eROSITA

In 2015, CAASTRO and eROSITA_DE signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that enables collaboration on projects requiring combined data from eROSITA (launched in 2016) and from Australian wide-field facilities (including ASKAP, MWA, SKAMP, Parkes, ATCA, SkyMapper, AAT, TAIPAN). To briefly summarise, this will oversee science projects that:

  • require the use of both eROSITA_DE and CAASTRO data
  • involve at least one member from each of eROSITA_DE and CAASTRO
  • do not conflict with existing eROSITA_DE or CAASTRO projects
  • (optionally) allow participation by undergraduate and postgraduate students
  • adhere to the existing policies for the individual facilities involved (e.g. proprietary periods, data access, survey teams, observing time, publications)

Such projects will be formally proposed to, approved by and monitored by a joint CAASTRO/eROSITA_DE Management Committee, as per the details in the MoU. The CAASTRO/eROSITA_DE Management Committee currently consists of :

  • Prof Paul Nandra (eROSITA_DE)
  • Prof Elaine Sadler (CAASTRO)
  • Dr Andrea Merloni (eROSITA_DE) and
  • Ms Kate Gunn (CAASTRO).

If you instead have just a nice idea, and wish to express interest  in developing it, or to be put in touch with potential collaborators within the partner organisation, please complete the expression of interest (EoI) form (see Resources below), and send to coo@caastro.org.

Full proposals should be submitted by completing the project template form (see Resources below), and sending it to coo@caastro.org.

Update November 2017

While the MoU was signed by CAASTRO, this agreement covers all Australian astronomers. We are now preparing for a transition from the current eROSITA_DE-CAASTRO MoU to an agreement between eROSITA_DE and an entity representing the entirety of the Australian astronomical community. This transition will take place at the end of 2017, before the official ending date of CAASTRO on 31 March 2018.

Following our call for proposals and expressions of intent of last May, the first four collaborative projects have started, and a few more are in the planning.

Given all the above developments, we are now opening a new call for proposals for joint eROSITA_DE/CAASTRO projects. The Proposal submission will be open until Friday 8 December 2017 and the (new) project template is attached. Below, you’ll find information on all these three points.

Project updates

– eROSITA (http://www.mpe.mpg.de/eROSITA): all-sky X-ray imaging, 0.5-8 keV, 15″-30″ angular resolution; eROSITA_DE covers Galactic longitudes 180 < l < 360. The telescope has been completed, assembled and shipped to Russia for final test and integration into the spacecraft (see http://www.mpe.mpg.de/6686210/news-20170120). Tests are ongoing. Launch is foreseen in September/October 2018. The first all-sky survey should then be completed in Fall 2019, and it is anticipated that seven more passes of the whole sky will be completed by early 2022.

The eROSITA_DE team have agreed on a program of Early Science (Performance Verification), to be carried out within the first four months of the mission (starting approximately 2 months after launch). The full list of approved proposals, with PIs and relevant leading Working Groups is attached. We also include a schematic of the footprints of the eFEDS equatorial mini-survey, that will cover two of the three NGC equatorial GAMA regions down to the full eRASS:8 all-sky survey depth (which one of these two will depend on the exact launch date).

Point of contact for inquiries: eROSITA_DE Working Group chairs (http://www.mpe.mpg.de/455860/working_groups)

Trasition to a new MoU, and extension thereof

CAASTRO has commenced discussions with a national body to consider the transition arrangements for the eROSITA_DE and CAASTRO MoU.  These discussions are ongoing however we would anticipate a new MoU signed by the end of 2017 which will encompass all Australian astronomers.

Call for Proposals

CAASTRO and eROSITA_DE have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that enables collaboration on projects requiring combined data from eROSITA and from Australian wide-field facilities (including ASKAP, MWA, SKAMP, Parkes, ATCA, SkyMapper, AAT, TAIPAN). To briefly summarise, this will oversee science projects that:

  • require the use of both eROSITA_DE and CAASTRO/AUS data
  • involve at least one member from each of eROSITA_DE and CAASTRO/AUS
  • do not conflict with existing eROSITA_DE or CAASTRO/AUS projects
  • (optionally) allow participation by undergraduate and postgraduate students
  • adhere to the existing policies for the individual facilities involved (e.g. proprietary periods, data access, survey teams, observing time, publications)

Such projects will be formally proposed to, approved by and monitored by a joint CAASTRO/eROSITA_DE Management Committee, as per the details in the attached MoU. The CAASTRO/eROSITA_DE Management Committee currently consists of Prof Paul Nandra (eROSITA_DE), Prof Elaine Sadler (CAASTRO), Dr Andrea Merloni (eROSITA_DE) and Ms Kate Gunn (CAASTRO).

At this time, we wish to invite proposals for joint eROSITA_DE/CAASTRO/AUS projects.

  • If you wish to propose a fully-formed project, please read clause 9 of the attached MoU, complete the attached project template form, and send to coo@caastro.orgProposals should be submitted by Friday 8 December 2017 in order to be considered at the next MC meeting.

We strongly encourage potential proposer to get in touch with their corresponding partners early on. If you are generically interested in a facility, but do not know who to contact specifically, do not hesitate to ask either the members of the Management Committee, or the contact persons listed below. Also, we remind you that, according to the eROSITA_DE policy, each proposal should be approved by a Working Group before submission (this is now explicitly mentioned in the form).

List of European Contact points

eROSITA PI: Peter Predehl (MPE; predehl@mpe.mpg.de)

eROSITA Project Scientist: Andrea Merloni (MPE; am@mpe.mpg.de)

eROSITA_DE Science Working Group Chairs:

Clusters and Cosmology

AGN, Blazars:

Normal Galaxies:

Compact objects:

Stars:

Solar System:

Diffuse emission, SNR:

Time Domain Astrophysics:

Australia : See contact details above under projects.

Resources

For those not familiar with the capabilities on offer, here is a very brief summary of some of the various instruments to be used under this agreement:

– eROSITA (http://www.mpe.mpg.de/eROSITA): launch 2016; all-sky X-ray imaging, 0.5-10 keV, 15″-30″ angular resolution; eROSITA_DE covers Galactic longitudes 180 < l < 360. Point of contact for inquiries:  eROSITA_DE Working Group chairs (http://www.mpe.mpg.de/455860/working_groups). News and semi-regular Bulletins highlighting the progress of the project can be found at http://www.mpe.mpg.de/450698/news

– ASKAP (http://www.atnf.csiro.au/projects/askap/index.html): early science 2015; all-sky (decl < +30) radio imaging & spectroscopy, 700-1800 MHz, 15″ angular resolution. Contact person: Aidan Hotan Aidan.Hotan@csiro.au

– MWA (http://mwatelescope.org/): fully operational; all-sky (decl < +30) radio imaging, 80-240 MHz, ~2.5′ resolution. Contact person:  A/Prof Randall Wayth (R.Wayth@curtin.edu.au)

– UTMOST (http//astronomy.swin.edu.au/research/utmost): operational 2014; searches for fast radio transients, 840 MHz, 45″ angular resolution. Contact person: Prof Matthew Bailes (mbailes@swin.edu.au)  – ATCA (http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/) fully operational, baselines of 30m to 6km; radio imaging (full synthesis) and spectroscopy, 1.3-105 GHz, ~8″ to ~0.1” max. angular resolution respectively. Contact: Jamie Stevens <Jamie.Stevens@csiro.au>

– PARKES (http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/): fully operational; radio imaging (pointed and scanned), spectroscopy, high-time resolution observing (e.g. pulsars and FRBs), 0.7-22 GHz, ~23′ to ~0.7′ angular resolution respectively. Contact: Jimi Green <James.Green@csiro.au>

– SkyMapper (http://rsaa.anu.edu.au/observatories/telescopes/skymapper-telescope): operational 2014; all-sky (decl < 0) optical photometry & transients, uvgriz filters, 1″-2″ angular resolution. Contact person: Dr Christian Wolf (christian.wolf@anu.edu.au)

– AAT (http://www.aao.gov.au/about/aat.html): fully operational; 3.9m telescope in Australia, focus on wide-field multi-fibre and multi-IFU spectroscopy, 1″-2″ angular resolution. Contact person: Prof Andrew Hopkins (ahopkins@aao.gov.au)

– TAIPAN is a new facility on the UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, to be used for two major survey programs, starting in mid-2017: the Taipan galaxy survey (http://taipan-survey.org/) of more than a million galaxies brighter than i<17, and the FunnelWeb stellar survey (http://funnel-web.wikispaces.com/) of more than 3 million stars brighter than V<12.  Contact person TAIPAN: Prof Andrew Hopkins (ahopkins@aao.gov.au)  Contact person FUNNELWEB: Prof Chris Tinney (c.tinney@unsw.edu.au)

Events

Follow-up of wide-area X-ray surveys: science, facilities, program, April 2016

An eROSITA/CAASTRO/4MOST workshop, Ringberg Castle, Bavaria. Program and links to presentations are below:

Day One – 25th April 2016

1st session: Chair M. Brusa
K. Nandra: Welcome 
A. Merloni: eROSITA 
M. Salvato: eROSITA AGN followup
A. Finoguenov: eROSITA clusters followup
T. Reiprich: eROSITA clusters cosmology expectations
K. Dolag: Progress in cosmological hydro simulations 

2nd session: Chair M. Salvato
R. de Jong: 4MOST: Overview of the instrument, its operations plan, and science
J. Richard: 4MOST Cosmology survey 
G. Worseck: Constraining the AGN Contribution to Reionization with 4MOST 
N. Clerc: Clusters survey with SPIDERS (and XMM-XXL)
K. Romer – Potential synergies between eROSITA, Dark Energy Survey, and the XMM Cluster Survey
S. Driver: Synergies with GAMA and WAVES spectroscopic surveys 
L. Davies: WAVES deep fields
A. Hopkins: The TAIPAN galaxy survey 
M. Owers: Dynamics with spectroscopic followup of eROSITA clusters
A. Saro: Velocity dispersion measurements for ~100 SZE clusters

Day Two – 26th April 2016

3rd session: Chair A. Rau
E. Sadler: CAASTRO + High-frequency radio AGN population from the southern AT20G survey
N. Seymour: All-sky low-frequency survey with MWA
G. Anderson: eROSITA transients and SKA Pathfinders 
M. Salvato on behalf of C. Wolf: Skymapper 
T. Schrabback/J. Dietrich: Clusters mass calibration with weak lensing
S. Miyazaki: The HyperSupremeCam (HSC) wide survey
M. Oguri: Cluster searches with HSC
G. Smith: LSST and cluster weak lensing

4th session: Chair P. Popesso
R. Dupke/ T. Benitez: JPAS: The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey
N. Napolitano: VST deep imaging survey
G. Rudnick: DECam Legacy Survey (DECaLS)
C. Collins: Growth of baryonic matter in the centres of rich clusters
A. Edge: Clusters BCG and AGN feedback
S. Paltani: Photometric redshifts for Euclid
J. Mohr: Updates on cluster cosmology from SPT and Planck
C. Porciani: The impact of spectroscopic follow-up on eROSITA cosmology

Day Three – 27th April 2016

5th session: Chair A. Del Moro 
J. Aird: The distribution of BH growth across the galaxy population
A. Bongiorno: AGN host mass function
M. Banerji: Hyper-luminous dust-obscured quasars
A. Pillepich – Exploring numerical implementations of AGN feedback beyond the Illustris model
R. McMahon: AGN with VHS+DES
T. Nagao: AGN studies with HSC survey
T. Shanks: QSO Cosmology via eROSITA+4MOST

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