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
Xu F
(2024)
On the Scarcity of Dense Cores (n > 10 5 cm -3 ) in High-latitude Planck Galactic Cold Clumps
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Wielgus M
(2022)
Millimeter Light Curves of Sagittarius A* Observed during the 2017 Event Horizon Telescope Campaign
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Ward-Thompson Derek
(2023)
First BISTRO observations of the dark cloud Taurus L1495A-B10: the role of the magnetic field in the earliest stages of low-mass star formation
in arXiv e-prints
Ward-Thompson D
(2023)
First BISTRO Observations of the Dark Cloud Taurus L1495A-B10: The Role of the Magnetic Field in the Earliest Stages of Low-mass Star Formation
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ward B
(2022)
Herschel-ATLAS Data Release III: near-infrared counterparts in the South Galactic Pole field - another 100 000 submillimetre galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Urquhart S
(2022)
The bright extragalactic ALMA redshift survey (BEARS) I: redshifts of bright gravitationally lensed galaxies from the Herschel ATLAS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Torne P
(2023)
A Search for Pulsars around Sgr A* in the First Event Horizon Telescope Data Set
in The Astrophysical Journal
Tahani M
(2023)
JCMT BISTRO Observations: Magnetic Field Morphology of Bubbles Associated with NGC 6334
in The Astrophysical Journal
Stach S
(2021)
An ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey UKIDSS/UDS field: halo masses for submillimetre galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smith M
(2021)
The HASHTAG Project: The First Submillimeter Images of the Andromeda Galaxy from the Ground
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Simpson J. M.
(2021)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: S2COSMOS: bright SCUBA-2 submm sources in COSMOS (Simpson+, 2019)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Shirley R
(2021)
HELP: the Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Scicluna P
(2022)
The Nearby Evolved Stars Survey II: Constructing a volume-limited sample and first results from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Scholte D
(2023)
Cold gas mass measurements for the era of large optical spectroscopic surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Satapathy K
(2022)
The Variability of the Black Hole Image in M87 at the Dynamical Timescale
in The Astrophysical Journal
Saintonge A
(2022)
The Cold Interstellar Medium of Galaxies in the Local Universe
in Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Rumble D
(2021)
The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: radiative heating by OB stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Roelofs F
(2023)
Polarimetric Geometric Modeling for mm-VLBI Observations of Black Holes
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Relaño M
(2022)
Dust grain size evolution in local galaxies: a comparison between observations and simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Prather B
(2023)
Comparison of Polarized Radiative Transfer Codes Used by the EHT Collaboration
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pattle K.
(2023)
Magnetic Fields in Star Formation: from Clouds to Cores
in Protostars and Planets VII
Pattle K
(2021)
Submillimetre observations of the two-component magnetic field in M82
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pattle K
(2023)
The JCMT nearby galaxies legacy survey: SCUBA-2 observations of nearby galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Paraschos G
(2024)
Ordered magnetic fields around the 3C 84 central black hole
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Narayan R
(2021)
The Polarized Image of a Synchrotron-emitting Ring of Gas Orbiting a Black Hole
in The Astrophysical Journal
Maresca J
(2022)
Modelling high-resolution ALMA observations of strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies detected by Herschel
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lyo A
(2021)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: An 850/450 µm Polarization Study of NGC 2071IR in Orion B
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lovell C
(2021)
Reproducing submillimetre galaxy number counts with cosmological hydrodynamic simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lin S
(2024)
Magnetic Fields of the Starless Core L 1512
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lee Y
(2021)
The JCMT Transient Survey: Four-year Summary of Monitoring the Submillimeter Variability of Protostars
in The Astrophysical Journal
Könyves V
(2023)
A low-mass hub-filament with double centre revealed in NGC 2071-North
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Könyves V
(2021)
The JCMT BISTRO-2 Survey: The Magnetic Field in the Center of the Rosette Molecular Cloud
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kwon W
(2022)
B-fields in Star-forming Region Observations (BISTRO): Magnetic Fields in the Filamentary Structures of Serpens Main
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kocherlakota P
(2021)
Constraints on black-hole charges with the 2017 EHT observations of M87*
in Physical Review D
Karoly J
(2023)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Studying the Complex Magnetic Field of L43
in The Astrophysical Journal
Jorstad S
(2023)
The Event Horizon Telescope Image of the Quasar NRAO 530
in The Astrophysical Journal
Janssen M
(2021)
Event Horizon Telescope observations of the jet launching and collimation in Centaurus A
in Nature Astronomy
Issaoun S
(2022)
Resolving the Inner Parsec of the Blazar J1924-2914 with the Event Horizon Telescope
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hwang J
(2021)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: The Distribution of Magnetic Field Strengths toward the OMC-1 Region
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hwang J
(2022)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: A Spiral Magnetic Field in a Hub-filament Structure, Monoceros R2
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hwang J
(2023)
Magnetic Fields in the Horsehead Nebula
in The Astronomical Journal
Hagimoto M.
(2023)
Bright Extragalactic ALMA Redshift Survey (BEARS) III: Detailed study of emission lines from 71 Herschel targets
in arXiv e-prints
Hagedorn B.
(2024)
Molecular gas scaling relations for local star forming galaxies in the low-$M_*$ regime
in arXiv e-prints
Gupta A
(2022)
Effects of Magnetic Field Orientations in Dense Cores on Gas Kinematics in Protostellar Envelopes
in The Astrophysical Journal
Greaves Jane S.
(2022)
Recovering Phosphine in Venus' Atmosphere from SOFIA Observations
in arXiv e-prints
Greaves Jane
(2022)
Venus mysterious clouds: phosphine and other gases
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
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