Proposals for IRAM Telescopes

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

March 3rd, 2003 17:00h (MET)(UT + 1 hour)

The scheduling period extends from May 15, 2003 to Nov 15, 2003, covering roughly the summer 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. Form pages and proposal preparation tools 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, any 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 estimated and justified (see below).

The cover page, in postscript or in LaTeX format, may be obtained by anonymous ftp from iram.fr in directory dist/proposal, as well as a Latex style file proposal.sty; or from the IRAM web page at URL http://www.iram.fr/GENERAL/submission/proposal.html. In case of problems, contact the secretary, Cathy Berjaud (e-mail: berjaud@iram.fr). Do not use characters smaller than 11pt. This could render your proposal illegible when copied or faxed. If we notice any formal problems sufficiently before the deadline, we will make an effort to contact the principal investigator and solve the problem together.

VLBI observations are now possible with both IRAM telescopes. At present, it is planned to allocate up to 14 days per year to this observing mode in which the PdB interferometer will operate as a phased array, thereby significantly improving the sensitivity as compared to previous experiments.

While IRAM has so far participated in observations at 3, 2 (PV only) and 1.3mm mostly on an experimental basis in order to demonstrate the feasibility of VLBI at these wavelengths, the participating institutes will set up during the next few months a framework that will allow the coordination of 3mm experiments amongst the interested European institutes (e.g. MPIfR, Onsala, IRAM) and with the NRAO for the VLBA. It is expected that there will be joint calls for proposals with commonly agreed deadlines and rules to be followed.

We will disseminate such information as soon as it becomes available. Scientists interested in VLBI observations at 3mm are invited to contact Michael BREMER (bremer@iram.fr) for details.

Roberto NERI and Clemens THUM