BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 5 November 2007 - 19 November 2007 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* Announcement from the ALMA Board At its meeting on the 30th and 31st October, the ALMA Board agreed not to extend the appointment of the current Director, Massimo Tarenghi, beyond the 31st March 2008 on completion of five years in the post. The Board thanks Massimo for the many contributions he has made to the project and wishes him well for the future. Without his energy and enthusiasm for ALMA, the outstanding achievements of the project to date would have been far more difficult to achieve. The Board will initiate a search for a new Director in the very near future. --------------------------------------------------------------------- From this observer's perspective, Massimo's indefatigable embrace of all things ALMA has certainly sparked my own enthusiasm. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Please be informed that the strike affecting the Chilean Customs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs finished 22 Nov night. No ALMA shipment has been affected by this event. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- An Earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck northeast of Antafagasta on the morning of 14 November; no damage was reported at the ALMA site. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html See also the JAO ALMA Calendar overview at: http://www.alma.cl/alma_project *************************************************************************** General Happenings Photos of activity may be found at: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html Sky: Mars is near opposition. SCO (Santiago Central Office): Richard Hills has relocated to Santiago to take up Project Scientist duties. A final report from the ALMA Annual External Review Committee was received. A Production Workshop will be held in Charlottesville 13-15 November. Planning for moving some personnel to the adjacent Alsacia building is in the final stages. Brian Hoff (ME), Masato Ishiguro (Scientist) and Lewis Knee (Scientist) started work in the Assembly Inetgration and Verification (AIV) group last biweek. AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): ESO Finance Council approved signing of a contract to construct the antenna foundations at the AOS; the contract was signed. A preliminary description of the present design of the extended array is available at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/2007-Nov-20Holdawaywriteup.pdf. AOS Technical Building oxygen generation, UPS power and electrical installations have been tested and approved. Construction of the Transporter Hangar continues. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are 449 people working at the ALMA site. Construction of stages 3 and 4 of the ALMA Camp extension has commenced. Work continues on a sixth antenna pad at the VertexRSI Site Erection Facility (SEF) and on five pads at the Alcatel/EIE/Mann SEF. Work on the Technical Buildings continues on schedule. A Virtual Reality view from 2007 Oct 31 may be viewed at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/OSF31Oct2007vra.mov Holography testing of the first antenna of the Mitsubishi Electric Co. (MElCo) continues (three are on site); optical pointing has established a pointing model. Mounting of the backup structure of the second VertexRSI antenna to the mount structure is scheduled to occur. Pedestal components for VertexRSI antenna No 3 should ship before Thanksgiving. MElCo antenna number four shipped for Chile from Japan at 2007 Oct 30 6am. The Atacama Compact Array Correlator arrived in Chile 2007 Oct 30. ATF: Repair of the Vertex prototype antenna quadripod structure was accomplished. During repair, activities centered on improving pointing model for the AEM antenna. NTC (NRAO Technology Center): A beam pointing hysteresis effect was tentatively traced to loose screws in the beam scanner. The first 6 Fiber Stretcher Assemblies (FSA) used in the Photonic LO Line Length Corrector (LLC) have arrived in Charlottesville and will now undergo acceptance testing. The new 2-antenna correlator (destined for the OSF) is on schedule. Installation of all fans, panels, and permanent wiring is finished. PAI of Tunable Filter Board cards required for the 2nd Quadrant of the Correlator successfully passed. HIA: PAI (Provisional Acceptance In-House) review meeting for the fifth Band 3 cold cartridge assembly (SN04) was held on Oct 24. NAASC: A new electronic ALMA Newsletter was distributed by NAASC. CASA software in Limited Beta Release. A calendar of NAASC events may be found at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/calendar/calendar.php *************************************************************************** DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar Sun 4 Nov - Mon 5 Nov - 4:00PM: ATF telecon Tue 6 Nov - 10:30AM: JAO/IPT telecon Wed 7 Nov - Thu 8 Nov - Fri 9 Nov - Sat 10 Nov - Sun 11 Nov - Mon 12 Nov - Veteran's Day Holiday (NRAO) Tue 13 Nov - ALMA Production Workshop, CV Wed 14 Nov - ALMA Production Workshop, CV EPO Working Group Meeting, SCO Thu 15 Nov - ALMA Production Workshop, CV EPO Working Group Meeting, SCO Fri 16 Nov - EPO Working Group Meeting, SCO Sat 17 Nov - Sun 18 Nov - Mon 19 Nov - 4:00PM: ATF telecon ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ************************* Nov 1-2 AMAC Review San Pedro Nov 13-15 Production Workshop Cville-ER Dec 6 Front End Test Readiness Revies Cville NTC Jan 23-24 Nutator CDR ASIAA ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ************************* Memo # 573 has been approved and posted. Title: Limits on Phase Correction Performance Due to Differences Between Astronomical and Water-Vapour Radiometer Beams Authors: B. Nikolic, R. E. Hills and J. S. Richer Using high-resolution three-dimensional realisations of turbulent fields, we investigate the limits on achievable performance of atmospheric phase correction using water-vapour radiometers arising from following effects: the incoherent measurement of power from water by the radiometers (in contrast to coherent detection of the astronomical signal); the different tapers of the response patterns of the astronomical and radiometer receivers; and, the differences in the directions of the radiometer and astronomical beams. We quantify the limit on performance as the fraction of atmospheric phase fluctuations that is not tracked by the radiometers. We find that, for parameters relevant for ALMA, the performance in high-frequency bands will be limited in approximately equal parts by the two effects, i.e., the differences due the incoherent vs coherent processes measured by the two receivers, together with their different tapers, and the angular displacements of the beams. For the lower frequency bands, the angular displacements of the beams becomes the dominant source of error. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #573 at: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma573/memo573.pdf *****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*************************** The Cosmic Agitator - Magnetic Fields in the Galaxy 60 years of studies of the interstellar magnetic field 2008 March 26-29 Lexington. The magnetic field of the galaxy was discovered in observations made in 1948. Since that time, the galactic magnetic field has challenged (and often annoyed) observers and theorists alike. This meeting will celebrate sixty years of studies of the interstellar magnetic field, a field ALMA's transformational capabilities will revolutionize. See http://thunder.pa.uky.edu/magnetic/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenure Track Astronomers REQ NO: CV3631 SUMMARY: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites outstanding applicants for one or more tenure-track astronomer positions, especially in the areas of time-domain astronomy, solar system research, exo-planets, Epoch of Re-ionization, structure formation, Dark Energy and Dark Matter. Candidates will be selected on both the basis of excellence in research and on their ability to further the mission of the Observatory. URL below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Assistant Scientist (CASA) REQ NO: CV3682 SUMMARY: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites applications for an astronomer, software engineer, or physicist with experience in astronomical data processing to develop data reduction software for the Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA). The Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) package is written primarily in C++ under a Python wrapper (for more information on CASA, see http://casa.nrao.edu/). This is an NRAO Scientist position, with 25% of time available to pursue independent research. The position will be based in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, at the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jansky fellows (2008) REQ NO: CV3455 SUMMARY: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) announces the 2008 postdoctoral Jansky Fellowship program that provides outstanding opportunities for research in astronomy. Jansky Fellows formulate and carry out investigations either independently or in collaboration with others within the wide framework of interests of the Observatory. Prior radio experience is not required and multi-wavelength projects leading to a synergy with NRAO instruments are encouraged. The NRAO also encourages applications from candidates with interest in radio astronomy instrumentation, computation, and theory. See URL below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jobs for scientists interested in working on the commissioning of ALMA are available at both ESO and NRAO. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory invites applications for an ALMA Commissioning Scientist position. This position is assigned to the ALMA project with operational duties in Chile. The role of the ALMA Commissioning Scientist will be to assist the Project Scientist and the Deputy Project Scientist in planning and executing the scientific commissioning of ALMA. We invite applications for one or more Assistant Scientist positions in the NAASC. The primary responsibility of the successful candidates initially is to participate in ALMA Commissioning and Science Verification (CSV). http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml For ESO jobs please see: https://jobs.eso.org/ESOCP370/default.asp?PageNo=DEFAULT For ALMA jobs please see: http://www.alma.cl/jobops/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Applications are invited for Submillimeter Array (SMA) Postdoctoral Fellowships starting in fall 2008. These positions are aimed chiefly at research in submillimeter astronomy, and the successful candidates are expected to propose and participate in science observations with the SMA. See http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/opportunities/fellowships/sma/ Please direct questions to smapostdoc@cfa.harvard.edu. Online applications are due December 15, 2007. *************************************************************************** Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail (jneighbo at nrao.edu or awootten at nrao.edu). The calendar will be issued between late Friday and sometime on Monday by e-mail to all NRAO scientific staff members and anyone else interested. A specific mailing list, alma-info, has been created for anyone wishing to receive it. Past issues are available at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html