NEwsletter Edition 59 May 2021 Call for Proposals Deadline: 01 june 2021, 16:00:00 UTC 15 10 5 Relative DEC [mas] 0 5 0 5 10 15 Relative− RA [mas]− − Telescopes unite in First RadioAstron view of the Tracing HI outflows in radio unprecedented observations of quasar 3C 345 in polarisation galaxies down to the pc scales famous black hole EVN online mini-Symposium and A new surface for the Lovell 76m Italy joins the JIVE ERIC Users’ meeting, radio telescope in Jodrell Bank 12-14 July 2021 In this issue Call for Proposals: Deadline: 01 June 2021, 16:00:00 UTC Tracing HI outflows in radio galaxies down to the PC scales Science Telescopes unite in unprecedented observations of famous black hole Highlights Highly polarised microstructure in a fast radio burst First RadioAstron view of the quasar 3C 345 in polarisation Network News from Jodrell Bank Highlights Updates from the Sardina Radio Telescope Italy joins the JIVE ERIC ERIC forum elects Francisco Colomer, director of JIVE-ERIC, as new chair other EVN online mini-Symposium and Users Meeting in news 2021 EVN e-Seminars Opticon-RadioNet pilot started Welcome Tiziana Venturi, Chair of the EVN Francisco “Paco” Colomer, Consortium Board of Directors Director of JIVE We welcome you to the new issue of the EVN Newsletters, which is rich in new scientific results and important technical improvements. Among the many exciting news items presented here, we wish to draw your attention to the excellent contribution of the EVN and JIVE to the global effort to study M87, the study of HI in AGNs, fast radio busts (thanks to the impressive time resolution achieved by the SFXC correlator) and polarization studies with Radioastron, all of these reinforcing the need of coordinated observations among VLBI and other facilities. The health situation is still difficult in many European countries, however the EVN observations and operations are being carried out regularly. Session 1, 2021 has been successfully completed and the observations are being correlated. Moreover, upgrades in Jodrell Bank Observatory and Sardinia Radio Telescope are reported. While the next 15th EVN Symposium has been postponed to July 2022, and will be held in Cork, it has been decided to hold a smaller online event, to ensure that our strong and enthusiastic VLBI community can meet and share results and discussion. This EVN mini-Symposium will take place online on 12-14 July 2021 and will include invited and contributed talks. A Users’ meeting will be organized in one of the sessions. The very successful EVN online seminars are being continued, and the calendar for the next set of talks will be distributed soon. The JIVE family has expanded, and Italy is now a full member of the JIVE ERIC since 12 March 2021. This is a major achievement, considering that Italy has been one of the founding EVN institutes. We thank our community for continuing to deliver excellent science even in these difficult times. Call For Proposals Deadline: 01 june 2021, 16:00:00 UTC Details of the call: https://www.evlbi.org Observing proposals are invited for the It is located primarily in Europe and Asia, with European VLBI Network (EVN). The EVN facility additional antennas in South Africa and Puerto is open to all astronomers. Astronomers with Rico. The EVN provides very high sensitivity limited or no VLBI experience are particularly images at angular scales of (sub-) encouraged to apply for observing time. milliarcseconds in the radio domain. EVN Student proposals are judged favorably. proposals may also request joint e-MERLIN Support with proposal preparation, and EVN observations for an improved uv- scheduling, correlation, data reduction and coverage at short spacings, significantly analysis can be requested from the Joint increasing the largest detectable angular size Institute for VLBI ERIC (JIVE). to arcsecond scales. Further improvement of the uv-coverage may be achieved in global The EVN is a Very Long Baseline Interferometry VLBI observations when the EVN observes (VLBI) network of radio telescopes operated jointly with NRAO/GBO telescopes or with the by an international consortium of institutes. Long Baseline Array. 4 EVN observations may be conducted with might also impose total bit-rate limitations on disk recording (standard) or in real-time a particular e-VLBI day. The current status is correlation (e-VLBI), which guarantees a rapid given in the ‘operational modes’ section on turnaround. Standard EVN observations are http://www.evlbi.org/capabilities. available at wavelengths of 92, 21/18, 13, 6, 5, 3.6, 1.3 and 0.7 cm. e-VLBI observations Observations at 18/21 cm in either disk- can be performed at 21/18, 6, 5, and 1.3 recording or e-VLBI are limited to a data rate cm. e-MERLIN can be combined with the EVN of 1 Gbps due to bandwidth limitations. in both standard and e-VLBI observations. The choice of data rate should be clearly Global observations are performed only with justified in the proposal. standard observations. Every year standard EVN observations occur during three Availability of EVN antennas sessions of approximately 21 days each and ten separate days are available for e-VLBI The latest status of the EVN antennas can be observations. More information regarding found on http://www.evlbi.org/capabilities. the EVN capabilities, availabilities of EVN antennas, observing sessions, proposal The Sardinia Radio Telescope will not be guidelines, and user support can be found at offered in the second semester of 2021 due www.evlbi.org. to the planned upgrade at higher frequencies. When more information is available, this will Recording capabilities for the next be published on https://www.radiotelescopes. standard EVN and e-VLBI sessions inaf.it/info.html. Disk recording at 2 Gbps is available at 6, Possibilities of including a 12m antenna at 3.6, 1.3 and 0.7 cm; telescopes that cannot Arecibo Observatory in EVN observations are usefully reach this will use the highest being discussed. For more information see possible bit-rate (mixed mode observation). http://www.naic.edu. The present recording status is given here. The three Quasar antennas of the Russian New: Disk recording at 4 Gbps is now available VLBI Network (Badary, Svetloe and at 6, 3.6, 1.3 and 0.7 cm for a subset of Zelenchukskaya) are also available for e-VLBI. antennas for a limited amount of time and on a best-effort basis. Telescopes that cannot The Tianma 65m telescope (Tm65) is located usefully reach this data rate will use the highest about 6 km away from the 25 m Seshan possible bit-rate (mixed mode observation). Itelescope (Sh). The 2-letter abbreviation Proposals requesting 4 Gbps should clearly for Tm65 telescope is T6. Both of these justify the need for this data rate. Given the telescopes can observe at 18, 13, 6, 5 and limited opportunity for such shared-risk 4 3.6 cm. Tm65 can also observe at 21, 1.3 Gbps observations, proposals for that bit-rate and 0.7 cm. Tm65 is the default telescope; should therefore include whether they could Sh will be used if Tm65 is not available for also be performed at 2 Gbps (mentioning the some reason. If you select both, you should observing time needed at 2 Gbps) or if the also discuss the motivation for the very short science objectives are impossible to reach at baseline in the proposal. data rates < 4 Gbps. See here for the current 4 Gbps recording status. The Korean VLBI Network (KVN) is an Associate Member of the EVN. KVN telescopes e-VLBI at 2 Gbps is available at 6 cm and 1.3 may be requested for EVN observations at 1.3 cm; telescopes that cannot usefully reach this cm and 7 mm wavelengths. For more details will use the highest possible bit-rate (mixed regarding the KVN, see: http://radio.kasi. mode observation). Network circumstances re.kr/kvn/main_kvn.php. 5 Science Highlights TRACING HI OUTFLOWS IN RADIO GALAXIES DOWN TO THE PC SCALES Rafaella Morganti, ASTRON, the Netherlands Supermassive black holes (SMBH) are detected by observing this gas in absorption. ubiquitous in the centre of massive galaxies This gives us the unique possibility to explore and play an important role in the evolution the properties of the outflows down to the of galaxies. When active, they can release smallest scales thanks to HI observations huge amounts of energy which affects the using VLBI. In this way, we can accurately gas around them. One of the manifestations probe the location, extent and physical of this is fast and massive gas outflows. properties of the outflowing gas. They are important for the evolution of the host galaxy: expelling the gas and thereby A few years ago, we have started a project stopping or decreasing the formation of new to image some of the best low redshift stars. Observations confirm that gas outflows cases of HI outflows in radio galaxies using are common in these active galactic nuclei broad-band, spectral-line observations with (AGN) and cosmological simulations need the global VLBI network. The observations, them for predicting the properties of observed the data reduction and analysis are rather galaxies. demanding and making progresses requires time. But the final results are very rewarding! One mechanism that can drive these outflows The first results for two famous radio is the interaction of radio plasma jets with the galaxies (4C12.50 and 3C236) obtained in surrounding gas. Particularly interesting is this campaign were presented in Morganti et the fact that, despite the extremely energetic al. 2013 and Schulz et al. 2018 (see also the phenomena, these outflows can be traced EVN Newsletter Number 52 - January 2019).