KAPTEYN ASTRONOMICAL INSTITUTE 2003 KAPTEYN ASTRONOMICAL INSTITUTE University of Groningen ANNUAL REPORT 2003 Groningen, May 2004 2 Cover: Multi-wavelength image of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253. The deep optical image is made by David Malin, the blue shows the bright optical disk as seen in the Digitized Sky Survey, the red is soft X-ray emission from ROSAT, and the green contours are neutral hydrogen from the Compact Array. (Boomsma, Oosterloo, Fraternali, Van der Hulst and Sancisi). Neutral hydrogen is now detected up to more than 10 kpc from the plane of the galaxy. This gas has probably been dragged up by the superwind produced by the central starburst. CONTENTS 1. FOREWORD............................................................................................ 1 2. EDUCATION............................................................................................ 7 3. RESEARCH ............................................................................................11 3.1 History of astronomy...............................................................................11 3.2 Stars .......................................................................................................11 3.3 Circumstellar Matter, Interstellar Medium, and Star Formation...............12 3.4 Structure and Dynamics of Galaxies.......................................................16 3.5 Quasars and Active Galaxies .................................................................32 3.6 Clusters, High-Redshift Galaxies and Large Scale Structure .................36 3.7 Computing at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute ...................................43 3.8 Instrumentation.......................................................................................47 APPENDIX I : PUBLICATIONS 2003 ...............................................................55 I.1 Papers in scientific journals, books..........................................................55 I.2 Conference papers ..................................................................................62 I.3 Dissertations............................................................................................71 I.4 Reports, popular articles..........................................................................71 APPENDIX II : Participation in scientific meetings............................................73 APPENDIX III : Visits to institutes abroad.........................................................83 III.1 Work visits .............................................................................................83 III.2 Observing trips.......................................................................................85 APPENDIX IV : Colloquia, popular lectures......................................................87 IV.1 Colloquia given outside Groningen........................................................87 IV.2 Popular lectures ....................................................................................89 APPENDIX V : Colloquia in Groningen.............................................................91 APPENDIX VI : Visiting scientists in Groningen ...............................................97 APPENDIX VII Memberships, etc.....................................................................99 APPENDIX VIII : Personnel (Dec. 31, 2003) ..................................................105 APPENDIX IX : Organisation of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute...............107 APPENDIX X : Telephone numbers and electronic mail addresses ...............109 APPENDIX XI : Address.................................................................................113 4 1. FOREWORD General This annual report follows the usual format. The staff of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute is responsible for the educational program in astronomy at Groningen University and for the astronomical research, including instrumentation development. The Institute has a close collaboration with the Groningen laboratory of the Netherlands Foundation for Space Research (SRON). Also, it is part of the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), which has been awarded extra funding in the “bonus-incentives scheme” (known as the “dieptestrategie”) for top research schools in the Netherlands. Ken Freeman was appointed the Blaauw visiting professor for 2003. Due to personal circumstances having to do with the fire in Canberra that also destroyed a large part of the Mount Stromlo Observatory, he was not able to spent an extended period at the Institute. He will visit again in the course of 2004. Ken did give the Blaauw lecture on "Globular Clusters: Cannonballs of the Cosmos" on November 19, 2003. On May 1 the permanent staff of the Institute held a retreat in Kloosterburen, discussing for a full day aspects of the future of the Institute. In this particular case the discussions focussed on a changes in the educational system at the universities. Education In 2003 the new bachelor/master curriculum in astronomy entered its second year. This five-year curriculum, with a three-year bachelor and a two-year master program follows to a large extent the five-year curriculum which started in 1999. The new curriculum is slowly stabilising, though at the horizon ideas develop to introduce a major/minor system within the framework of a general bachelor degree in natural science and technology. Development of astronomy major and minor programs is slowly beginning. Our new staff member Reynier Peletier has taken over the effort to design a curriculum for students interested in instrumentation. This is being done in collaboration with SRON and ASTRON and the applied physics group of Groningen University. The program is designed to be attractive to both (applied) physics and astronomy students. This master “stream” will probably be named “Advanced Instrumentation and Space Research Technology”. In 2003 nine new students in astronomy arrived. The total number of students at the end of 2003 was 47. Six students received a masters degree. The staff of the Kapteyn Institute taught 15 courses. 1 NOVA The Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), has in 1998 been awarded extra funding in the "bonus-incentives scheme" (in Dutch "dieptestrategie") for top research schools in the Netherlands. Part of this program involves instrumentation developments; of these the major contributions to the OmegaCam wide-field Camera for the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) on Paranal, Chile and receiver development for the Atacame Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), also to be erected in Chile, are for the main part carried out at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute and the Groningen laboratory of the Netherlands Foundation for Space Research (SRON). Progress during 2003 has been significant and is described in the report. Important to note is that the ALMA consortium won a contract for 4 MEuro from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to produce 8 prototype receivers for Band 9. Possibly this may eventually lead to a contract for the full set of 64 receivers plus spares. The other part of the NOVA program concerns positions for Ph.D. students and postdocs, overlap appointments in the permanent staff a few years before a retirement and colloquia (see below). Research schools that involve more than one university has one of these as administrative principal partner ("penvoerder" or "pen-holder"), which acts on behalf of all the participating universities. At the founding of NOVA in 1992 it was decided that this would rotate every recognition period of five years between the participating universities, first Leiden and then Amsterdam. Since September 2002 this "pen-holdership" resides in Groningen for five years. In 2003 the important point of the extension of the funds of the bonus incentives scheme funds (2005–2009) was on the agenda. Although the program was approved for a full 10 years, funding had only been allocated up to mid-2005, the rest depending on a mid-term evaluation. For this a detailed "Self-evaluation of Phase 1 and Plans for Phase 2" had to be prepared. The plans for Phase 2 were based on the Strategic Plan "Astronomy in the Nether- lands; strategy for 2001–2010", that was drawn up by the astronomical commu- nity in 2001. The NOVA Instrument Steering Committee (ISC) made a final selection of proposals that had been solicited for instruments to be funded out of Phase 2. On this basis and after further discussions within the NOVA Board and senior astronomers the final document was produced. Before submitting to Netherlands Foundation for Research in the Netherlands (NWO) this document was put before the International Advisory Board (IAB). This committee is chaired by John Bahcall (Princeton). The membership can be found in appendix IX. The IAB submitted a very positive report on the self-evaluation and fully endorsed the program for the second phase. NWO asked a committee under Reinder van Duijnen (former chairman of NWO) to advise on the NOVA document and those of the other five top research schools. The Board of NOW advised the Minister on the basis of this and around the turn of the year the Minister decided to continue all six schools. Although a request was put in for a correction for inflation and for a ramp-down after the end of the period, and although both had been taken over by the NWO Board, the Minister did not provide additional funds over and above what was foreseen at the start of the scheme. In 2004 the final plans for Phase 2 will have to be defined and adapted 2 to the funding provided.