Collaborative Research: Astronomy with CARMA - Raising our Sites

摘要毫米天文联合阵列（CARMA）正在一个新的地点合并两个由天文科学部大学射电天文台（URO）计划支持的现有望远镜阵列。这是加州理工学院欧文斯谷射电天文台（OVRO）的6个直径10.4米的望远镜阵列，以及伯克利伊利诺伊马里兰协会（BIMA）的9个直径6.1米的望远镜阵列。CARMA将在1mm波长处实现高达0.2弧秒的分辨率，并且由于其望远镜直径的非均匀组合，将在所有角度尺度上提供出色的成像。CARMA在1mm波段的灵敏度将比现有阵列高一个数量级，因为新站点的大气衰减更低，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，以及自适应大气相位校正。CARMA带来的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，以及太阳系天体的研究。

ABSTRACTThe Combined Array for Millimeter Astronomy (CARMA) is in the process of merging at a new site two existing telescope arrays 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, 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, and the investigation of solar system objects.