ALMA Science Advisory Committee Telecon, 2003-07-02 (Wednesday), 1430-1540 UT Draft minutes Attendees Jean Turner Christine Wilson Lee Mundy Ewine van Dishoeck Pierre Cox John Richer Leonardo Testi Peter Schilke Diego Mardones (second half only) Munetake Momose Satoshi Yamamoto Massimo Tarenghi Al Wootten Tetsuo Hasegawa Apologies Chris Carilli Old Business (1) Minutes of the June Telecon After correcting two minor errors (mis-spelt name, and wrong date of European Board meeting), these were accepted. Actions from June meeting: ACTION-1: JSR/EvD to distribute ESAC agenda done ACTION-2: JR to continue to seek clarification of ASAC report dissemination policy. Awaiting response from Board ACTION-3: JR to consider possible memos to be extracted from past ASAC reports One memo on stringency currently being prepared by JR. Whether to memo-ise the document on ALMA enhancements was discussed: on balance it was felt that although this document deserved wide distribution, it would not sit happily in the memo series. ACTION-4: JR to ask if AMAC report can be circulated to ASAC. Awaiting response from Board. ACTION-5: JR to fix and circulate face to face meeting date Done: 5/6 September. ACTION-6: ALL members to suggest potential charges to JR None received. Done. ACTION-7: JR to work with SG to submit draft charges for Board Done. (2) ALMA Calendar for information * 3 July ALMA Board Telecon * 5-6 September ASAC Meeting Hamilton, Ontario, Canada * 13 October AMAC Meeting proposed, Europe * 2-3 November ALMA Board, Santiago * 6 November ALMA Groundbreaking * First Week December (tentative) ALMA Week, Europe New Business 1) Welcome/introduction to 'new' ASAC members JR stated that the 'new' European members had been elected by the ESAC: John Richer, Ewine van Dishoeck, Pierre Cox, Peter Schilke, and Leonardo Testi. JR especially welcomed Leonardo to the ASAC. Formally the EU members need to be approved by ESO, but we will proceed on the assumption that this will proceed without problems. JR also will write to Rafael Bachiller who has left the ASAC to thank him for his service over the past 3 years. ACTION-1: JR to write to thank Rafael on behalf of the ASAC. 2) Discussion of ASAC Liaisons to various IPT areas JR outlined the previous liaison scheme, and discussed new liaisons for the various IPTs. Proposed liaisons allocations were discussed, and EvD suggested we should have two per area. JR asked for self nominations. A list of liaisons will be circulated separately from these minutes. ACTION-2 JR to finalise liaisons by email. 3)Project Update from JAO (Guilloteau) SG, whose tenure as ALMA Interim Project Scientist ended on 2003-06-30, could not attend the telecon, but sent in a helpful email report: - Full authorization to get ALMA started (ESO - Chile agreement) - Continuing progress towards an agreement with Japan - ALMA Board teleconf planned for July 3rd to include: - recommendations from the "Key personnel" search committee should be discussed. - actions towards Japan to be discussed - ASAC Charges for next meeting should be discussed Stephane noted "On the latter item, it may be prudent to start considering potential science losses if - the calibration accuracy had to be relaxed by a factor 2-3 - the stability requirements would not be reached" AW noted that Canada and the US had now signed an agreement on ALMA (2003 June 16). Also, France had recently now lifted its "ad referendum" vote on ALMA, so now ALMA is unanimously approved within ESO. TH noted that in Japan, the 1st official negotiation team meeting had taken place last Monday in Tokyo. This was an encouraging meeting, and a few more meetings are needed to achieve convergence. MT noted that Bienes Nacionales have arranged for a celebration in San Pedro to mark the start of ALMA, involving the President of Chile, on July 16th. At the ATF, the holography receiver has completed its work on the Vertex antenna, and is now to be removed for subsequent installation at the Alcatel antenna. Alcatel still expect delivery near the end of August. 4)Report from European SAC - (van Dishoeck) EvD outlined the main items discussed at the ESAC. 9 of 10 european national representatives had attended, as well as Massimo Tarenghi and Catherine Cesarsky which had been extremely helpful to the ESAC's work. Richard Hills is the current ESAC member serving as liaison to the ESO Scientific and Technical Committee (STC). The ESAC discussed its own Terms of Reference which can be made available to ASAC members if interested. The EU Regional Support Centre status was discussed: the proposed plan at ESO is now that Garching will form the nucleus of the EU RSC. The other major item was discussion of plans for a European Framework 6 proposal to support European ALMA development. 5)Report from ANASAC - (Wootten) AW reported on the ANASAC. ANASAC had been asked by the NRAO Director to consider plans for the US "Regional Science Centre" - note the different name from the EU RSC and the Project Plan. A Face to Face meeting will discuss the NA RSC on 25 August 2003. In response to questions about the name, AW said that Lo termed this centre the ALMA science centre, and would be modelled on StSCI lines. Massimo Tarenghi commented that he had no objection to changing the name but the proper change control procedure needed to be followed. LM asked if the ANASAC can be given the ASAC charges for discussion. JR replied that yes, the ESAC and the ANASAC must be given the charges when available so they can do their work. 6)Next face to face meeting plans This is fixed for September 5 and 6, 2003 (Friday and Saturday) in Hamilton, Ontario. CW will arrange logistics and send an email to the ASAC. The Canadian Open Golf tournament (sic.) makes this a busy time, so early hotel booking is a priority. ACTION-3: CW to circulate logistics details for meeting. ACTION-4: EVERYONE - make travel arrangements! Charges are to be discussed at the Board telecon of July 3rd. The draft in front of the Board is: 1) Calibration and Receiver Specifications. The ASAC should consider the scientific impact of failing to meet the current amplitude calibration goals (1%/3% below/above 300GHz), or the specifications on total power stability (which are currently 10^-4 over 1 second, 3 10^-3 over 5 minutes, 5 10^-4 over 5 minutes (differential gain of two polarizations). 2) The ASAC is invited to comment on the plans for and draft of the ALMA Design Reference Science Plan, and consider its usefulness, completeness and the level of detail it contains. 3) The ASAC is asked to comment on the draft Operations plan, and on any particular issues from the Operations Working Group communicated via the Project Scientist. 4) The ASAC is asked to comment on the opportunity to allow P.I.instruments on the ALMA telescope. MT noted that draft charge (4) relates to how to handle visitor style instruments, e.g. testing a few receiver cartidges on a subset of antennas. MT stated any last minute inputs from the ASAC to the Board were welcome. PC noted the short timescale for the ASAC preparation. JR agreed, especially given the IAU in July and summer holiday plans. JR will circulate a workplan once the charges are known. ACTION-5: JR to circulate charges and workplan. 7)Design Reference Science Plan (Wootten, van Dishoeck) EvD introduced this paper: for the ASAC the most important input may be considering it for scientific balance and completeness. This will most likely form part of the ASAC charges. 8)Science IPT report (Wootten, van Dishoeck) * status of configuration -- Inner configurations accepted; outer plan due end of June; move sequence draft available. * Calibration summary - see Bryan's web page * Current List of Level 2 Milestones for Science IPT * ALMA Science Requirements document under construction provides a succinct flowdown from the Project Plan; Preface to Engineering Requirements; document nearing completion. * Public Relations. New images, a new movie, display at IAU, new brochures all to debut shortly. MT stated that AW now leads the Science IPT. He also asked for the status of the many Science IPT milestones with a due date of 30 June 2003. AW stated that most of these had been achieved. 9) AOB There was none. 10) Date of next meeting - 6 August 2003, 1430 UT CW asked for telecons in the autumn to be rescheduled due to teaching conflicts. It was suggested to discuss this at the face to face meeting in September; until then the usual schedule will apply. ACTION-6: discuss telecon times at face to face meeting. JR 2003-07-08