Italian ALMA Regional Centre. Bologna. hosted by INAF Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA) Brief summary. Jan Brand

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1 Italian ALMA Regional Centre hosted by INAF Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA) Bologna Brief summary Jan Brand INAF - Istituto di Radioastronomia, Bologna IRA, Visiting Committee 26 Nov. 2007

2 ALMA World-wide organisational structure

3 ESO DG ARC - EUROPE ALMA Division Head EU Project scientist Head of Data Management Operations EU ARC Manager ESO+Regional nodes Bonn-Bochum-Cologne (D) IRAM (Grenoble; F, E) IRA, Bologna (I) Leiden (NL) Nordic (Onsala; DK, S, SU) User Science Support Archive Operations Core functions Manchester (UK) Lisbon (P); Zürich (CH); Prague (CZ)

4 ROLE of the ARC-nodes Provide face-to-face user support (post-obs.) Offer help with specific expertises Provide user feedback Build a community Be involved with software development manuals, cookbooks (e.g. CASA-testing: Socorro, ESO) Share with the other ARCs/ARC-nodes +. TBD (e.g., be involved in commissioning/science verification phase)

5 Italy & ALMA Italy strong supporter of the project within ESO. ALMA science day, Rome, Dec. 2004: 80 scientists from almost all Observatories and many University Departments. ALMA Extragalactic Meeting, Bologna, June 2005 Strong interest in: planetary sciences, star formation, stellar evolution, galaxy formation, high-redshift universe, cosmology (connection with CMB projects e.g. Planck, Sport, Boomerang,..).

6 Italy & ALMA National ALMA Commission established in June Report recommended: IRA to host ALMA Regional Centre Primarily based on IRA s extensive experience with (radio) interferometrical instruments, observing techniques, software packages and development, and managing large data sets (see presentation by Nanni)

7 IRA - Computer Centre Supports national community > 25 yrs in use of radioastronomical packages (AIPS), managing of databases of catalogues (DIRA2), archives, etc. Planned for ARC-node: 100 Tbyte storage capacity. Computing power provided by 64-bit CPUs (parallel Beowulf systems of at least 16 stations). GRID-technology (See presentation by Nanni)

8 Community-building Coordinate and develop Italian activities (presently Bologna, Florence and Trieste). Key-programmes, future instrument developments. Create expertise in radio/mm-interferometry; instruct young (and mature ) scientists (schools, post-docs, Marie Curie Fellowships). first step: National project Preparation for ALMA (P.I. Walmsley) funded by INAF (74 researchers from 6 institutes)

9 First national ALMA/ARC-node meeting, March 2007 Familiarize community with ARC(nodes)-system Identify projects of common scientific interest regarding ALMA apply for INAF funding for these projects; build expertise; organize on national basis and be competitive Identify which areas of expertise would be required of ARC-node Data handling / GRID technology Mosaicing Coordinating surveys/key-projects (creating and maintaining catalogues etc.) Polarimetry

10 Location: IRA (Bologna) headquarters. Easily reachable. Office space already available at IRA Proposed staff (see next slide) Logistics and support Computer support (see previous slide) INAF support for temporary positions, hardware and logistics. Budget allocated by INAF: starting in 2005 (15 ke; training); For 2006: 25 ke (postdoc); 2007: 50 ke (post-doc, hardware, travel)

11 Present: ARC-working group consisting of: 6 staff-members Present & future situation I 2 post-docs: 1 experienced in VLBI (radio, extra-galactic) [Rossetti; ARC] 1 experienced in (sub-) mm (galactic) observations; preparation for ALMA [Fontani; INAF] Rossetti: One of 4 EU CASA-user support specialists who will train EU community in its use, and act as interface between the EUusers and developers at NRAO.

12 Present & future situation II Immediate Future: 2 nd year postdoc for Rossetti; 6 months for Fontani (Nov/Dec. 2007) 1 new post-doc (Comp. Science) to be hired 2008? 1 system manager to be hired in 2008? Hardware acquisition: 2007/08 Long-term: 2010: 1 FTE provided by (4-6) IRA-staff; 1 administrator; 1 system manager; 4 post-doc positions. + Involve experts from other institutes

13 Future activities March/April: 2 nd ALMA/ARC-node meeting. Tim de Zeeuw (DG-ESO), Paola Andreani (EU-ARC Manager), Leonardo Testi (EU Project Scientist) CASA tutorial. Italian ARC-node (Rossetti) will instruct potential users in workings of CASA Travelling seminar. ARC-node personnel [or ESO-ARC staff] will visit community to illustrate ALMA project and science possibilities Web page Italian ARC-node

14 What needs to improve/change -INAF has signed letter of Expression of Interest implicitely underwriting the timeline and long-term cost estimate of the ARC-node. Yet financing is not guaranteed, and yearly request required. Need assignment of long-term (3-5 years) budget -For efficient operation and compliance with MoU between the EU-nodes, need certain staffing levels. Wish to attract people from outside Italy. Hence: offer competitive salary and duration of temporary positions, i.e. must be able to offer postdocs for 2+1 year from start. -For optimum synergy, IRA needs to provide/create scientific environment that is profitable to ARC-node. Therefore: IRA staff should be expanded with (sub-)mm astronomers; At University: need course(s) in ISM, SF, submm-astronomy (to create pool of potential ALMA users, ARC collaborators).