Continuing Exploitation of the UK Investment in the JCMT

我们建议英国继续在詹姆斯·克莱克·麦克斯韦望远镜(JCMT)的运行和科学开发中发挥重要作用。我们要求STFC在2021年4月1日至2024年4月1日期间每年向STFC提供200K GB的资金，再加上大学的捐款，我们将继续作为主要运营商东亚天文台(EAO)和加拿大约20%的合作伙伴。JCMT是世界上最大的亚毫米望远镜，而且很可能至少一直保持到2030年。我们现在申请资助的时间将包括调试新的仪器，特别是一台新的相机，它将使望远镜的测绘速度至少提高10倍。STFC的捐款将使英国继续在目前正在进行的大型项目中发挥重要作用，其中许多项目是我们牵头的，并使我们能够启动新的项目，所有这些都是非常低的成本。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的技能基础的途径。因此，它留出了JCMT总观测时间的50%，用于由来自所有六个伙伴国家的联合科学小组制定和利用的大规模合作方案。因此，英国社区将在3年内获得JCMT总科学产出的60%，总成本为600K GB。除了产生出色的科学成果外，进入JCMT还使英国能够直接接触Event Horizon望远镜，其能够直接成像黑洞周围的区域，而JCMT的广域成像能力使英国天文学家在利用阿塔卡马大毫米阵列和詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜上的时间方面处于有利地位。

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.