Research Infrastructure: Next-generation Very Large Array Design Activities: 2024-2026

国家射电天文台(NRAO)一直在与天文学界合作开发下一代超大型阵列(NgVLA)。NgVLA被设想为一种干涉阵列，其灵敏度和空间分辨率比目前的VLA、甚长基线阵列(VLBA)和工作在1.2-116 GHz频率范围内的阿塔卡马毫米/亚毫米阵列(ALMA)高十倍。该项目将在概念设计阶段结束，对阵列中的每个主要子系统进行下选，并允许过渡到这些子系统的初步设计。将包括关键技术开发和降低风险活动，以确保可能降低成本或提高性能的新的尖端技术被考虑在下一选择中。NgVLA将是一台变革性的多学科科学仪器，它将通过对热线和连续辐射的超灵敏成像(分辨率可达毫秒级)，以及史无前例的对非热过程的宽带连续偏振成像，打开一扇了解宇宙的新窗口。这些能力是解决现代天文学中广泛关键问题的唯一手段，包括直接成像类地行星在地球区域的形成，研究尘埃遮挡的恒星形成和宇宙重子循环，向下扩展到室女座星系团，对推动恒星形成回到第一光和宇宙再电离的分子气体进行宇宙普查，以及在这个多信使天体物理的新时代探索从毫秒到几年的时间尺度上的时间现象的新技术。NgVLA将针对ALMA在亚毫米波长下的卓越性能，以及未来第一阶段平方公里阵列(SKA-1)在分米和更长波长下的出色性能之间的光谱区域的观测进行优化。NgVLA项目为学生培训提供了机会，增加了未被充分代表的群体的参与，为更广泛的美国研究社区带来了切实的好处(例如，数据档案的获取和新技术的商业化)，并对托管该设施的社区的环境和经济产生了积极影响。这项努力将向全国妇女事务办公室多样性和包容性办公室以及教育和公共外展部门提供补充资金，以扩大其核心活动，使其包括全国志愿人员协会。将受到积极影响的项目包括非裔美国人教学研究员、国家天文学联盟本科生项目以及国家和国际交流项目。除了更广泛的参与和教育影响外，ngVLA项目还将直接影响到在新墨西哥州、亚利桑那州和德克萨斯州建立一个重振旗鼓的美国高科技制造业中心，并在新墨西哥州、亚利桑那州和德克萨斯州进行精密机械制造和制造。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has been working with the astronomical community on the development of the next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA). The ngVLA is envisaged as an interferometric array with ten times greater sensitivity and spatial resolution than the current VLA, Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), operating in the frequency range of 1.2 – 116 GHz. This project will end in the conceptual design down-select for each major sub-system within the array, and allow the transition to the preliminary design of these subsystems. Critical technical development and risk reduction activities will be included to ensure that novel leading-edge technologies that may reduce cost or improve performance are considered in the down-select. The ngVLA will be a transformative, multi-disciplinary scientific instrument that will open a new window on the Universe through ultra-sensitive imaging of thermal line and continuum emission down to milliarcsecond-scale resolution, as well as unprecedented broad-band continuum polarimetric imaging of non-thermal processes. These capabilities are the only means with which to address a broad range of critical questions in modern astronomy, including direct imaging of Earth-like planet formation in the terrestrial zone, studies of dust-obscured star formation and the cosmic baryon cycle down to parsec-scales out to the Virgo cluster, undertaking a cosmic census of the molecular gas which fuels star formation back to first light and cosmic reionization, and novel techniques for exploring temporal phenomena on timescales from milliseconds to years in this new era of multi-messenger astrophysics. The ngVLA will be optimized for observations in the spectral region between the superb performance of ALMA at sub-mm wavelengths, and the future Phase I Square Kilometer Array (SKA-1) at decimeter and longer wavelengths. The ngVLA project offers opportunities for student training, increased participation of underrepresented groups, tangible benefits to the wider U.S. research community (e.g., data archive access and the commercialization of new technologies), and positive impacts to the environment and economy of the communities that host the facility. The effort will provide supplemental funding to the NRAO Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Education and Public Outreach departments to expand their core activities to include the ngVLA. Programs that will be positively impacted include the African American Teaching Fellows, the National Astronomy Consortium undergraduate program, and the National and the Inter-National Exchange program. In addition to the broader participation and educational impacts, the ngVLA project will have a direct impact on fostering a revitalized U.S. high-tech manufacturing hub in the southwest, with precision machine fabrication and manufacturing in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.