Integrating and strengthening the European Research Area ERA-NET Coordination and Support Action ASTRONET Coordinating Strategic Planning for European Astronomy Contract n° 262162 Starting date : 1 January 2011 Duration : 4 ½ years Deliverable number 5.10 Report on the implementation of the radio telescope review committee Title recommendations Work package 5 Due date 30/6/2015 Submission date 11/6/2015 Organisation name(s) of NWO / INAF lead contractor for this deliverable Saskia Matheussen Prepared by on behalf of the European Radio Telescope Review Committee (ERTRC) Approved by Board Released by Project Coordinator Nature Report Revision v1.0 Project co-funded by the European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013) Dissemination Level PU Public x PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services) RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services) Coversheet.D5.10 2 1 ERTRC report: Final version – June 2015 2 Table of Contents List of figures ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 List of tables ....................................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 – Background and method ............................................................................................................. 12 2.2 – New horizons in radio astronomy ........................................................................................... 12 2.3 – Approach and mode of operation ............................................................................................ 13 2.4 – Organization of this report ......................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 3: Review of major European radio telescopes ................................................................. 15 3.1 – Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 15 3.2 – Regional interferometers: e-MERLIN, WSRT, and AMI ..................................................... 15 3.2.1 – e-MERLIN ............................................................................................................................................................... 15 3.2.2 – WSRT – The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope .................................................................. 17 3.2.3 – AMI – Arcminute Micro-kelvin Imager ..................................................................................................... 18 3.2.4 – Major regional interferometers outside Europe: ATCA, JVLA and GMRT .......................... 18 3.3 – Pan-European interferometers: EVN & LOFAR ................................................................... 19 3.3.1 – EVN – European VLBI Network .................................................................................................................. 19 3.3.2 – LOFAR – Low-Frequency Array ................................................................................................................. 20 3.3.3 – Other major, non-European facilities: VLBA, MeerKAT and ASKAP ..................................... 22 3.4 – Large single dishes: Effelsberg, Lovell, Yevpatoria, Nançay and Sardinia ................. 23 3.4.1 – Effelsberg ................................................................................................................................................................ 23 3.4.2 – Lovell ......................................................................................................................................................................... 24 3.4.3 – Yevpatoria .............................................................................................................................................................. 25 3.4.4 – Nançay ..................................................................................................................................................................... 25 3.4.5 – Sardinia .................................................................................................................................................................... 26 3.4.6 – Other major, non-European facilities: Arecibo, Parkes, GBT and FAST .............................. 26 3.5 – Medium-sized single dishes: Medicina, Noto, Metsähovi, Onsala, Toruń and Yebes ......................................................................................................................................................................... 27 3.5.1 – Medicina and Noto ............................................................................................................................................. 27 3.5.2 – Metsähovi ............................................................................................................................................................... 28 3.5.3 – Onsala ...................................................................................................................................................................... 28 3.5.4 – Toruń ......................................................................................................................................................................... 29 3.5.5 – Yebes ........................................................................................................................................................................ 30 3.5.6 – Other medium-sized facilities ....................................................................................... 30 3.6 – Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................... 30 A.1 – Graphical comparison of telescope parameters ................................................................ 31 Chapter 4: Addressing the ASTRONET Science Vision goals with existing European radio telescopes ........................................................................................................................................................ 39 4.1 – Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 39 4.2 – Contributions of radio astronomy to the ASTRONET Science Vision .......................... 39 A. Do we understand the extremes of the Universe? ................................................................... 39 A1. How did the Universe begin? ............................................................................................................................... 39 A2. What is dark matter and energy? ...................................................................................................................... 39 A3. Can we observe strong gravity in action? ..................................................................................................... 41 A4. How do supernovae and gamma-ray bursts work? ................................................................................. 41 A5. How do black hole accretion, jets and outflows operate? .................................................................... 42 A6. What do we learn from energetic radiation and particles? .................................................................. 42 B. How do galaxies form and evolve? ................................................................................................ 43 B1. How did the Universe emerge from the Dark Ages?............................................................................... 43 B2. How did the structure of the cosmic web evolve? .................................................................................... 43 B3. Where are most of the metals throughout cosmic time? ...................................................................... 44 B4. How were galaxies assembled? ........................................................................................................................ 44 3 B5. How did our galaxy form? ...................................................................................................................................... 45 C. What is the origin and evolution of stars and planets? .......................................................... 46 C1. How do stars form? ................................................................................................................................................... 46 C2. Do we understand stellar structure and evolution? ................................................................................. 46 C3. What is the life cycle of the interstellar medium and stars? ................................................................ 47 C4. How do planetary systems form and evolve? ............................................................................................. 47 C5. What is the diversity