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C Project Description C PROJECT DESCRIPTION C.1 Overview Understanding the Sun has always been a vital quest of science because the Sun is the most significant astronomical object for humankind. Exciting observations of solar magnetic activity from recent space missions, such as Yohkoh, TRACE and SoHO, have stimulated both scientific and public interest in the Sun. They have highlighted the pervasive role magnetic fields play in determining the nature of the important physical processes driving solar activity and variability. Most importantly, these new observations Above: Complex loop have put new emphasis on the intrinsic relationship between small-scale physical structure seen with TRACE in a flaring processes and large-scale phenomena (e.g., coronal mass ejections). Meanwhile, because active region (A. Title). of improvements in computational capabilities, physical theory and numerical modeling Below: Close up of solar are now addressing the fundamental scales and processes in the highly magnetized and flux tubes penetrating the turbulent plasma of the solar atmosphere. Our knowledge has now reached a point where solar surface seen with the Dunn Solar Telescope and a new solar telescope is needed to make important progress. Now is the time because of adaptive optics (T. a fortunate confluence of new space observations and advanced numerical modeling. Rimmele). Together, these make it necessary to obtain observations of small-scale magnetism in order to understand the basic forces of solar activity. Recent breakthroughs in adaptive optics have eliminated the major technical impediment to making such observations. Even so, the current generation of solar telescopes (dating back to the 1960s) are too small and can neither resolve these small-scale physical processes nor accurately measure the magnetic field. Thus there is no unequivocal observational verification of current models or guidance for future modeling improvements. This impasse is recognized by the astronomy community, which has advanced strong scientific arguments for a large-aperture solar telescope. The most recent arguments are presented in the latest NSF/NASA Astronomy & Astrophysics Survey Committee (AASC) Decadal Survey (2000) and the NAS/NRC report on “Ground-Based Solar Research: An Assessment and Strategy for the Future” (1999). These reports make a strong and persuasive case for high-resolution studies of the solar atmosphere and the Sun’s magnetic field. The generation of magnetic fields through dynamo processes, the amplification of fields through the interaction with plasma flows, and the dissipation of fields are still poorly understood. There is incomplete insight as to what physical mechanisms are responsible for heating the corona, what causes variations in the radiative output of the Sun, and what mechanisms trigger the flares and coronal mass ejections that affect the Earth, its climate, and its near space environment. Progress in answering these critical questions requires study of the interaction of the magnetic field and convection with a resolution sufficient to observe scales fundamental to these processes—i.e., the pressure scale height, the photon mean-free path length, and the fundamental magnetic structure size. This proposal presents scientific rationale for a national investment in a new, ground-based, large-aperture solar telescope – the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST). Such a telescope is required to provide high angular resolution and high sensitivity measurements that cannot be achieved any other way. The broad wavelength coverage (from the visible into the thermal infrared) provided by the proposed ATST also provides a unique capability and will allow observations spanning from the photosphere into the corona. Development of a 4-m solar telescope presents several challenges not faced by large nighttime telescopes. The enormous flux of energy from the Sun makes thermal control a paramount consideration, both to remove the heat without degrading telescope performance and to control mirror seeing. To achieve diffraction-limited performance, a powerful adaptive optics system is required that operates from the visible to infrared wavelength using solar structure as the wavefront sensing target. Low scattered light is essential for observing the corona but also to accurately measure the physical properties of small structures in, for example, sunspots. Highly efficient contamination control of the primary and secondary mirrors must therefore be addressed. The following major recent achievements in technology and instrumentation now make it possible to realize the ATST. A solar adaptive optics system in the visible and infrared is now in operation at NSO’s Dunn Solar Telescope (DST). The Dutch Open Telescope (DOT) has an open-air design that provides diffraction-limited - 1 - images. The development of high-precision vector polarimeters for the visible (NSO/HAO Advanced Stokes Polarimeter, the Swiss ETH ZIMPOL I and II polarimeters) and the infrared (e.g., NSO Near Infrared Magnetograph), and finally, the availability of large-format, high-speed detectors for the visible and infrared make it possible to do high-resolution imaging and precision spectroscopy and polarimetry over substantial fields of view. The ATST is a community wide program that will occur in two major phases. This proposal is for the design and development (D&D) phase. The early portion of the design phase will consist of concept development, refinement of science objectives, feasibility and engineering studies that address key technologies, specific conceptual designs for major subsystems, and critical design trade-offs and their effect on science drivers and costs. A concept design review (CoDR) will be held before detailed design work begins. The latter portion of the design phase consists of developing the detailed design and estimating definitive costs. A site survey will be carried out during the D&D phase. A site for the ATST will be selected based on the results of this survey. Dividing the project into a separate design and development phase is a model based on the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) project. It permits better cost-control and will provide a more accurate estimate of the construction costs. The D&D phase will cost approximately $12.9M and includes technical trade studies, site selection, both telescope and instrument detailed designs, and a well-costed construction plan. Rigorous project management practices will be applied throughout the project. A critical design review will occur in the fourth year and will be followed by a construction phase proposal. During the second phase, we will construct, integrate, and commission the telescope. The cost of the project, including the design phase, is estimated at $70M. During the D&D phase, we intend to develop national and international partnerships to provide part of the construction cost (see support letters in Section I). The ATST D&D project is summarized in this project description, which also includes a discussion of the extensive educational outreach opportunities presented by the ATST project. Because of its potential for revolutionizing solar physics, its key role in the suite of solar instruments that will investigate the Sun over the next few decades, and the technical challenges posed by its development, three appendices are included to fully describe the project. Appendix I provides a detailed description of the science objectives and their implication for telescope design. Appendix II is a discussion of the technical effort needed to develop an ATST design, including design trade-off studies and instrument design. Appendix III describes the management plan, organizational structure, and work breakdown. To enhance the flow of the project description, the bibliography in Section D is referenced only in the detailed science write-up in Appendix I as well as the technical description in Appendix II. C.2 Science Drivers C.2.1 Why Does Solar Physics Need a Large-Aperture Telescope? The solar atmosphere provides an ideal laboratory to study the dynamic interaction of magnetic fields and plasma. Magnetoconvection is a fundamental process that is at the heart of many key problems of solar astronomy and astrophysics in general. Simulation of interaction between For example, understanding the evolution of magnetic flux in the lower atmosphere convection and flux tubes (O. is essential in addressing the most pressing problems in solar physics, such as the Steiner). origin of magnetic fields, the irradiance variability, and heating of the corona. Magnetic fields provide channels for energy and momentum transport, thereby closely coupling the dynamics of the upper atmosphere to the convectively driven dynamic behavior of the magnetic field near the surface of the Sun. The photosphere represents a crucial interaction region where energy is easily transformed from one form to another. For example, kinetic energy from convective motion can be easily transformed into magnetic energy. The energy stored in the magnetic field is eventually dissipated at higher layers of the solar atmosphere, sometimes in the form of violent flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that ultimately affect the Phase-diversity reconstruction Earth and drive space weather. The different layers of the solar atmosphere, namely of solar photosphere showing bright structures associated with magnetic the photosphere, the chromosphere and the corona are connected through the fields (Paxman, Seldin, Keller) magnetic field and therefore
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