Continuing Exploitation of the UK Investment in the JCMT

我们建议联合王国继续在詹姆斯·克拉克麦克斯韦望远镜（JCMT）的运行和科学利用方面发挥重要作用。从2021年4月1日到2024年4月1日，我们每年向STFC申请20万英镑的资金，再加上大学的捐款，将使我们能够继续与东亚天文台（EAO），主要运营商和加拿大合作约20%。JCMT是世界上最大的亚毫米望远镜，并且可能至少在2030年之前保持这种状态。我们现在要求提供资金的时期将包括启用新的仪器，特别是一台新的照相机，这将使望远镜的测绘速度至少提高10倍。STFC的贡献将使英国能够继续在目前正在进行的大型计划中发挥重要作用，其中许多计划由我们领导，并使我们能够以非常低的成本启动新的计划。EAO将JCMT的运作视为通过与英国submm社区的巨大专业知识合作来发展自己社区技能基础的途径。因此，它在JCMT上留出了50%的总观测时间，用于由来自所有六个伙伴国家的联合科学小组确定和利用的大规模合作计划。因此，英国社区将在3年内以60万英镑的总成本获得JCMT总科学产出的60%。除了产生优秀的科学，进入JCMT使英国唯一直接进入事件视界望远镜，其能够对黑洞周围的区域进行成像，JCMT的宽视场成像能力使英国天文学家处于有利地位，可以利用阿塔卡马大型毫米阵列和詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜的时间。

We propose that the UK continue to take a significant role in the operation and scientific exploitation of the James Clerk Maxwell telescope (JCMT). We request £200K per annum funding from STFC for a further 3 years from 1st April 2021 to 1st April 2024, which combined with the contributions from the universities will allow us to continue as roughly 20% partners with the East Asian Observatory (EAO), the lead operator, and Canada. The JCMT is the world's largest submm telescope and is likely to remain so until at least 2030. The period for which we now request funding will include the commissioning of new instrumentation, in particular a new camera which will increase the mapping speed of the telescope by at least a factor of 10. The STFC contribution will allow the UK to continue to play a major role in the Large Programmes currently underway, many of which we are leading, as well as allowing us to initiate new programmes, all at a remarkably low cost. The EAO see the operation of the JCMT as the route to developing the skill base of their own communities via collaboration with the enormous expertise of the UK submm community. It has therefore set aside 50% of the total observing time on the JCMT for large-scale collaborative programmes defined and exploited by joint science teams drawn from all six partner countries. The UK community therefore will gain access to effectively 60% of the total science output of the JCMT at a total cost of £600K over 3 years. As well as producing excellent science, access to the JCMT gives the only direct UK access to the Event Horizon Telescope, with its ability to image the regions immediately around black holes, and the wide-field imaging capability of the JCMT puts UK astronomers in a strong position to leverage time on the Atacama Large Millimetre Array and the James Webb Space Telescope.