Newton RCUK-CONACYT MUSCAT - a new technology large-format camera for the Large Millimeter Telescope

任何望远镜的科学潜力，以及取得重要新发现的机会，不仅取决于主镜或反射面的大小，还取决于其科学仪器的性能。大型毫米望远镜（LMT）是世界上最大的望远镜，直径为50米，设计工作波长为1毫米。LMT最近开始在墨西哥中部海拔4600米的内格拉火山山顶进行科学研究。LMT是墨西哥最大的科学项目，然而，为了在未来保持其在世界天文学中的独特地位，在建设这个世界级设施方面所做的努力现在必须与同样雄心勃勃的仪器开发计划相匹配，以支持LMT的科学目标。RCUK-CONACYT研究伙伴关系为在英国和墨西哥的学生和研究人员之间建立可持续的科学合作提供了一个令人兴奋的新机会。这将对墨西哥LMT科学用户社区的发展做出重大贡献，并在墨西哥建立独立的能力，设计和制造在（亚）毫米（太赫兹）波长下工作的新技术探测器，应用于天文学和其他科学和工业领域。该提案将资助建造MUSCAT（墨西哥-英国亚毫米天文相机），这是LMT的下一代大画幅相机，是卡迪夫大学和国家天文电子研究所之间的合作项目。这台最先进的仪器将利用墨西哥之前在建造和运行大型毫米望远镜方面的投资，并使这一新的科学基础设施能够进行高影响力的“大科学”，这将为墨西哥新一代科学家、技术人员和工程师的形成提供灵感。我们的研究伙伴关系将通过一项联合科学计划，在英国和墨西哥之间转移和交流丰富的（亚）毫米天文科学知识和经验，我们希望在RCUK-CONACYT研究伙伴关系完成后，在未来扩大这一计划。这个“大科学”计划的一个组成部分将解决与宇宙整个历史结构的形成和演化相关的基本问题，这些问题是LMT的核心，也是地面詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦亚毫米望远镜和赫歇尔望远镜上的星载SPIRE相机的核心。将MUSCAT在LMT上的观测数据与JCMT和赫歇尔的档案数据相结合，将产生数据产品和研究论文，这将提高后者设施的遗产价值，并为英国在这两个变革性望远镜上的投资提供更大的科学回报。RCUK-CONACYT项目还将转移目前在墨西哥不存在的太赫兹技术和仪器方面的技能和专业知识。由于在工业和应用科学领域有广泛的商业应用，这种从英国向墨西哥的技术转让可以促进长期经济发展，并在CONACYT科学、技术和创新战略特别方案的优先部门，如卫生、电信、空间科学和国家安全，提供额外的社会效益。

The scientific potential of any telescope, and the opportunity to make important new discoveries, is based not only the size of the primary mirror or the reflecting surface, but also on the performance of its scientific instruments. The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) is the world's largest telescope, with a diameter of 50-m, designed to operate at a wavelength of 1mm. The LMT has recently started scientific operations on the summit of Volcan Sierra Negra at an altitude of 4600m, in central Mexico. The LMT is Mexico's largest scientific project, however, in order to maintain its unique position in world astronomy in the future, the and effort made in the construction of this world-class facility must now be matched with an equally ambitious instrumentation development program to support the scientific objectives of the LMT. The RCUK-CONACYT Research Partnership offers an exciting new opportunity to build a sustainable scientific collaboration between students and researchers in the UK and Mexico. This will result in a significant contribution to the development of the LMT scientific user-community in Mexico, and to the creation of an independent capability in Mexico to design and fabricate new-technology detectors operating at (sub-)mm (THz) wavelengths with applications both in astronomy and other areas of science and industry. This proposal will fund the construction of MUSCAT (Mexico-UK Sub-mm Camera for Astronomy), a next-generation large-format camera for the LMT, as a collaborative project between the University of Cardiff and the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica y Electronica. This state-of-the-art instrument will exploit the previous Mexican investment in the construction and operation of the Large Millimeter Telescope, and enable this new scientific infrastructure to conduct high-impact "Big Science" which will serve as an inspiration towards the formation of new generations of scientists, technicians and engineers in Mexico. Our research partnership will transfer and exchange a wealth of scientific knowledge and experience in (sub-)mm astronomy between the UK and Mexico through a joint scientific-program that we hope to expand in the future beyond the completion of the RCUK-CONACYT Research Partnership. An element of this "Big Science" program will address fundamental questions related to the formation and evolution of structure over the full history of the Universe that are central to the LMT, as well as the ground-based James Clerk Maxwell sub-mm telescope and the satellite-borne SPIRE camera on the Herschel telescope. The data-products and research papers that will result from the combination of MUSCAT observations on the LMT with the archival data from the JCMT and Herschel will enhance the legacy-value of both the latter facilities and provide a greater scientific-return on the UK investment in these two transformative telescopes. The RCUK-CONACYT project will also transfer skills and expertise in THz technologies and instrumentation that currently does not exist in Mexico. With a wide range of commercial applications in industry and applied sciences, this technology transfer from the UK to Mexico can enable long-term economic development and provide additional social benefits in priority sectors of the CONACYT strategic special programme for science, technology and innovation such as health, telecommunications, space-sciences, and national security.