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UPR PARTNERSHIP FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
(UPRPREAA)

Under the guidelines of NSF's PAARE Program, we propose to establish a
partnership for research and education in radio, radar & optical astronomy
between the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), the National Atmospheric and
Ionosphere Center (NAIC) in Arecibo, and Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania.
In order to broaden its range of scientific possibilities, NAIC is working
to acquire a 12-m class antenna to be sited near its 305-m dish. This forms
the centerpiece of the collaborative work presented in this proposal, as it
opens up opportunities for undergraduate students at UPR to develop and
apply skills in electronics, and to undertake research in radio/radar
astronomy. Other areas of astronomy are also represented in this proposal
by bringing together optical and radio/radar observations currently
conducted separately by members of faculty and staff at different campuses
of the UPR, Gettysburg College and NAIC. These use optical facilities at
Gettysburg and Flagstaff, and the 305-m telescope and its S-band radar
facility at Arecibo. Such a collaboration will foster intellectual growth
by providing an umbrella organization within which to conduct coordinated
research programs in astronomy and astrophysics. The benefits of the
program will reach an even wider population via an outreach program for
students and high-school teachers in astronomy and astrophysics.
Undergraduate students participating in this program will be more likely to
enter graduate programs in astronomy astrophysics nationwide, thereby
increasing the representation of a minority group (Puerto Ricans) in the
field.


1- LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

1. Rafael Muller, PI Professor, Physics and Electronics Dept.
UPR at Humacao
2-Juan Carlos Cersosimo Professor, Physics and Electronics Dept. UPR
at Humacao
3-Mayra Lebron Santos Asst. Professor, Phys. Science Dept
UPR at Rio Piedras
5-Myrna Ayala Professor, Dept of Education
UPR at Humacao
6-JosИ Alonso Professor, Dept of Phys and Math
UPR at Cayey
7-Murray Lewis Head, Radio Astronomy
NAIC (Arecibo)
8-Tapasi Ghosh Senior Research Associate
NAIC (Arecibo)
9-Chris Salter Senior Research Associate
NAIC (Arecibo)
10- Paulo Freire Senior Research Associate
NAIC (Arecibo)
11- Ellen Howell Research Associate
NAIC (Arecibo)
12- Robert Minchin Research Associate
NAIC (Arecibo)
13- Jim Cordes
14-Laurence Marschall Professor, Dept of Physics
Gettysburg College

The Steering Committee
1- Kathy Eastwood Dept of Physics and Astronomy Northern
Arizona University
2- Michael M. Davis Past Site Director, NAIC (Arecibo) Retired
3- Hector Arce Dept of Astronomy
Yale University


2- PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

1-To establish collaborative research projects in radio astronomy, radar
and optical
astronomy
2- To bring on-board promising undergraduate and high school students by
means of
undergraduate research and science fair projects in astronomy and
astrophysics
3-To train undergraduate students in the construction of the specialized
electronics
equipment used in astronomy
4-To offer students involved in undergraduate research the opportunity of
gathering
data on site at the radio and optical facilities.
5-To strengthen the UPR infrastructure for research and education in
astronomy
6-To develop an effective outreach program in astronomy and astrophysics
7-To promote UPRPREAA as a model of a successful collaboration

3- ACTIVITIES

UPRPREAA will undertake the following activities to fulfill its objective
of enabling faculty and students to enrich their research and educational
efforts in astronomy.

1- The Arecibo Observatory, the University of Puerto Rico and the
participant
from the Gettysburg College are all committed to the collaborative
research projects described below, during the academic year and summer
terms.
2-UPRPREAA will support summer research work at Arecibo and
observing runs at
Flagstaff by UPR faculty and students, which will also include
gifted high school students pursuing science fair projects
3- UPRPREAA will serve as a platform for the recruitment of
astronomy
faculty members at the UPR campuses, as positions are opened
through
retirement, etc., attracting young, minority astronomy faculty
to UPR.
4- Importantly, the UPRPREAA will enable hand-on access by UPR faculty
and
students to a radio telescope and provide opportunity to build
equipment for it.
5- The UPRPREAA partnership will be enhanced through the use of
videoconference
facilities at Arecibo and the various campuses of the UPR. The
staff,
visiting scientists and graduates in residence at the Arecibo
Observatory, and
the partner at Gettysburg College will provide seminars to the
students at
the UPR campuses on a regular basis.
7- UPRPREAA will enable faculty and student exchange throughout the
academic year, as needed and possible, to facilitate the
research partnerships.
8- UPRPREAA will facilitate summer internships for students to the
Arecibo
Observatory and other sites as needed for the research
projects.
9- UPRPREAA will fund courses in astronomy and astrophysics to be
offered to
interested undergraduates. It will also sponsor seminars and
workshops offered by
members of the partnership.
10- UPRPREAA will fund astronomy workshops for high school science
teachers
and target those from public schools that are the main feeders
of the UPR
campuses involved in UPRPREAA. The workshops will include
presentations
on the research efforts of the partners and undergraduate
students with the
objective of encouraging teachers to motivate their students to
follow careers
in astronomy and astrophysics. One very important workshop will
take place
after the 12-meter class antenna for phase referencing is up
and running (see the
radio research program below). Through this, school teachers
can also be trained
in radio astronomical data acquisition.
11- All partners will participate in an annual research and education
presentation
meeting conducted either at the UPR-Humacao facilities or the
Arecibo
Observatory's Angel Ramos Foundation Visitor Center. This
activity will take
place at the same time as the meeting of the steering committee, and
serve as a
focus for promoting the partnership among all science faculty in the
campuses
and the NAIC staff so as to evaluate progress, inform the
broader community and promote UPRPREAA in a single activity.

4- RESEARCH PROGRAM

The research and education activities will be centered on two main areas:
(a) Radio Astronomy, (b) Radar and Optical Astronomy.
.
4.1 RADIO ASTRONOMY

4.1.1. HAAT - the Humacao-Arecibo Astrometric Telescope:

The 305-m Arecibo radio telescope is the world's largest, most sensitive,
single-dish radio telescope. It is equipped with receivers between 47 MHz
and 10 GHz. In addition to its single-dish capabilities, the telescope also
participates in Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations with
the VLBA, HSA, EVN and Global VLBI networks. All observing time on the 305-
m telescope is granted via a highly competitive peer review process, open
to researchers worldwide. Although not unknown, opportunities for
undergraduates to utilize the instrument, or gain hands-on experience in
radio sciences by building equipment for it, have been limited.

In order to broaden the range of scientific possibilities it offers to its
users, NAIC is working to acquire an auxiliary 12-m class radio telescope
to be sited near its 305-m dish. Such an instrument would have scientific
capabilities that are both complementary to, and independent of, the 305-m
telescope. We foresee the antenna being scheduled in support of "phase-
referencing VLBI" with the 305-m telescope for a maximum of ~20 % of its
time. All other time (apart from maintenance) would be available for
integration into the educational and research needs of UPR, and Public
Outreach ventures in collaboration with the UPR and the Observatory's
Visitor Center as described in this proposal. In view of its prime
astrometric role, including a high relevance in the guise to the present
proposal, the new 12-m class telescope will be known as the Humacao-Arecibo
Astrometric Telescope (HAAT).

4.1.1.1. VLBI -- Phase Referencing: Phase referencing in VLBI
observations has made it possible to study very weak radio sources by
increasing the effective coherence time from, at maximum, a few minutes at
a stretch to hours. Currently, some 50% of VLBI observations are carried
out using this technique. However, such observations encounter limitations
with the Arecibo 305-m telescope since the Gregorian dome, located on a
suspended platform, has slow slew rates (24o/min in azimuth, 2o.4 /min in
zenith angle.) Hence, in a typical phase-referenced observation, where the
calibrator could be located 3o or more from the target, a significant
amount of observing time, often ™ 50%, is wasted slewing between the two
sources, leading to severe losses in signal-to-noise ratios. However, phase-
referenced VLBI could be performed using a smaller "auxiliary" telescope
to track the phase calibrator, while the 305-m antenna observes the target
most of the time, only occasionally moving to the calibrator. The effects
due to ionospheric/tropospheric phase fluctuations can then be derived from
the small-telescope data and applied to the target data from the 305-m
dish. While this technique has been successfully applied for observations
with the 220-km baseline MERLIN array in the UK, it will be new to VLBI.
Implementing its VLBI application will be a major collaborative research
activity under the present proposal.

4.1.1.2. Is HAAT big enough for Phase Referencing? : The effective area of
HAAT yields a point-source sensitivity of ~0.026 K/Jy. The antenna is
expected to work with full efficiency up to 15 GHz, covering the complete
frequency range of the 305-m telescope (327 MHz to 10 GHz). For a system
temperature of T deg K, this would give a system equivalent flux density of
~38.6 T Jy. If HAAT were to have a similar Tsys to a VLBA telescope at
these wavelengths, then the baseline sensitivity for a HAAT to VLBA antenna
(1-?) would be ~20 mJy/beam. This implies that, at the 5-? level, sources
brighter than about 100 mJy/beam will be suitable for phase-referencing,
thus including the majority of sources from the VLBA Calibrator list.

4.1.1.3. Technical Collaboration for the HAAT: One of the aspects of this
collaboration is the construction of a C-band receiver. This project will
involve students from Humacao's Associate Degree Program in Electronics
Technology who will be in residence at Arecibo for at least one or two
summer seasons under the guidance of an electrical engineer from Humacao
working on the assembly of this receiver. The faculty at the Humacao campus
includes four electrical engineers. Funds are requested for the summer
salary and release time during two academic years for one engineer from
Humacao to supervise the construction of the device in coordination with
NAIC staff. Salary is also requested for one electronics technician for
helping with the building of equipment and maintenance of the HAAT.

We will commense operations, including providing proof of concept for the
phase-referencing technique, using the 6 cm receiver, the wavelength most
requested for Arecibo VLBI observations. In due course, the four standard
VLBI frequency bands below 10 GHz will need to be serviced by the HAAT. An
ultra wide-band receiver will be developed at a later date via other
funding sources. We expect HAAT to share the Observatory's maser
time/frequency standard and spare backends. Thus, NAIC's involvement in the
development of HAAT would be a contribution from it to the training of
Puerto Rican scientists, engineers and technicians, as well as in enhancing
the options it offers its user base for astronomy and planetary physics.
The UPR-Humacao's contribution will be to provide the material and
students' assistance in building this receiver, and develop the particular
form of phase-referencing technique (under the guidance of the NAIC staff)
via the current proposal.

4.1.1.3. HAAT Timeline: We expect the antenna to become operational within
18 months of the startup of this proposal. Most of the technical work
detailed above will be conducted during that time, and it will be used for
scientific research and teacher's hands-on workshops starting in the second
year of this proposal.

Below, we detail some of the specific scientific/educational activities
that will benefit from HAAT.

4.1.2. Research Area-I : Astronomy using HAAT in Phase Referenced VLBI

Collaborators: Rafael Muller (UPR-HUMACAO), Juan Carlos Cersosimo (UPR-


HUMACAO), Mayra Lebron (UPR-Rio Piedras), Chris Salter (NAIC-
AO),
Tapasi Ghosh (NAIC-AO), Jim Cordes (Cornell Univ.), Paulo
Freire (NAIC-AO),
Robert Minchin (NAIC-AO)

Stellar (radio) Astrometry: In a white paper submitted to the NSF
ExoPlanet Task Force, Bower et al. (arXiv:astro-ph/0704.0238v1) explored
the possibility of "Radio Astrometric Detection and Characterization of
Extra-Solar Planets". Utilizing the better than 100-microarcsec positional
accuracy routinely achieved with the VLBA, they propose carrying out a
Radio Interferometric Planet search (RIPL) that will survey 29 low-mass,
active (radio-loud) M-dwarf stars over 3 years. This would have sub-Jovian
planet mass sensitivity at distances of ~1AU from the star. They note that,
"Radio astrometric planet searches occupy a unique volume in planet
discovery and characterization parameter space, which gives greater
sensitivity to planets at large radii than do radial velocity searches. For
the VLBA and the expanded VLBA, the targets of radio astrometric surveys
are by necessity nearby, low-mass, active stars, which cannot be studied
efficiently through the radial velocity method, coronography, or optical
interferometry."

The addition of Arecibo in such surveys would increase the detection
sensitivity by a factor of four, making it possible to study objects with
one third the mass of Jupiter as companions of starts of similar types. As
Arecibo's primary beam is much smaller than that of other telescopes, and
the slew rate slower, the availability of HAAT for phase referencing would
be highly beneficial for undertaking such studies .

A Broad-impact VLBI Measurement of Trigonometric Parallax of Star Clusters:
In an impressive work using the VLBA at 8 GHz, Menten et al. (2007, A&A,
474, 515) have determined the trigonometric parallax of several stars in
the Orion BN/KL region, allowing them to derive the most accurate value to
date (414± 7pc) for the distance to this region. This is about an order of
magnitude better than the previous value of 361+168-87 pc determined by
Hipparcos from the optical parallax measurement of a single star in this
complex. Luminosity-based distance estimates of star-forming regions may
be adversely affected by poorly known extinction. The new radio technique
is an important way to improve the estimation of distances, and hence
luminosities, with subsequent impact on star-formation theories. Once
again, the inclusion of Arecibo would permit the extension of these
studies to fainter, more distant, star-forming regions.

Pulsar Astrometry: High-precision astrometry of pulsars over multiple
epochs can provide their basic astrometric parameters: positions, proper
motions, and annual trigonometric parallaxes. Due to the weakness of most
pulsars, with duty cycles of typically <10%, the participation of Arecibo
and phase referencing is vital to the success of this exercise. In respect
of positional measurements, we note that VLBI estimations are tied to the
reference frame of the distant quasars, rather than the Solar-system frame
employed by pulsar timing positional estimates. This allows fundamental
reference frame ties between the Solar-system and extragalactic (ICRF)
frames via measurements of recycled pulsars, which are highly stable
rotators.

Proper motion estimates allow pulsars to be traced back to their birth
sites and, for very young pulsars, associations with progenitor supernova
remnants (SNRs) can be established, providing independent age estimates for
SNRs. Combined with pulsar distance estimates, proper motion measurements
lead to estimates of space velocities, allowing a study of the natal kicks
imparted to pulsars at the time of their birth. When a parallax measurement
is possible, this yields a model-independent estimate for the distance (and
hence velocity) of the neutron star. Such measurements, (i) calibrate
models of the Galactic electron distribution, (ii) constrain SN core
collapse using the velocity estimates, and (c) provide photospheric sizes
for hot neutron stars with optically observed thermal surface radiation,
which in turn, constrains the equation of state of matter at extreme
pressures and densities.

Detection Experiments: Present-day VLBI offers the highest sensitivity
radio astronomical observations yet achieved, with noise levels presently
approaching 1?Jy/beam for arrays using the world's most sensitive
telescopes. Hence, the 305-m Arecibo telescope is being increasingly used
in experiments to detect radio emission from very weak, very compact,
astronomical targets such as radio X-ray stars, distant supernovae and
their remnants, Gamma-Ray Bursts, and red-dwarf and other stars. For these
sensitivity levels to be reached for targets of very low intensity, it is
essential that phase-referencing be used.

VLBI imaging of molecular gas in ULIRGs: Arecibo and the GBT are currently
searching for cm-wavelength lines of prebiotic and other molecules in Ultra-
Luminous InfraRed Galaxies (ULIRGs). The project has been inspired by the
recent Arecibo detection of the prebiotic molecule, methanimine (CH2NH), in
the protypical ULIRG/megamaser galaxy, Arp 220 (Salter et al. 2008, AJ,
136, 389). These galaxies are considered to be ``extreme mergers" and are
heavily obscured at optical wavelengths. Molecular lines from them often
show wide velocity widths, caused by line blending due to spatial and
velocity overlaps. Detailed studies of maser emission and molecular
absorption lines from these objects require phase referenced VLBI
observations. Sources with molecular-line detections from the Arecibo-GBT
search will be followed up by high-resolution VLBI mapping using HAAT for
phase-referencing at Arecibo.

Expected Timeline for the scientific projects in Research Area-I: The
projects mentioned above will be started in the later half of the second
year of this proposal after the HAAT becomes operational. Most of these
will require individual observing proposals submitted to the VLBI arrays.
Students will thus have the opportunity to join in the projectsfrom the
begining stage of the projects. The main work will be carried out during
the 3rd and the 4th year of the active period of this proposal.

4.1.3. Research Area-II : Using HAAT as an Independent Single Dish
Collaborators: Juan Carlos Cersocimo (UPR-Humacao), Chris Salter (NAIC-
AO),
Paulo Freire (NAIC-AO)

Full-Stokes Galactic Plane Continuum Surveys with HAAT: The HAAT, together
with existing Arecibo backends, will enable full-Stokes, continuum surveys
using the cooled dual-channel receivers that will be built for use with the
dish. Full-Stokes continuum surveys of the wider Galactic plane at high
frequencies with HAAT can provide unique databases in a number of ways.
Firstly, they can yield full spatial frequency, full-Stokes mapping at
previously unmapped wavelengths, with competitive resolution for such
extended features as the Galactic background emission, HII complexes, and
middle-aged and old SNRs. Comparison with existing lower frequency surveys
would allow accurate estimation of spectral index distributions over these
features, providing the ability to perform accurate thermal-nonthermal
separation on angular scales between 1o and <10 arcmin which allows the
study of energy injection to the ISM, energy losses for relativistic
particles associated with SNRs, and the mechanisms of vertical transport
and diffusion of energy from the disk of the Galaxy into the halo and
intergalactic space.

Linear polarization measurements are of especial importance. The
appearance of the polarized sky at ? > 21 cm is complex. Westerbork at 327
MHz (for high Galactic latitudes) and the 1.4-GHz Canadian Galactic Plane
Survey have shown that there is little relationship between total intensity
and polarization structures; for the diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission,
the bulk of the area of the Galactic Plane imaged on arcminute scales at L-
band reveals highly structured polarization features with no counterparts
in Stokes I. The accepted interpretation of this is that, although the
Galactic synchrotron emission is intrinsically quite smooth, differential
Faraday rotation in the intervening magneto-ionic medium, (the Faraday
Screen), imposes fine structure on the polarized emission. In other words,
the low-frequency polarized sky is dominated by propagation effects rather
than by intrinsic emission structure

The signals produced by the Faraday Screen are rather weak, and the limited
surface brightness sensitivity of interferometers samples only the
strongest. Also, the derived rotation measures (RMs) are noisy due to low
signal-to-noise per channel, while missing zero-spacings in
interferometric observations lead to complications in interpretation. The
high brightness sensitivity of HAAT, coupled with its few arcminute beam
size at high frequencies, promises major advances in the study of the
magneto-ionic medium. At these frequencies (™ 5 GHz), the effects of
Faraday rotation become tiny (?? ? ?-2) and HAAT polarization position
angles will essentially be those intrinsic to the emission, providing both
intrinsic directions of magnetic fields and a database against which lower
frequency polarization distributions can be definitively interpreted.

In existing studies of the Faraday Screen, the spectral signatures of the
polarized intensity have been examined to seek only a single RM value per
image pixel. Such a value corresponds to the RM of the dominant polarized
emission component along any given sight-line. However, the Faraday Screen
is spread out in depth along each line of sight, with regions of polarized
emission at different distances along the sight-line contributing to the
observed spectrum with their corresponding foreground Faraday rotation
signature. With an appropriate combination of observing frequency,
bandwidth and spectral resolution, it should be possible to perform Faraday
tomography, wherein the spectral polarized intensity modulations along a
given sight-line can be transformed to a set of polarized intensities as a
function of Faraday depth (i.e. RM). Thus, it should be possible to derive
a polarized-intensity data cube (quite like a spectral-line data cube) with
two dimensions being the sky coordinates and the third being RM. High-
frequency images from HAAT would be invaluable in pursuing this endeavor.

Away from the Galactic plane, the high latitude regions contain several
well-known non-thermal emission structures, notably the North Polar Spur
(Loop 1), an object that contains rich small-scale structure, both on its
main arc and in internal ridging. Above b = 45 deg, low resolution
measurements of this nearby (~100 pc distant), old SNR show >70% linear
polarization at 1.4 GHz. Higher frequency, higher resolution HAAT images
will directly reveal detailed magnetic field directions in this object.

We specifically mention the L-band Arecibo GALFA Continuum Transit Survey
(GALFACTS), which is being made by an international consortium of
astronomers led by Prof. Russ Taylor (U. Calgary). This full-Stokes survey
of the whole sky observable with the 305-m telescope covers 1225 - 1525
MHz, with 8192 frequency channels. At L-band, the Faraday rotation effects
on the linearly polarized radiation are considerable, and a continuum
survey at much higher frequency, but similar resolution, (HPBW ~ 4 arcmin
for GALFACTS), would allow thermal-nonthermal separation, and aid Faraday
tomography when combined with GALFACTS. The same situation exists for a
large part of the Southern Galactic Plane L-band continuum survey being
made with the Parkes radio telescope (HPBW ~ 15 arcmin; Haverkorn et al
2006). HAAT surveys would also provide vital low-spatial frequency data for
future interferometric full-Stokes surveys.

Synergy with GLAST: ?-ray emission from our Galaxy is believed to be
produced by, a) brehmsstrahlung from the interaction of cosmic-ray
electrons and the interstellar gas, and b) the decay of neutral pions
produced in interactions between the gas and cosmic-ray protons and heavier
nuclei. The former is thought to dominate at <1 MeV, the latter at higher
energies. Similar distributions of ?-rays are found at low latitudes in
both energy ranges, suggesting that the cosmic-ray heavy particle-to-
electron ratio is constant over the Galaxy. If so, the ?-ray emissivity,
??, is proportional to the product of the cosmic-ray intensity and the
total (i.e. neutral and ionized atomic, plus molecular) gas density, ? ;
?? ? ?0 ?, where the cosmic-ray energy distribution is given by, N(E) dE =
N0 E-? dE. Now, for the synchrotron component of the Galactic radio
emission, the emissivity is, ? ? ?0 ?? (?+1)/2, where ?? is the
magnetic field strength perpendicular to the line of sight.

The Galactic distributions of the three quantities, ?0, ?, ?, are all of
great astrophysical interest. Arecibo will contribute significantly to a
knowledge of ? over the accessible sky, GALFA consortia providing, a) the 2-
dimensional distribution of HI, while the thermal-nonthermal separation of
the continuum emission mapped by HAAT and GALFACTS surveys will provide the
2-D distributions of, b) the thermal emission from HII and c) the non-
thermal synchrotron emission. The 2-D distribution of the molecular gas is
already available from CO surveys of similar resolution. Hence, combining
Arecibo HAAT and ALFA work with other radio data and the high-fidelity
GLAST ?-ray background images will provide the information needed to
"unfold" the 2-D distributions and derive the Galactic distributions of ?0,
?, & ?. This would represent a major contribution to our understanding of
the detailed distribution of the magnetic field and cosmic rays in the
Galactic disk.

Pulsar timing: The majority of pulsars are too weak to be satisfactorily
timed with a 12-m dish. However, timing observations of the strong Crab and
Vela pulsars would compliment dedicated monitoring of the rotational state
of these neutron stars undertaken at other observatories. The traditional
aim has been to detect glitches and timing noise in these objects, which is
scientifically important by itself (e.g. Lyne et al. 1996 Nature, 381, 497
& Lyne et al. 1993, MNRAS, 265, 1003). This has become even more relevant
now with the launch of Gamma-ray satellites such as AGILE and GLAST, which
require continuous monitoring of these pulsars in order to fold the many
gamma-ray pulsar candidates with a temporal and hour angle coverage that
are impossible to achieve with the 305-m telescope, and that complement
other telescopes: for instance, we can time the Vela pulsar while it is
below the horizon of the dedicated telescope at Mt. Pleasant in Tasmania.

Another application of this antenna will be on the statistical properties
of the giant pulses of the Crab and other pulsars. These have fluxes of the
order of MJy, which are very easily detectable with the HAAT. This would
have several important ramifications. Paulo Freire is part of an
international collaboration that is using several millisecond pulsars to
detect very low-frequency gravitational waves. One of the main issues of
this project has to do with the calibration of the time delays of all the
telescopes and back-ends used for this international project. The giant
pulses from the Crab detected by the 12-m dish can be used as an
international time reference for all telescopes in the Western Hemisphere,
giving us a calibration of all the instrumental delays of all the
telescopes and back-ends involved in this global high-precision timing
project.

The signals received by the 12-m antenna will be piped back to the control
room for processing with existing Arecibo back-ends, which have well-known
time characteristics. This avoids any duplication in the processing
hardware or software, although it will add to the present data storage and
processing requirements.

Expected Timeline for the scientific projects in Research Area-II: The
projects mentioned above will also be started in the later half of the
second year of this proposal after HAAT becomes operational. Up to about
70% of the observing time on HAAT will be available for projects in this
category (with 10 % for NAIC-general users' VLBI work, up to 10 % in
Research Area-I, and a further 10% being allocated for teaching and
outreach work). A mechanism will be developed for allocating time for
proposals in this category.

4.1.3. Research Area-III : Radio Recombination Line (RRL) survey Using the
305-m Dish and the ALFA receiver

Collaborators: Mayra Lebron (UPR-Rio Piedras), Juan Carlos Cersocimo (UPR-
Humacao), Chris Salter (NAIC-AO)

GALFA-RRL is a sensitive radio recombination line survey that will be made
using the ALFA receiver on the 305-m telescope. This survey will fully
sample the entire Galactic plane observable from Arecibo. It will provide
organized data sets that will permit the study of HII regions, PNe, novae,
young massive star forming regions, and the diffuse ionized interstellar
medium. This spectral line survey will permit us to study the large scale
structure of the Milky Way, and its electron temperature across the plane,
as well as the abundances of He and C and heavier elements. One of the
major contribution of this survey will be the identification of new
photodissociated regions bright in carbon RRLs. These will be further
studied with complimentary data from surveys at other wavelengths such as,
MSX, GLIMPSE, NVSS, and GALFACTS.

Expected Timeline for the scientific projects in Research Area-III: The RRL
Survey is an already accepted project at the 305-m telescope. Observation
is likely to begin in the first year of this proposal, and will continue
over the following five years. Eventhough, it is an international
collaborative projects, since some of the major players (ML, JC, & CS) are
physically present in Puerto Rico, details of the datataking and
calibration methodology will be a mjor task carried over by them under this
collaboration. Students will be encouraged to participate in this program
in all its stages, since GALFA-RRL survey is an excellent way of engaing
in and pursuing a career in astronomy.

4.2 RADAR+OPTICAL ASTRONOMY

Collaborators: Ellen Howell (NAIC-Arecibo), R.J. Muller (UPR at Humacao),
Laurence Marschall (Gettysburg College)

Combining Radar and Optical Observations of Asteroids: New types of near-
Earth asteroids are still being discovered. Moreover, the optical surveys
that are about to come on-line will discover new, even smaller asteroids at
more than ten times the current rate over the next few years. We therefore
expect to continue to make surprising discoveries about these objects.
Radar observation of asteroids is a powerful tool to extract information
about their physical properties and orbits. Further, when their echoes are
strong enough, the Arecibo radar can achieve an imaging resolution of about
10 meters.

Dr Ellen Howell, in collaboration with Dr Michael Nolan and Dr Chris Magri
(Univ. of Maine at Farmington), use extremely computer-intensive asteroid
shape-modeling software to generate models from the radar images. These
have been generated for five objects over the past two years, and several
more are in progress. Radar-derived models are ideal for refining
simplistic models and for constraining the rotational period of an object.
One astrometric radar measurement of an object increases the precision of
its orbit by an order of magnitude compared to that from a set of optical
measurements. Nevertheless, the combination of an optical light curve with
a set of radar measurements is important in constraining a model's shape,
which in turn gives us insight into the asteroid's dynamics and internal
structure.

When the rotation period of an asteroid is obtained from its light curve,
its sub-Earth latitude can be determined from the Doppler width of its
radar echo. However, the shape derived solely from a light curve cannot
elucidate any concave zones it may have on its surface; these are imaged by
radar. The combination of optical light-curves and radar images is very
effective.

We propose to institute a Radar-Optical partnership to increase the number
of asteroids with combined radar observations from Arecibo and light curves
obtained from the Gettysburg College 0.4-m reflector and/or the NURO 0.8-m
telescope at Anderson Mesa, near Flagstaff, Arizona are available. Dr Ellen
Howell and collaborators will select asteroids and obtain radar data, while
Drs. Rafael Muller and Larry Marschall will obtain light-curves.
The Gettysburg Telescope is available at short notice. Both Drs. Marschall
and Muller have access to the NURO telescope (www.nuro.nau.edu) of Lowell
Observatory. The photometric sky at 7200 feet above sea level at Anderson
Mesa allows for very precise light curves, with broadband color photometry
using BVRI filters. A single evening of continuous monitoring can often
yield useful results, while several nights usually suffice for a definitive
light curve. Both optical observers have access to 12 nights of observing
time at NURO per year. Software for data reduction, such as MIRA, is
readily available and easy to use. There are literally tens of thousands of
target objects bright enough for observation with our telescopes.

This should be a very fruitful way to obtain observations, even at short
notice, for near-Earth asteroids that are only bright for a very short time
as they pass close to the Earth. As possible, we will also obtain color
photometry to combine compositional information with the radar properties:
the composition is also critical when considering possible mitigation
strategies for potential Earth impactors.

Expected Timeline: Work in this area will begin from the starting date of
the proposal
and continue through the entire active period. Asteroidal light-curve
determination is an ideal student project as it is straight-forward, while
letting the student carry out all the steps in making a practical
astronomical observation. Photometry projects may require only a few nights
of observing on a small-to-moderate aperture telescope, and the data
analysis is fairly direct and easy to learn.

5- EDUCATION AND OUTREACH PROGRAM

Collaborators: All UPR faculty, including the educational coordinator, Dr
JosИ Alonso (UPR-Cayey), the evaluator, Dr. Myrna Ayala (UPR-Humacao), and
Dr. Murray Lewis (NAIC)

5.1 UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
We are committed to the mentoring of undergraduate students in all research
activities described above. Our experience at the departmental level
demonstrates that undergraduate research activity stimulates the intellect,
enhances creativity, and nurtures the development of new skills among
students. Those who have the opportunity to work in a research environment
are properly socialized and equipped with valuable information to select
graduate schools and research topics. For example, in the last 5 years
approximately 40% of the students in the Physics and Electronics Department
of the Humacao Campus have been involved in undergraduate research
experiences. Of those, two per year on average are following the graduate
path at Universities in the U.S; one each of the graduating classes of 2006
and 2007 are following graduate programs in astronomy. This proposal will
allow us to do a better job mentoring students interested in astronomy &
astrophysics, and thus increase the number of minority students that
proceed to seek advanced degrees in the field.


5.2 TECHNICAL STUDENT INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM

Under the guidance of NAIC staff and the consulting microwave engineer,
students will design and build a C-band receiver . They will also test and
integrate it wih the HAAT.


5.3 STUDENT AND FACULTY EXCHANGE

In the Student and Faculty Exchange program, undergraduate students and
faculty spend a summer month doing research at NAIC, at a university in the
US, and/or observing at telescopes in the US. Students and faculty will
participate as teams, consisting of at least a student and his/her faculty
mentor. The participation of students and mentors together ensures the
continuity of the efforts during the academic year. During the exchange
period, the participants will have access to instrumentation and library
resources that are not available in their home institutions, and the
opportunity to learn new techniques and to exchange information with
collaborators. Faculty exchange will also be aimed at bringing more
experienced personnel from other institutions to UPR.

5.4 WORKSHOPS
Workshops focused on our collective research agenda will be organized
annually, aiming to discuss and evaluate this proposed multi-campus program
and to keep the participants in touch with the most updated, innovative and
relevant topics.

5. SEMINARS AND VIDEO CONFERENCIES
In order to keep the groups integrated and to disseminate the most relevant
results obtained from research topics, seminars and videoconferences will
be held monthly. All faculty participants involved in research and
education activities will participate in this activity.

6. HANDS ON WORKSHOPS & OPEN HOUSES
Presentations on the research subjects of astronomy and astrophysics will
be given during our annual hands-on workshops and open houses for high
school teachers and students. Workshops for high school teachers will be
conducted at the facilities at NAIC putting emphasis on research subjects.
When the phase reference antenna becomes operational, hands-on workshops
will be conducted for high school teachers and students using HAAT as a
tool for learning data acquisition and analysis in radio astronomy

5.7 WEBSITE FOR UPRPREAA
A website with our activities and main results will be prepared with the
aim of attracting motivated high school students.

6- MANAGEMENT PLAN

UPRPREAA will be administered from the Humacao Campus of the University of
Puerto Rico, an undergraduate institution serving close to 4500 students,
of whom 99% are Hispanic. Humacao is one of 11 campuses of the University
of Puerto Rico system. The Chancellor of the Humacao Campus of the UPR, Dr.
Hilda ColСn-Plumey will be the institutional authority. The PI of UPRPREAA
will be Dr. Rafael Muller, permanent faculty member of the Department of
Physics and Electronics of the Humacao Campus, with close to 10 years
experience administering Title II funds for in-service teacher training.
The PI in collaboration with the staff and faculty, will be responsible for
the day-to-day implementation and operation of the program. The CO-PI will
be Dr Murray Lewis from NAIC (Arecibo).

Two other campuses of the University of Puerto Rico are represented in
UPRPREAA: Dr Mayra LebrСn, from Rio Piedras and Dr. JosИ Alonso, our
Educational Coordinator, from Cayey. The Educational Coordinator will
report directly to the PI. Dr Myrna Ayala, from the education department at
Humacao (UPR) and with extensive experience evaluating science activities
and projects, will be in charge of assessment and evaluation, and will
respond directly to the PI. The evaluation plan is presented below. The
research and education groups will be composed of (Radioastronomy) Chris
Salter, Tapasi Ghosh, JC Cersosimo, Mayra LebrСn and Murray Lewis, Paulo
Freire, Robert Minchin, Jim Cordes; (Optical/Radar) Rafael Muller, Laurence
Marschall and Ellen Howell.



6.1 THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The Advisory Committee will play an important role in our Collaboration as
a sounding board on the programs and procedures being adopted. The members
of the Committee are three distinguished astronomers from universities in
the USA (CVs have been included with proposal):

Kathy Eastwood (University of Northern Arizona)

Michael M. Davis ( Former director, Arecibo, now
retired)

Hector Arce ( Yale University)

They will participate in the annual meetings, both to review and present a
report to the PI on their perception of the program status as well as to
offer suggestions for improvements. The specific responsibilities of the
Advisory Committee are: to play a leadership role and participate in
strategic planning related to the ongoing development and maintenance of
the UPRPREAA, to assist UPRPREAA faculty in maintaining awareness of
current trends in research and education; to provide advice to faculty on
program design, content, and resources.

All the program participants will meet once a year either in UPR-Humacao or
at the Arecibo Visitors Center during our annual meetings. In these two-day
meetings, the PI will present a progress report on the program, while all
the student and faculty collaborators will present the results of their
research and education efforts. They will have time to exchange ideas and
to evaluate and discuss the future direction of the effort. At the end of
the annual meeting the Advisory Committee will write a report with their
recommendations

Funds are requested to hire an Administrative Coordinator. The
Administrative Coordinator will be responsible for the administrative
aspects of the program in collaboration with the PI and the Educational and
Outreach Coordinator.


7- Assessment and Evaluation plan

The program will allow students and faculty to increase their knowledge and
skills by actively undertaking research projects in astronomy and
astrophysics, and by improving the mentoring of undergraduates interested
in astronomy. Continuous formative evaluation will be completed throughout
the program, especially during the first two years to find out if:
1) education activities were developed and carried out as planned,
2) audiences were from various target groups (minority, women,
undergraduates and faculty), 3) students had the opportunity to work in a
team-based approach in research activities, 4) program content includes
research experiences and meets the stated objectives, and 5) the program is
on course to becoming a successful model for other programs in the United
States. Objectives will be measured using data on advancing
undergraduates, students accepted at universities in the mainland, number
of refereed papers, interview of main staff, copies of brochures and other
handout materials, impact of web site, questionnaires by participants,
discussion of focus groups. Summative evaluations will be carried out at
the end of each year by focus groups of faculty and students, surveying
students and faculty participating in the program and analyzing copy of
publications (web page, brochures, etc.).This information will also be
furnished to the Steering Committee for their appraisal and evaluation at
the annual meeting.
The educational activities will be assessed to ensure that they are
effective and that they are consonant with the UPRPREAA objectives. It is
very important to evaluate the outreach activities to ensure that they
target the correct population and accomplish their objectives. We should
follow the evaluation plan to ensure that the UPRPREAA is a successful
model and that it strengthens the infrastructure for research and education
in astronomy at the University of Puerto Rico.


8- Dissemination


In order to promote an extensive dissemination of our combined research-
curriculum development, we will offer workshops, open houses, and
laboratory demonstrations for faculty and students of other universities,
schools and industry. The participants will visit our facilities or we will
communicate with them using the available videoconferencing facilities. The
information developed as a result of this program, including that in CD ROM
format, will be offered to the other units of the UPR system and to any
other institution interested in our results. Publications, presentations by
faculty and students, and the web page will make our results available to
the scientific and educational communities.


9- Broader IMPAct of the Proposed Project


The impact of this project will be substantial. The UPR-HUMACAO is the
largest producer of undergraduate physics/chemistry and computational
mathematics majors on the island. Continuity from the B.S. level to
graduate school will be sustained. Undergraduates at UPR-HUMACAO and other
participating institutions will be given a unique opportunity to engage in
undergraduate research and to interact with mainland students
(undergraduate and graduate) at Arecibo with the inevitable consequence of
being motivated to pursue graduate school. The faculty sense of self worth
is greatly enhanced by participating as co-investigators with leaders in
their fields.

New research capabilities will be made available, which have the prospect
of attracting even more faculty into research, thereby increasing the pool
of active scientists on the island. By involving faculty from other units
of UPR (UPR_Rio Piedras and UPR-Cayey) the extent of the collaboration will
be enhanced by at least 50%, and the number of students that participate in
this project will increase. This will serve two purposes: it will help
establish a credible research environment in the south-east part of the
island, and will serve as a motivating factor in inviting local high
school students to campus for the purpose of demonstrating to them the
range and variety of research projects undertaken by undergraduates, some
of whom the high school students may even recognize.


The HAAT antenna, and the VLBI phase referencing method to be developed
under the proposed program, will augment the VLBI options offered by NAIC.
HAAT can also be used for geodetic VLBI observations, a possibility that
has already generated interest in the national geodetic community. Puerto
Rico is situated on the Caribbean tectonic plate whose motion is especially
complicated, but lacks adequate VLBI measurement facilities.






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