Collaborative Research: The CARMA Array

毫米天文组合阵列(CARMA)将在一个新的地点合并目前由天文科学系大学射电天文台(URO)计划支持的两个现有望远镜阵列。这些是加州理工学院的欧文斯山谷射电天文台(OVRO)阵列，由6个直径10.4米的望远镜组成，以及伯克利-伊利诺伊州马里兰州协会(BIMA)阵列，由9个6.1米直径的望远镜组成。Carma将在1毫米波长下实现高达0.2角秒的分辨率，由于其望远镜直径的不同组合，将在所有角度尺度上提供出色的成像。Carma在1 mm波段的灵敏度将比现有阵列的灵敏度高一个数量级，这是因为新站点(距离当前OVRO站点约15英里的Inyo山脉的8000‘高原)的大气衰减较低，以及合并后的阵列具有更大的收集面积、改进的接收器和光谱仪以及自适应的大气相位校正。由CARMA促成的这项新科学涵盖了广泛的天文学主题，包括恒星形成和分子云、外部星系的研究、使用Sunyaev-Zeldovich效应的宇宙学研究，以及太阳系天体的调查。

ABSTRACTAST 0228953The Combined Array for Millimeter Astronomy (CARMA) will merge at a new site two existing telescope arrays currently supported by the Division of Astronomical Science's University Radio Observatories (URO) Program. These are Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) array of six 10.4-meter-diameter telescopes, and the Berkeley Illinois Maryland Association (BIMA) array of nine 6.1-meter-diameter telescopes. CARMA will achieve resolutions as high as 0.2 arcseconds at a wavelength of 1mm and, due to its heterogeneous combination of telescope diameters, will provide excellent imaging on all angular scales. CARMA's sensitivity in the 1 mm band will be an order of magnitude greater than that of the existing arrays due to the lower atmospheric attenuation of the new site (an 8000' plateau in the Inyo Mountains about 15 miles from the current OVRO site), and the merged array's greater collecting area, improved receivers and spectrometer, and adaptive atmospheric phase correction. The new science enabled by CARMA covers a broad range of astronomical topics, including star formation and molecular clouds, studies of external galaxies, cosmological studies using the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, and the investigation of solar system objects.