ALMA Science Advisory Committee
Teleconference, 14 March 2001
Draft Minutes
Participants: R. Bachiller, A. Benz, G. Blake, R. Booth, R. Brown, Y. Chikada, P. Cox, D. Emerson, N. Evans, S. Guilloteau, M. Gurwell, T. Hasagawa, M. Ishiguro, R. Kawabe, R. Kurz, K. Menten, M. Momose, N. Nakai, J. Richer, N. Scoville, P. Shaver, E. van Dishoeck, M. Walmsley, W. Welch, C. Wilson, A. Wootten, M. Yun
The proposed agenda was adopted.
The minutes of the Florence face-to-face meeting were accepted with two minor comments: the writing assignments (point 17) had been modified, and
the length of the next face-to-face meeting (point 19) may be lengthened somewhat to allow more time in San Pedro.
1. NSF budget and consequences for US-ALMA project
R. Brown summarized the budget situation in the U.S. Although ALMA construction is not an item in the fiscal 2002 budget, an amount of about $9 million is provided in the NSF budget to give a bridging year for "advanced ALMA development". It is still possible that this "bridge year" funding may be converted to actual construction funds, and this will be know by August-September of this year. Meanwhile, any positive developments on the funding of the project by the other partners would be helpful. R. Brown said that statements by ASAC members on the scientific value of the project will be important.
2. Report from configuration PDR
S. Guilloteau reported on the recent configuration PDR in Grenoble, attended by 26 persons. There has been much progress. For the intermediate baselines there are basically two concepts, and possible layouts and operation schemes were shown. Both concepts are good (except for the short spacing problem). The final recommendation was for a flexible reconfiguration scheme that offers Gaussian beams with a flexible scaling factor. Further work is required for the compact and extended configurations. The target is Sept. 1 for the coordinates of the pads and roads. There was some discussion as to whether the ACA should be a stand-alone array or incorporated in a full heterogeneous array; this issue is to be studied over the next month. The final report from the meeting will be distributed shortly.
3. Draft of ASAC report
The draft ASAC report from the Florence face-to-face meeting had been distributed to ASAC members, but too late for detailed feedback at the telecon. J. Welch read an executive summary containing the main points, which will be added to the report. Also to be added is a table listing the ASAC liaison persons in each area. These two items will be distributed within the next day. ASAC members are asked to examine the complete report and respond by the end of the week. N. Evans suggested that a list of actions and studies to be done before the next face-to-face meeting should be added. J. Welch said he would extract the information from the document and make this list. C. Wilson expressed concern about any studies being made which already assume the 20% budget cut, but R. Brown replied that the cut is not locked in and will be debated at the Tokyo ACC meeting. E. van Dishoeck suggested that a line be added to the report re-expressing concern about the proposed 20% cut.
4. Tuning range question
This issue was postponed to be discussed at a later meeting along with receiver issues.
5. ALMA enhancements
T. Hasegawa introduced this subject and referred to his e-mail sent to the ASAC on 13 March. He suggested that, while the ASAC has already commented on constraints imposed by a 20% budget cut, priorities should also be set for the case of a 10% budget cut in the 3-way ALMA project. A model supported by Japanese ASAC members was proposed. The three items are not listed in any particular priority order. E. van Dishoeck asked whether the choice of these items was based on scientific or technical priorities, and T. Hasegawa replied that it was a mixture of both. N. Evans commented that this would require further discussion, and C. Wilson and E. van Dishoeck suggested not making any further priorities at the moment, and waiting until the outcome of the Tokyo ACC meeting.
The next ASAC teleconference will take place on Thursday 12 April at 10:15 am EST.