45m > Proposal Information > A Guide for Proposal Submission via Web

Last Update: 05^th Jul 2021

A Guide for Proposal Submission via Web

• Information in this page is old. Applicants who are aiming to submit charged observation time MUST NOT follow this page.

• Proposal Categories and Submission Deadline
• Preparation for Your Proposal
• Submission
• After Submission
• Frequently Asked Questions

Applicants are requested to access the Application Form and to fill the web form and to upload necessary files (i.e., a PDF file of Scientific and Technical Justifications, excel files of frequency settings and co-I list). We recommend applicants to read Call for Proposals carefully. Any questions related to proposal submission should be sent to the Helpdesk.

• Proposals are accepted ONLY via the web submission form. Submission by e-mail, regular/express mail, or FAX is NOT acceptable.
• We accept colour figures/pictures in the Scientific and Technical Justification.
• All proposals should be written in English.

Proposal Categories and Guidelines

There are two proposal categories for observations with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope at Nobeyama Radio Observatory: Regular Program and Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO). Observing proposals for Target of Opportunities (ToO) are open for Regular Program. Details of each program as follows:

Regular Program

Regular Program is a program requiring an observing time of less than 200 hours for this semester. Five anonymous external referees will evaluate the submitted proposals. The Scientific and Technical Justification is within three pages.

Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO)

Those who intend to submit proposals to Guaranteed Time Observation programs must satisfy one of the following requirements:

1. Members of the development groups of the Nobeyama Development Proposal for the 45-m Telescope whose deliverable passes the acceptance review as the open-use instrument.
2. Graduate students or postdocs who contribute to commissioning, management, performance improvement, or optimization of the Nobeyama 45-m telescope.

140 hours will be allocated to the GTO Program. The Scientific and Technical Justification should be within three pages.

• Target of Opportunity (ToO)

ToO proposals should be used to observe targets that can be anticipated but not specified timing of the event. Like non-ToO proposals, these proposals must be submitted by the deadline. While the target list may be left unspecified, observing modes and sensitivity requests must be specified in detail for ToO observations. The proposal must include the following information:

1. The number of triggers needed to reach the science goals of the proposal
2. What triggers the actual observation to be performed
3. The maximum response time for scheduling the observation after it is triggered.

Table 1 shows deadlines of the Nobeyama 45-m proposal submission for 2021--2022 observing season.

Preparation of Your Proposal

The proposal consists of two parts: one is Science and Technical Justifications, and the other is an Application Form. Here, how to prepare the two is explained.

• Scientific and Technical Justifications
• The Application Form

Scientific and Technical Justifications

• Prepare a file that explains scientific aims, a plan of observations, estimates of observing time
  For estimating the observing time, information on receivers, backends, and a telescope are available at Status Report page.
  How to Plan an Observation using the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope page will help applicants to plan observations of pointing sources and standard sources.
• PLEASE USE a template TeX file, proposal_templatesj.tex, for Scientific and Technical Justifications
• PLEASE USE a template Excel file, DeviceSetting_2021_rev01.xlsx, for providing observation settings
• PLEASE USE our time estimators for the technical justification!!
  Please copy and paste the result of the time estimation obtained from the time estimators after the Scientific and Technical Justifications of the proposal (in new pages after the end of Science Justifications). Time estimation part will not be considered in the page limitation described below. The result of the time estimation makes our technical assessment easy and reliable.
  Time estimators
  
  • A Manual of Time Estimator
  • Position Switch
  • On-The-Fly
  Please explain the main input parameters (e.g. T_sys) in the Technical Justification part.
• Create a single PDF file incorporating the Scientific and Technical Justifications including figures and tables with results of the time estimator.
  The pdf file should satisfy the following rules:

  Template:	Should be used for writing Scientific and Technical Justifications. You can obtain a template via the following link: A Template for Scientific and Technical Justifications: proposal_templatesj.tex
  Language:	Should be written in English.
  Font size:	Must be larger than 11 points.
  Figures:	Colour figures can be included.
  Paper size:	Should be A4, 21cm x 29.8cm
  Page limitation:	Proposal Category # of Pages for Science and Technical Justification Comment Regular Program 3 pages Total observing time should be shorter than 200 hrs. Guaranteed Time Observation 3 pages Applicants that can submit a proposal to Guaranteed Time Observation category must fulfil the requirements. Please note that a proposal that violates this page limitation may cause a rejection of your proposal.
  File size:	Maximum file size is 20 MB.
  File name:	Name_#of your proposals_SciJust.pdf # of your proposals: Additional applications by the same principal investigator (PI) for the same semester should be then numbered 02, 03, etc. Example: Dr. Nobeyama (as the PI) and just making a single application, a name of the pdf file is Nobeyama_01_SciJust.pdf

The Application Form

The Application Form is available on the web. At every step applicants can save the input of the Application Form by clicking the button named "Save and Resume Later" at the bottom of the form. The input will be stored on the server for 30 days.

This web submission form is for proposal categories of Regular Program and Guaranteed Time Observation requiring the Nobeyama 45-m telescope.

• Proposal Category
  Choose a category you are going to propose. The choices are "Regular" and "GTO".
• Observation mode
  Choose whether the observation is a standard observation (i.e. timing of observation is not restricted to target's activity during the observing season) or Target of Opportunity. This item appears only when you choose "Regular" in Proposal Category.
• Title
  Provide a short and self-explanatory title for the proposal.
• Scientific Category
  Select an appropriate category of the proposal within six categories. Five anonymous referees who are experts in the relevant category will review each submitted proposal for Regular Program and GTO.
• Data Archive ID
  Please be sure to obtain an account of Nobeyama Science Data Archive, and specify the ID in the Web Submission Form. The first character of the ID has to be A-Z or a-z. The ID will be used for tagging on the data that will be open in the CASA format after 18 months of the observation at Nobeyama Science Data Archive.
• Principal Investigator
  Provide the name for a PI. The observatory may contact the PI if there are any questions regarding the proposal or observations.
• Institution
  Provide the PI's institution.
• Present Position
  Choose the PI's present position.
• For thesis?
  Choose whether the observation forms a student's thesis. If the answer is "Yes", the mm/sub-mm Time Allocation Committee may consider in allocating observing time.
• Address
  Provide the PI's postal address. If the proposal is approved, information about observations such as an observation ID will be sent to this address.
• Country
  Choose the country of PI's institution from the list.
• e-mail
  Provide the PI's e-mail address.
• Contact Person Is:
  Select whether a contact person is the PI. If the contact person is different from the PI, please provide contact details for the contact person (Name, institution, postal address, and e-mail address)

• Names of Co-I (First Last), Job Title, Institution, and Country
  Download a template excel file named "Co-IList_2021_rev01.xlsx", and fill information on your co-investigators (co-I). The list consists of the name (first name, last name), the position, institution, and country of the co-I. Write down one person in one line as an example. If you have no co-investigator, please write "None" in the excel file.
• Abstract (at most 1200 characters)
  Provide a clear and concise description of the proposed observations and their scientific importance up to 1200 characters (Blank is counted as one character).
• This proposal is
  Select the applying proposal status from three choices: (a) a new proposal, (b) a re-submission of a previous proposal, and (c) a continuation of a previous proposal.
  
  If your proposal is (b) a re-submission of a previous proposal or (c) a continuation of a previous proposal, please indicate the previous proposal information:
  • Enter the previous proposal ID
    Write the previous proposal ID number.
  • Relationship of the previous proposal/observation to this proposal
    Describe the relationship between your new proposal and the previous proposal/observation up to 1000 characters.
  In the case of (c) a continuation of a previous proposal, please provide
  • Enter the total observing time including the current request.
    Describe the total observing time, which is the sum of the previous observations and the proposed observation.

• Choose your Observation Type(s)
  Choose the proposed observation type: line observation and/or continuum observation. We do not offer the continuum mode for science target observation in open use. The continuum mode is only available for pointing observations.
• Choose receiver(s) for pointing
  Choose the receiver(s) for pointing observations. If you desire to use more than one receiver for pointing, please select all receivers you intend to use.
• Choose receiver(s) for observation
  Select all receiver which you are going to use for observations of your targets. "H22&H40" is for the H22 and H40 simultaneous observations.
• Provide frequency settings for pointing and observation
  Download a template excel file named "DeviceSetting_2021_rev01.xlsx" and fill information on your observation settings. The template excel file consists of three sheets: "Observation", "Pointing", and "List". Please fill the columns coloured in orange and choose from pull-down options for the columns coloured in green for the sheets named "Observation" and "Pointing". Please leave the rest of columns (these columns are already fixed or automatically filled). The details for each column are described below:

  - Proposal ID:
  Applicants do not need to fill Proposal ID column. The observatory will assign Proposal ID after submission of your proposal.

  - PI Name:
  Provide the name of PI.

  - Setup ID:
  If you have several frequency settings, provide as many as the number of settings.

  - Frame and FrameValue:
  Please provide velocity or redshift of the target. If your proposal includes multiple sources with different V_LSR, one representative value is enough. However, in case that your sources have large velocity/redshift differences that cause large frequency differences of > 0.5GHz (∼1000 km/s @ 115 GHz), please make other setups.

  - FE:
  Select a line whose FE column corresponds to a receiver that you are going to use for observation of your targets.

  - Frequency shifted?:
  Indicate whether the frequencies in "1st LO freq. (GHz)" and "Rest/Center Frequency (GHz)" columns are Doppler-/red- "Shifted" or "NOT-shifted (Rest frame)" by selecting from pull-down choices. Please select "Shifted", if your sources have large Doppler-/red-shift that cause large frequency shift of > 0.5 GHz (∼1000 km/s @ 115 GHz).

  - 1st LO freq. (GHz):
  Give the 1^st Local frequency in the unit of GHz.

  - IF/Sideband:
  Choose the IF and sideband from the pull-down. H22, H40, Z45 receivers do not have a choice. Choices for T70 receiver are USB-L (4-8 GHz) and LSB-L (4-8 GHz), while FOREST receiver has choices of USB-L (4-8 GHz), LSB-L (4-8 GHz), USB-H (7-11 GHz), and LSB-H (7-11 GHz). Note: users cannot use USB-L and LSB-H simultaneously due to mechanical connections for FOREST receiver.

  - SpW:
  The spectral window (SpW) mode is only available for the FOREST 4-beam mode. When SpW mode is enabled, users can set two different spectral-resolutions with the same IF and sideband (i.e., USB-H, USB-L, LSB-H, and LSB-L). Please see also the status report about Spectral Window mode.

  - Line/Transition:
  Provide your target line/transition.

  - Rest/Center Frequency (GHz):
  Indicate the rest frequency of the target line in the unit of GHz. For simultaneous observation for multi lines, please describe the center frequency of the array. If your target is a high-z object, the red-shifted frequency should be written in this column. In case that your sources have large Doppler-/red-shift that cause a large frequency shift of > 0.5 GHz (∼1000 km/s @ 115 GHz), the frequency here should be shifted one (NOT rest frequency).

  - Resolution (kHz):
  Choose the frequency resolution of the array. The resolution of the arrays can be set at 3.81, 7.63, 15.26, 30.52, 61.04, 122.07, 244.14, and 488.28 kHz.

  - Bandwidth (MHz):
  A bandwidth of the array will be automatically filled after selecting the frequency resolution.

  - Comment:
  If you have any comments, please write here. (ex. multiple lines will be simultaneously observed)

• No., molecule (transition), frequency (GHz)
  Provide your target line with the frequency in the unit of GHz. If your target is a high-z object, the red-shifted frequency should be written in the frequency column.
• No., Source Name, RA (h m s)(J2000), DEC (d ' ")(J2000), Vel (km/s), Remark
  Describe a list of your target(s): source name, Right Ascension(h m s), Declination(d m s), velocity (km/s), and remarks if necessary. Right Ascension and Declination are regarded as written in J2000.0 otherwise specified. Applicants, of course, can write the source position in Galactic coordinates if it remarked.

• Observing Time
  The required observing time based on the time estimators should include overheads for receiver tuning, pointing calibration, and standard source observations to establish an absolute line intensity scale.
  
  Please use the antenna efficiencies for the observing season 2020-2021 when you estimate the observing time.
• LST Slot Request
  Allocation will be made in units of eight hours, and the allocation time will include overhead time when the target source is not available. We offer six observing slots:
  
  LST = 2:00-10:00, 10:00-18:00, 18:00-2:00, and 6:00-14:00, 14:00-22:00, 22:00-6:00.
  
  Give the number of requested days with a breakdown of the LST slots. In the breakdown of the LST slots, please indicate the number (integer) of days for each LST slot. The maximum of the numbers put in the individual LST blocks corresponds to the number of days for which the observers will carry out their observations. The total slots and total requested time are automatically calculated in the bottom column. 800 out of 1400 hours will be effective, assuming the source availability efficiency of 56% (based on the experience from the season 2018-2019). Proposals having high source availability with multiple targets are encouraged.
• Request Daytime Observation for Support
  We offer the observation support by the observatory staff remotely from Nobeyama only during the staff business hours of 9:00-17:00 JST, Monday through Friday (including national holidays). If you are novice observers of the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope or need the support by the observatory staff in the daytime, you should select "YES" for "the daytime observation". When you select "NO", we will allocate your observation also in the night-time. Note that the object at LST from 5 to 14 hour cannot be observed in the "daytime" during the semester 2021 from December to March.
• Requests concerning instruments and scheduling including ToO observations
  Describe requests for instruments and time allocation. If there is a possibility that targets are close to the Sun (< 30 degrees), please describe its period. With this information, the mm/sub-mm TAC allocates your observing time not to close to the Sun. You can check the position of the Sun at Apparent Position of the Sun. If the proposed observation is the ToO observation, please write here.
• Site
  Select the observing site(s). For all observers can observe remotely from the NAOJ Headquarter in Mitaka, Tokyo, from KASI in Korea, from ASIAA in Taiwan, and from your home institute in Japan. The observers are allowed to choose more than one site. If you choose "from your institute in Japan", please provide a list of all remote sites.
• List of PI refereed papers by Proposal PI within 10 years (not restricted to results obtained with the 45-m telescope)
  Write down a list of publications written by the PI within 10 years.
• Please attach scientific justification PDF file ( 20MB max )
  Append a PDF file of Scientific and Technical Justifications. The PDF file must follow the rules described in the section above.
• Please attach your frequency settings for pointing and observation by filling in the downloaded excel file
  Append an excel file of your frequency settings by filling in downloaded template excel file (DeviceSetting_2021_rev01.xlsx).
• Please attach Co-I list by filling in the downloaded excel file.
  Append an excel file of Co-I list by filling in downloaded template excel file (Co-IList_2021_rev01.xlsx).

Submission

Submission via the web can be made through the following procedure:
(1) Access and fill the Application Form:

• the Application Form for proposals using the Nobeyama 45-m telescope (Regular Program, Large Program, and Guaranteed Time Observation)

Note: There is a case that this form does not work with the combination of MacOS 11 and Safari. Please kindly use Chrome, Firefox or MS Edge, instead. Furthermore, iOS 14+ is not supported. Thank you for your understanding.

(2) Append a PDF file of Scientific and Technical Justifications including time estimation part, excel files of frequency settings of pointing and observation, and Co-I list,
(3) And push a "Submission Form" button at the end of the Application Form.

After Submission

We will send you automatically an e-mail that confirms the receipt of your proposal. If you do not receive it within 2--3 working days, please contact the Helpdesk.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions and answers on submitting a proposal are described in this section.

• Can I check the Application Form after submission or make it into a PDF form?
  • Please ask it from the Helpdesk with Category 1-7 Others.

• May I re-submit a proposal?
  • Please consult the Helpdesk with Category 1-1 Proposal.

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