of the interferometer are then used as a fully phased array. The IRAM telescopes are expected to participate occasionally in global and regional 3mm VLBI sessions. Instructions for submission of global 3mm VLBI proposals are given in a separate section below.

VLBI experiments at shorter wavelengths are also envisaged with the IRAM telescopes, possibly in cooperation with other telescopes. The organizational context of these VLBI observations ($\lambda<3$mm and regional 3mm) is presently being explored. Such observations are carried out on an experimental basis. Interested astronomers should contact M. Bremer.

Roberto NERI, Clemens THUM