Call for observing proposals for the Plateau de Bure Interferometer

Conditions for the next summer period

As every year, we plan to carry out extensive technical work during the summer period. Besides the usual maintenance of the antennas we will focus on the completion of the northern track extension should the cable car for the transport of materials become available. Despite these technical activities, we plan to carry out regular scientific observations with at least five antennas during the whole period. The scheduling will take into account the efficiency of the five element array. We expect to achieve a sensitivity and mapping speed comparable to summer 2002 during the coming summer period. Taking these considerations into account, we are confident to be able to schedule about 20 to 30 projects.

We plan to start the maintenance at the latest by the end of May and to schedule two configurations (C and D) between May and October. For observers interested in high-angular resolution studies, we tentatively plan a switch-back to the six element array and move to an extended configuration (B) by the end of October, i.e. before the end of the period.

Conf	Scheduling Order Summer 2003
CD	May - October
B	October - November

We strongly encourage observers to submit proposals that can be executed during the summer period. To keep the procedure as simple as possible, we ask to focus on:

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observations requesting the use of the 3mm receivers

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circumpolar sources or sources transiting at night between June and September,

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observations that qualify for the CD configuration with 5 antennas.

We urge proposers to resubmit B-rated proposals unless they have been explicitely notified of their effective scheduling.

Applications

Details of the PdBI and the observing procedures are given in the document "An Introduction to the IRAM interferometer". A copy can be obtained from the address below or from the web at http://www.iram.fr/IRAMFR/PDB/docu.html. Proposers should read this document carefully before submitting any proposal.

In all cases, indicate on the first page whether your proposal is the resubmission of a proposal or the continuation of a previously accepted proposal. In case of a resubmission, state very briefly in an introductory paragraph (L^ATEX generated header ``Proposal history'') why the proposal is being resubmitted (e.g. improved scientific justification, observational restrictions).

Details on receivers, signal to noise, atmospheric phase compensation, observing modes, data reduction and local contacts have not changed, and can be found in the January 1999 issue of the IRAM Newsletter; details on the correlator can be found in the August 2002 issue.

Configurations

5 antenna configurations
Name	Stations
D	W05 W00 E03 N05 N09
C	W12 W09 E10 N05 N15
B	W12 E18 E23 N13 N20

Part of the projects will have to be scheduled at the end of the summer period when the six-element array is expected to be back in operation. Projects that get observed with four antennas only will be adjusted in uv-coverage and observing time.

The following configuration sets are available:

Set	Main purpose
D	Detection and low resolution mapping
CD	3.5'' resolution at 3mm
BC	2'' resolution at 3 mm

Finally, enter ANY in the proposal form if your project doesn't need any particular configuration.

Archive

Efforts are made in collaboration with the Centre de Données Stellaires (CDS, Strasbourg) to make the data headers available as listings on the web for all projects observed since 1990. The plan for now is to release the header information, not the raw data. The format will be very similar to that provided by the NRAO VLA archiving facility. A first release of the 1990 - 2000 scheduling periods is planned soon, and regular updates will be released thereafter.

To preserve the confidentiality of some information in the data in newly submitted proposals, such as frequencies or coordinates, the principal investigators should indicate on the proposal form which information needs to be kept confidential and for which period of time (max. 1 year).

Roberto NERI