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Pathway to the Square Kilometre Array the German White Paper Pathway to the Square Kilometre Array The German White Paper arXiv:1301.4124v1 [astro-ph.IM] 16 Jan 2013 Editors Hans-Rainer Kl¨ockner Michael Kramer Heino Falcke Dominik Schwarz Andreas Eckart Guinevere Kauffmann Anton Zensus Published by the Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie (MPIfR), Bonn, Germany Copyright: MPIfR, 2012 Reproduction is permitted, provided the source is acknowledged. Neither the MPIfR nor any person that contributed to this \White Paper" is responsible for the use by others of the information contained in this publication or can be held responsible for any errors that may remain in the text. Cover: Cover images show an artist impression of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) configuration and of the different antenna types used in the SKA. Images: SPDO/Swinburne Astronomy Productions Pathway to the Square Kilometre Array The German White Paper Editors: Hans-Rainer Kl¨ockner,Michael Kramer, Heino Falcke, Dominik Schwarz, Andreas Eckart, Guinevere Kauffmann, Anton Zensus Contributions from: F. Aharonian [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urKernphysik Heidelberg], T.G. Arshakian [I. Physikalisches Institut der Universit¨atzu K¨oln], B. Allen [Max-Planck-Institut f¨ur Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut) Hannover], R. Banerjee [Hamburger Sternwarte, Fachbereich Physik, Universit¨atHamburg], R. Beck [Max-Planck-Institut f¨ur Radioastronomie Bonn], W. Becker [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urextraterrestrische Physik Garching], D.J. Bomans [Astronomisches Institut der Ruhr-Universit¨atBochum], D. Breitschwerdt [Zentrum f¨urAstronomie and Astrophysik, Technische Universit¨atBerlin], M. Br¨uggen [Hamburger Sternwarte, Fachbereich Physik, Universit¨atHam- burg], A. Brunthaler [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], B. Catinella [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urAstrophysik Garching], D. Champion [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], B. Ciardi [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urAstrophysik Garching], R. Crocker [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urKernphysik Heidelberg], R.-J. Dettmar [As- tronomisches Institut der Ruhr-Universit¨atBochum], D. Engels [Hamburger Sternwarte, Fachbereich Physik, Universit¨atHamburg], T. Enßlin [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urAstrophysik Garching], H. Enke [Leibniz-Institut f¨urAstrophysik Potsdam], T. Fieseler [Forschungszentrum J¨ulich], L. Gizon [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urSonnensystem- forschung Katlenburg-Lindau], E. Hackmann [ZARM, Universit¨atBremen], B. Hartmann [Jacobs University Bremen], C. Henkel [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], M. Hoeft [Th¨uringerLandessternwarte Tautenburg], L. Iapichino [Institut f¨urTheoretische Astrophysik, Universit¨at Heidelberg], D. Innes [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urSonnensystemforschung Katlenburg-Lindau], C. James [Physikalisches Institut der Friedrich-Alexander Universit¨atErlangen-N¨urnberg], J. Jasche [Argelander-Institut f¨urAstronomie, Universit¨atBonn], D. Jones [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urKernphysik Heidelberg], V. Kagramanova [Institut f¨urMathematik und Naturwissenschaften, Carl von Ossietzky Universit¨atOldenburg], G. Kauffmann [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urAstrophysik Garching], E. Keane [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], J. Kerp [Argelander-Institut f¨urAstronomie, Universit¨atBonn], H.-R. Kl¨ockner [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], K. Kokkotas [Theoretische Astrophysik, Eberhard Karls Universit¨atT¨ubingen], M. Kramer [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], M. Krause [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urextraterrestrische Physik Garch- ing], M. Krause [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], N. Krupp [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urSonnensystemforschung Katlenburg-Lindau], J. Kunz [Institut f¨ur Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften, Carl von Ossietzky Universit¨atOldenburg], C. L¨ammerzahl [ZARM, Universit¨atBremen], K.J. Lee [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRa- dioastronomie Bonn], M. List [ZARM, Universit¨atBremen], K. Liu [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], A. Lobanov [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], G. Mann [Leibniz-Institut f¨urAstrophysik Potsdam], A. Merloni [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urextraterrestrische Physik Garching], E. Middelberg [Astronomisches Insti- tut der Ruhr-Universit¨atBochum], J. Niemeyer [Institut f¨urAstrophysik der Georg-August-Universit¨atG¨ottingen], A. Noutsos [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], V. Perlick [ZARM, Universit¨atBremen], W. Reich [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], P. Richter [Leibniz-Institut f¨urAstrophysik Potsdam], A. Roy [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], A. Saintonge [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urextraterrestrische Physik Garching], G. Sch¨afer [Theoretisch-Physikalisches In- stitut, Friedrich-Schiller-Universit¨atJena], J. Schaffner-Bielich [Institut f¨urTheoretische Astrophysik, Universit¨atHeidelberg], E. Schinnerer [Max-Planck-Institut f¨ur Astronomie Heidelberg], D. Schleicher [Institut f¨urAstrophysik der Georg-August-Universit¨atG¨ottingen], P. Schneider [Argelander-Institut f¨urAstronomie, Universit¨at Bonn], D.J. Schwarz [Fakult¨atf¨urPhysik, Universit¨at Bielefeld], A. Sedrakian [Institut f¨urTheoretische Physik, Goethe-Universit¨atFrankfurt], A. Sesana [Max-Planck- Institut f¨urGravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut) Potsdam], V. Smolˇci´c [Argelander-Institut f¨urAstronomie, Universit¨atBonn], S. Solanki [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urSonnensystemforschung Katlenburg-Lindau], R. Tuffs [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urKernphysik Heidelberg], M. Vetter [Fraunhofer-Institut f¨urSolare Energiesysteme ISE Freiburg], E. Weber [Fraunhofer-Institut f¨urSolare Energiesysteme ISE Freiburg], J. Weller [Universit¨atssternwarte der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit¨atM¨unchen], N. Wex [Max-Planck-Institut f¨urRadioastronomie Bonn], O. Wucknitz [Argelander-Institut f¨urAstronomie, Universit¨atBonn], M. Zwaan [European Southern Observatory Garching], Contents Vorwort V Zusammenfassung: Das Square Kilometer Array { ein Technologie-Teleskop der Superlative VII Foreword 1 1 Preamble 3 2 Executive summary: The Square Kilometre Array { a technology telescope of superlatives 3 3 Radio astronomy and its role in understanding the Universe 5 4 The SKA in the astronomical landscape 7 5 The German SKA community & the GLOW consortium 11 5.1 The German Long Wavelength Consortium and its SKA Working Group [M. Hoeft] ......... 13 6 The SKA project 15 6.1 History, Governance, Timeline & Top level management structure . 15 6.2 The telescope . 18 6.3 Cost estimation . 21 6.4 The SKA key science case . 22 6.4.1 The major science goals for SKA Phase 1 . 25 7 German involvement in technical and scientific pathfinder programmes of the SKA 27 7.1 SKA pathfinder programmes . 27 7.1.1 The SKA design study (SKADS) . 27 7.1.2 Preparatory phase proposal for the SKA (PrepSKA) . 27 7.1.3 Global organisation for the SKA (GO-SKA) . 28 7.2 SKA pathfinder telescopes . 28 7.2.1 e-MERLIN (UK) . 28 7.2.2 e-European VLBI network (eEVN) . 29 7.2.3 Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) . 29 7.2.4 Aperture tile in focus (APERTIF) . 29 7.2.5 Australian SKA pathfinder (ASKAP) . 30 7.2.6 MeerKAT . 30 7.3 Low frequency array [LOFAR] [M. Hoeft] ................................ 31 7.3.1 LOFAR { long baselines [O. Wucknitz] ............................. 32 8 The German astrophysical science interests 35 8.1 Cosmology . 35 8.1.1 Cosmology with the SKA [D.J. Schwarz] ............................ 35 8.1.2 Dark energy with the SKA [J. Weller] .............................. 38 8.1.3 Large-scale structure [M. Br¨uggen] ............................... 39 8.1.4 Baysion cosmography [J. Jasche] ................................ 40 8.1.5 Turbulence and magnetic dynamo in the cosmological large-scale structure [L. Iapichino] ... 42 8.1.6 Neutral hydrogen and the epoch of reionisation [B. Ciardi] .................. 43 8.1.7 A direct measure of the expansion rate of the Universe [H.-R. Kl¨ockner] ............ 45 I 8.2 Extragalactic astronomy . 48 8.2.1 Neutral hydrogen [M. Zwaan] .................................. 48 8.2.2 Observational studies of gas in galaxies [G. Kauffmann, B. Catinella, A. Saintonge] ......... 49 8.2.3 Constraining the neutral gas accretion rates of low-redshift galaxies with SKA [P. Richter] .. 52 8.2.4 Extragalactic water-vapour maser [C. Henkel] ......................... 53 8.2.5 Measuring the evolution of the galaxy merger rate with extragalactic hydroxyl masers [A. Roy, H.-R. Kl¨ockner] ...................................... 54 8.2.6 Gravitational lenses [O. Wucknitz] ................................ 56 8.2.7 Weak gravitational lensing with the SKA [P. Schneider] .................... 58 8.2.8 Radio continuum as a measure for dust-unbiased star formation across the Universe [E. Schinnerer, V. Smolˇci´c] ..................................... 59 8.2.9 The radio continuum view of galactic scale feedback [D.J. Bomans, R.-J. Dettmar] ....... 65 8.2.10 Active galaxies { a science perspectives [A. Lobanov] ...................... 66 8.2.11 Active galactic nuclei [A. Merloni] ................................ 67 8.2.12 Disentangling AGN from starbursts: VLBI wide field imaging [E. Middelberg] ......... 68 8.2.13 Magnetic field amplification with the small-scale dynamo model: Implications for the SKA [D.R.G. Schleicher, R. Banerjee] ................................... 69 8.2.14 The origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism [R. Beck] ................... 72 8.2.15 Evolution of magnetic fields in galaxies and testing the galactic dynamo theory [Marita Krause] 74 8.2.16 Magnetic fields in spiral galaxies [R. Beck, Marita Krause] .................... 76 8.2.17 Structure and evolution of magnetic fields in star-forming galaxies [T.G.
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