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The Millimetre White Paper: a strategy for high-frequency radio astronomy in Australia
Contributors to this document
Peter Barnes (U Sydney), Kate Brooks (ATNF), Michael Burton (UNSW), Maria Cunningham (UNSW), John Dickey (U Tasmania), Phil Edwards (ISAS), Ron Ekers (ATNF), Yasuo Fukui (U Nagoya), Annie Hughes (Swinburne U), Ilana Klamer (U Sydney / ATNF), Vincent Minier (CEA Saclay), Erik Mueller (ATNF), Juergen Ott (ATNF), Bob Sault (ATNF), Mark Thompson (U Hertfordshire), Andrew Walsh (UNSW), Tony Wong (UNSW / ATNF). Edited by Michael Burton.

Overview
This document describes a strategy for high frequency radio astronomy in Australia. It has resulted from process of public consultation in the Australian astronomical community, together with some input and advice from colleagues overseas. It has been produced through submissions made via a wiki page established at mmscience.atnf.csiro.au. The process also involved presentations at three meetings and workshops: Millimetre Astronomy Science Meeting: the 2005 Season Held at UNSW on 30/11/05, presenting results from the 2005 millimetre-wave observing season using Australia's radio telescopes. The first draft of this report was presented there. Australia Telescope Users Committee Held at ATNF, Epping on 01/12/05, during the public session of this meeting. The first draft was presented to ATUC. Future Directions for Southern Hemisphere Millimetre Wave Astronomy A workshop held at the Sydney Harbour Institute for Marine Studies (SHIMS), at Chowder Bay in Sydney on 30-31/03/06. The second draft of the white paper was presented there. The workshop examined the status of current facilities and their future science programs, both in Australia and elsewhere. An international perspective on the future role for Australia's millimetre wave facilities was also provided by an number of overseas visitors who attended. The meeting finished with a discussion on future priorities for millimetre astronomy in Australia. This final document was presented to the Australia Telescope Users Committee at its meeting on June 5-6, 2006.

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Contents
Future Priorities for Millimetre-Wave Astronomy in Australia for the Next Decade Vision Current developments Modest future developments Future priorities and strategies Introduction ­ Goals of the White Paper Overview of Current Capabilities Stocktake of current facilities Demand for ATCA and Mopra Science Drivers for Millimetre Wave Astronomy Introduction The evolution of circumstellar disks around young stellar objects The search for biogenic molecules The evolutionary sequence for massive star formation Turbulence and star formation Star formation in the Magellanic system The star formation history of the Universe The cosmic microwave background radiation Unique objects: SN1987A, The central molecular zone, Sgr A* Capabilities and needs Facility Developments within Australia Receivers ATCA 3mm bandwidth and polarization upgrades Spectrometers Other telescope upgrades Operations and Support Operations at Mopra and ATCA Flexible scheduling at ATCA Millimetre calibration User support Facilities in the Global Context A brief history of millimetre astronomy in Australia What Australia can offer Synergies with other telescopes: Chilean, Antarctic and Space & Airborne telescopes, SKA developments An International Perspective on Opportunities in the field for Australia Galactic star formation up to the high-mass regime The JCMT legacy survey program and the context for southern mm-wave telescopes VSOP­2 and the need for the millimetre Submillimetre surveys of the southern galactic plane: NANTEN2 and the need for mm Appendices: Program for Millimetre Astronomy Science Meeting, UNSW, 30/11/05 Program for Future Directions for Southern Hemisphere Millimetre Wave Astronomy workshop, SHIMS, Chowder Bay, Sydney 30-31/03/06

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Future Priorities for Millimetre Wave Astronomy in Australia for the Next Decade (2006-2016)
Vision
Millimetre-wave astronomy will provide the primary focus for developments in radio astronomy for at least the next decade, offering the promise of furthering our understanding of the formation of planets, stars and galaxies across the universe. In Australia, using our current facilities and their new mm-wave instrumentation, we will be able to make significant contributions to these fields of study. This includes conducting effective searches for new molecules in interstellar space, including those which might provide the seeds for life, the unveiling of star formation across the Galaxy, and a comparative examination of the environment in which stars form in nearby galaxies to that in the Milky Way, as well as in the distant universe. When completed around 2012, ALMA will become the principal instrument used by the international radio astronomy community. Its large collecting area and comprehensive baseline coverage will provide an ability to image in the millimetre bands with far higher sensitivity and spatial resolution than has been achieved before. ALMA will not provide, however, a comprehensive view of the millimetre-wave universe. It must work with other facilities that have differing capabilities in order to obtain the full picture that is available. This provides an important opportunity for Australia, to meet this need. Wide-field imaging, undertaken with wide bandpasses, and access to the long-wavelength end of the millimetre spectrum, are domains which ALMA will not serve well. Such capabilities can be provided by Australia's millimetre facilities if they are maintained with leading-edge technologies over the next decade. They would serve to keep Australia's facilities internationally competitive for a relatively modest investment, in comparison to that being made in ALMA and associated facilities in Chile. The ATCA, fitted out with phased focal plane arrays that could operate across bands at 3 mm and longward, would be a uniquely powerful facility that would serve Australia's science community well in the ALMAera. Supported for open time allocation, it would continue to attract the best from the rest of the world to Australia to use it. It would maintain the vitality and reputation of our radioscience community, and provide us with access to the best facilities elsewhere through the collaborations this would engender. It would also serve to make Australia a provider of focal plane array technology, together with the commercial opportunities that offers. Wide field capability is also a route that has been successfully demonstrated at the Anglo Australian Observatory. The 4m AAT has remained one of the most productive optical/IR telescopes in the world despite the operation of 8m class telescopes overseas for the past decade. It managed this through the development of wide-field spectroscopic instrumentation, enabling extensive sky surveys to be undertaken with the telescope. Providing such a capability has proved to be financially beyond the ability of the 8m telescopes to match, so maintaining the AAT's own competitiveness. 3


Our challenge is to make this vision happen for the radio community too, while at the same time continuing along the path towards the SKA, the international radio telescope that will follow A