Continuing Exploitation of the UK Investment in the JCMT
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
We propose that the UK continue to take a significant role in the operation and scientific exploitation of the James Clerk Maxwell telescope (JCMT). We request £200K per annum funding from STFC for a further 3 years from 1st April 2021 to 1st April 2024, which combined with the contributions from the universities will allow us to continue as roughly 20% partners with the East Asian Observatory (EAO), the lead operator, and Canada. The JCMT is the world's largest submm telescope and is likely to remain so until at least 2030. The period for which we now request funding will include the commissioning of new instrumentation, in particular a new camera which will increase the mapping speed of the telescope by at least a factor of 10.
The STFC contribution will allow the UK to continue to play a major role in the Large Programmes currently underway, many of which we are leading, as well as allowing us to initiate new programmes, all at a remarkably low cost. The EAO see the operation of the JCMT as the route to developing the skill base of their own communities via collaboration with the enormous expertise of the UK submm community. It has therefore set aside 50% of the total observing time on the JCMT for large-scale collaborative programmes defined and exploited by joint science teams drawn from all six partner countries. The UK community therefore will gain access to effectively 60% of the total science output of the JCMT at a total cost of £600K over 3 years. As well as producing excellent science, access to the JCMT gives the only direct UK access to the Event Horizon Telescope, with its ability to image the regions immediately around black holes, and the wide-field imaging capability of the JCMT puts UK astronomers in a strong position to leverage time on the Atacama Large Millimetre Array and the James Webb Space Telescope.
The STFC contribution will allow the UK to continue to play a major role in the Large Programmes currently underway, many of which we are leading, as well as allowing us to initiate new programmes, all at a remarkably low cost. The EAO see the operation of the JCMT as the route to developing the skill base of their own communities via collaboration with the enormous expertise of the UK submm community. It has therefore set aside 50% of the total observing time on the JCMT for large-scale collaborative programmes defined and exploited by joint science teams drawn from all six partner countries. The UK community therefore will gain access to effectively 60% of the total science output of the JCMT at a total cost of £600K over 3 years. As well as producing excellent science, access to the JCMT gives the only direct UK access to the Event Horizon Telescope, with its ability to image the regions immediately around black holes, and the wide-field imaging capability of the JCMT puts UK astronomers in a strong position to leverage time on the Atacama Large Millimetre Array and the James Webb Space Telescope.
Planned Impact
The JCMT has a strong history of public outreach, which will continue. The public has a very positive view of astronomy research, and astronomy outreach attracts young people to study STEM subjects at school and university.
Because this is a collaboration with four East Asian countries - China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan - it will enable UK universities and scientists to develop closer ties with scientists and research institutions in these four very strong economies. There are strong opportunities for student exchange, both outward for UK students and inwards for Asian students coming to the UK.
UK PhD students and early-career researchers will have the opportunity of working with cutting-edge technology, both with the hardware at the telescope and with the software used to analyse the data. There is significant opportunity for this training to result in spinout activity in other areas, for example the UK creative industries in the case of software and imaging technology in the case of hardware.
Because this is a collaboration with four East Asian countries - China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan - it will enable UK universities and scientists to develop closer ties with scientists and research institutions in these four very strong economies. There are strong opportunities for student exchange, both outward for UK students and inwards for Asian students coming to the UK.
UK PhD students and early-career researchers will have the opportunity of working with cutting-edge technology, both with the hardware at the telescope and with the software used to analyse the data. There is significant opportunity for this training to result in spinout activity in other areas, for example the UK creative industries in the case of software and imaging technology in the case of hardware.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Stephen Eales (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Arzoumanian D
(2021)
Dust polarized emission observations of NGC 6334 BISTRO reveals the details of the complex but organized magnetic field structure of the high-mass star-forming hub-filament network
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Athikkat-Eknath G
(2022)
Investigating variations in the dust emissivity index in the Andromeda Galaxy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bains W
(2022)
Constraints on the Production of Phosphine by Venusian Volcanoes
in Universe
Bains W
(2021)
Venusian phosphine: a 'Wow!' signal in chemistry?
Bains W
(2022)
Only extraordinary volcanism can explain the presence of parts per billion phosphine on Venus.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Bains W
(2021)
Phosphine on Venus Cannot Be Explained by Conventional Processes.
in Astrobiology
Bains W
(2024)
Source of phosphine on Venus-An unsolved problem
in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Bešlic I
(2024)
The magnetic field in the Flame nebula
Broderick A
(2022)
Characterizing and Mitigating Intraday Variability: Reconstructing Source Structure in Accreting Black Holes with mm-VLBI
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Chen M
(2024)
Relative alignments between magnetic fields, velocity gradients, and dust emission gradients in NGC 1333
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cheng T.
(2023)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: SCUBA-2 overdensities in candidate protoclusters (Cheng+, 2020)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Ching T
(2022)
The JCMT BISTRO-2 Survey: Magnetic Fields of the Massive DR21 Filament
in The Astrophysical Journal
Choi Y
(2024)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: The Magnetic Fields of the IC 348 Star-forming Region
in The Astrophysical Journal
Clements D
(2025)
Polarized dust emission in Arp220: magnetic fields in the core of an ultraluminous infrared Galaxy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Clements D
(2024)
Venus Phosphine: Updates and lessons learned
Collaboration E
(2024)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: M87* EHT image (Event Horizon Tel. Coll.+, 2024)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
De Looze I.
(2023)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: JINGLE IV Dust in the local Universe (De Looze, 2020)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Doi Y
(2021)
Erratum: "The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Magnetic Fields Associated with a Network of Filaments in NGC 1333" (2020, ApJ, 899, 28)
in The Astrophysical Journal
Doi Y
(2021)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Evidence for Pinched Magnetic Fields in Quiescent Filaments of NGC 1333
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Dudzeviciute U.
(2023)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 CLS UDS field (Dudzeviciute+, 2020)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Dye S
(2022)
A high-resolution investigation of the multiphase ISM in a galaxy during the first two billion years
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Eden D
(2024)
A study of Galactic Plane Planck Galactic cold clumps observed by SCOPE and the JCMT Plane Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Eswaraiah C
(2021)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Revealing the Diverse Magnetic Field Morphologies in Taurus Dense Cores with Sensitive Submillimeter Polarimetry
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
(2022)
First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. VI. Testing the Black Hole Metric
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
(2022)
First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
(2022)
First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. EHT and Multiwavelength Observations, Data Processing, and Calibration
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
(2022)
First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Testing Astrophysical Models of the Galactic Center Black Hole
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
(2022)
First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. IV. Variability, Morphology, and Black Hole Mass
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
(2022)
First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. III. Imaging of the Galactic Center Supermassive Black Hole
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Fanciullo L
(2022)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: multiwavelength polarimetry of bright regions in NGC 2071 in the far-infrared/submillimetre range, with POL-2 and HAWC+
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fiorellino E.
(2023)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: Dense cores in the Serpens region from HGBS (Fiorellino+, 2021)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Fleming G
(2023)
Stellar clustering and the kinematics of stars around Collinder 121 using Gaia DR3
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gao ? Z
(2024)
SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey (STUDIES). V. Confusion-limited Submillimeter Galaxy Number Counts at 450 µm and Data Release for the COSMOS Field
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gao Y
(2025)
The First Exploration of the Correlations Between WISE 12 µm and CO Emission in Early-type Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Garratt T
(2023)
The SCUBA-2 Large eXtragalactic Survey: 850µm map, catalogue and the bright-end number counts of the XMM- LSS field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Goddi C
(2021)
Polarimetric Properties of Event Horizon Telescope Targets from ALMA
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Graves S
(2024)
The JCMT Legacy Release: SCUBA-2 850 µm Coadds and Catalogs
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Greaves J
(2023)
Comment on "Phosphine in the Venusian Atmosphere: A Strict Upper Limit From SOFIA GREAT Observations" by Cordiner et al.
in Geophysical Research Letters
Greaves J
(2022)
Recovering Phosphine in Venus' Atmosphere from SOFIA Observations
Greaves J. S.
(2022)
Venus as a Benchmark for Searching for Biosignatures on Extrasolar Planets
in Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2
Greaves J. S.
(2021)
Update on Phosphine in Venus' Atmosphere
in Venera-D: Venus Cloud Habitability System Workshop
Greaves Jane
(2022)
Venus mysterious clouds: phosphine and other gases
in American Astronomical Society Meeting #240
Gu ? Q
(2024)
The Magnetic Field in Quiescent Star-forming Filament G16.96+0.27
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gupta A
(2022)
Effects of Magnetic Field Orientations in Dense Cores on Gas Kinematics in Protostellar Envelopes
in The Astrophysical Journal