First results from CARMA: the combined array for research in millimeter-wave astronomy
Abstract
The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) comprises the millimeter-wave antennas of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO), the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) Array, and the new Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array (SZA). CARMA consists of six 10.4-m, nine 6.1-m, and eventually eight 3.5-m diameter antennas on a site at elevation 2200 m in the Inyo Mountains near Bishop, California. The array will be operated by an association that includes the California Institute of Technology and the Universities of California (Berkeley), Chicago, Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and Maryland. Observations will be supported at wavelengths of 1 cm, 3 mm, and 1.3 mm, on baselines from 5 m to 2 km. The initial correlator will use field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology to provide all single-polarization cross-correlations on two subarrays of 8 and 15 antennas with a total bandwidth of 8 GHz on the sky. The next generation correlator will correlate the full 23-antenna array in both polarizations. CARMA will support student training, technology development, and front-line astronomical research in a wide range of fields including cosmology, galaxy formation and evolution, star and planet formation, stellar evolution, chemistry of the interstellar medium, and within the Solar System, comets, planets, and the Sun. Commissioning of CARMA began in August 2005, after relocation of the antennas to the new site. The first science observations commenced in April 2006.
Additional Information
© 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). We wish first to thank all current and former CARMA staff, who have made CARMA a reality. Partial support for operations at the OVRO and BIMA arrays has long been provided by grants from the National Science Foundation. CARMA construction has been supported by NSF Grants AST-9977420, 0116558, 0228953, 0228955, 0228963, 0228974, and by contributions from the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Maryland. We are particularly grateful for the construction funding provided by the Kenneth and Eileen Norris Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Associates of the California Institute of Technology. Photographic credits: J. R. Forster (Figures 1, 5), E. M. Leitch (3), E. H. Wenk (6b).Attached Files
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 97245
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20190718-150926467
- AST-9977420
- NSF
- AST-0116558
- NSF
- AST-0228953
- NSF
- AST-0228955
- NSF
- AST-0228963
- NSF
- AST-0228974
- NSF
- Caltech
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- University of Maryland
- Kenneth and Eileen Norris Foundation
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Associates of the California Institute of Technology
- Created
-
2019-07-18Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Series Name
- Proceedings of SPIE
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 6267