2018B B-ranked tracks with successful observations:

Project ID	P.I.	# Tracks	Title (hover for abstract)
2018B-S046	Dana Anderson	10	An Exploration of Nitrogen Gas Content in Protoplanetary DisksThe lifetime of gas in circumstellar disks is a key quantity for understanding disk evolution and planet formation. Because the main component of the gas, H2, is not emissive under most disk conditions, indirect tracers are used to measure the amount of gas in disks. Conventional tracers, (sub)mm dust and CO, may be insufficient on their own due to uncertainties involved in relating their measurements to the total disk gas mass. Recent observational evidence suggests that the CO/H2 ratio may not be constant over time. We propose to investigate additional tracers that will track the nitrogen content of the gas, specifically the N2/CO ratio. Previous observations revealed enhanced N2H+/CO flux ratios in two mature, ~5-11 Myr-old, disks relative to a sample of brighter, gas-rich disks. This may indicate selective removal of CO from the gas phase over time while N2 remains. Here we propose to further investigate this idea through determination of the N2/CO ratio in a sample of disks including different environments, sizes, spectral line fluxes, and binary or multi systems. With the SMA we can simultaneously observe all chemical species required to meet our science goals allowing for efficient observations of several sources. The results of these observations would be used to plan future surveys aimed at more complete analysis of the gas content of disks as they evolve.
2018B-S028	Elizabeth Cooke	9	The nature of the ULIRG population in massive clusters at z=1-1.5We propose to measure the continuum and CO line fluxes for the SCUBA-2-selected star-forming galaxies at the center of three massive clusters at z~1. In our highly-successful pilot study of the cluster XCSJ2215 at z=1.46 we resolved four SCUBA-2 sources into fourteen separate continuum sources, five of which revealed CO emission which confirmed their cluster membership. With the same level of multiplicity we therefore expect to observe a statistically significant sample of >80 U/LIRGs across seven clusters (including four southern clusters to be observed with ALMA) to efficiently survey the detailed kinematic, gas and dust properties of this population. Our goal is to compare the properties of a statistically-robust sample (sufficient to split into 2-3 subsets in terms of redshift and environment) of dust-selected ULIRGs in these systems to similarly-luminous examples in the field from previous studies and to also relate them to their wider cluster environment to constrain the down-sizing of the star-forming population from z~1-2 and the build-up of the passive galaxy population within clusters.
2018B-A015	Yun-Hsin Hsu	4	Determination of the HyLIRG Fraction among Herschel Bright SourcesHyperluminous infrared galaxies (HyLIRGs) are the most rare and extreme sort among submillimeter galaxies, and represent the most violent galaxy formation events in the universe. HyLIRGs are great laboratories for testing hydrodynamic simulations, and probing their nature can shed light on important questions about galaxy formation. Unfortunately, Due to the rareness of these sources and the difficulties of distinguishing them from lensed sources, the sample size of HyLIRGs is very limited, and the fraction of HyLIRG and lensed objects among Herschel bright sources are unknown. We propose new SMA observations to address these problems. Using the H-ATLAS samples selected by González-Nuevo et al. (2012), we can expand the sample size of HyLIRGs. Our observations aim to detect the dust continuum. These Herschel selected sources have large position uncertainties, and SMA will allow us to obtain their accurate positions and optical and submillimeter morphologies. This will help to determine their nature (lensed or intrinsically luminous) and the HyLIRG fraction. This will lead to a systematic survey to determine the HyLIRG fraction among Herschel bright sources.
2018B-A012	Cheng Cheng	2	Exploring molecular gas content in low mass galaxiesWe propose 10 hours SMA observations to detect the CO ($J= 2-1$) emissions from 10 low redshift ($z \sim 0.02$) low mass ($M_*/M_{\odot} < 10^{9}$) H-ATLAS selected galaxies. All the 10 galaxies have 3$\sigma$ detection at 160$\mu$m, the SED coverage from UV to FIR and high S/N optical spectra. Our previous CO surveys as well as the other survey project have built a good coverage of the main sequence galaxies with stellar mass $M_*/M_{\odot} > 10^{9}$. However, we still lack of the CO survey that focus on the low mass galaxies, which is critically important in understanding the early stage of the galaxy formation. The CO observation we are proposing will help us to understand the star formation efficiency and the connection between the dust and gas the low mass galaxies.

Current or completed Large Scale Programs spanning ALL semesters:

Project ID	P.I.	# Tracks	Title (hover for abstract)
2012B-S097	Qizhou Zhang	3	Star Formation in the Central Molecular ZoneThe inner 500 pc of our Galaxy, known as the central molecular zone (CMZ), is a star-forming environment with very extreme physical properties. Despite its large reservoir of dense gas that could form massive stars and clusters similar to the starbursts seen in galaxies, CMZ has a star formation rate a factor of 10 lower than the Schmidt-Kennicutt law. Because of the heavy extinction in the optical and infrared wavelengths, however, existing observations may miss a deeply embedded protostellar population. To investigate this scenario, we conducted a mini-survey with the SMA towards a sample of dense clouds with highest star formation potential, i.e. surface density >10^24 cm^-2 in CMZ at 280 GHz. The data reveal that most of them present compact dust continuum peaks possibly from protostellar cores. Are these peaks associated with embedded protostars? How do they compare with normal molecular cores in the Galactic disk? To address these questions, we propose to observe them in the 230 GHz band, to test protostellar nature of these objects via abundant molecular lines in this band. The SMA data will be supplemented with continuum and NH3 lines datasets obtained from the VLA. This is a pilot program to a large scale SMA project that images a significant area of the CMZ to census a population of deeply embedded protostellar objects. A lack of current star formation in the CMZ challenges a well established star formation (Schmidt-Kennicutt) law. The SMA observations play a unique role in solving this puzzle by probing young stellar populations that are possibly hidden from optical and IR observations due to heavy extinction, as well as radio continuum observations due to a lack of HII regions.
2013A-S079	Michael Dunham	3	(p)MASSES: (pilot) Mass Assembly of Stellar Systems and their Evolution with the SMAStars are assembled in molecular clouds through the gravitational collapse of dense cores of gas and dust. The final masses of stars are set during the protostellar stage by the complex interaction of many interrelated physical processes, including the underlying core mass function, core and disk fragmentation, the formation and evolution of protostellar disks, and mass-loss through direct ejection of jets and entrainment of surrounding material in molecular outflows. Several key questions related to the growth of stars and origins of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) are yet to be answered, including: (1) When, where, and how do cores and disks fragment into multiple systems? (2) What role do disks play in the transfer of mass from cores to stars? (3) To what extent do outflows regulate the protostellar mass accretion process? To answer these questions, we propose to conduct a 230 and 345 GHz, continuum and molecular line emission survey of a large sample of protostars in the nearby Perseus molecular cloud. Here we submit a small, pilot study of 4 targets in order to determine necessary sensitivities, verify our technical setup, and demonstrate the validity of our observations in answering the key science questions motivating this program.
2013B-S091	Eric Keto	61	CMZWe propose to exploit the SMA's unique combination of large primary beam, high angular resolution, and large instantaneous bandwidth to conduct the first sub-pc scale survey of the largest reservoir of dense gas in our Galaxy -- the central molecular zone (CMZ), the inner 500 pc of the Milky Way. This survey of the mm continuum and spectral line transitions will provide: (i) a complete census of the most massive and dense cloud cores; (ii) the location, strength and nature of strong shocks; (iii) the relationship of star formation to environmental conditions such as density, shocks, and large-scale flows. The high angular resolution of the SMA is necessary to find the highest density gas and image the distribution of shocks within individual star- forming clouds. The survey seeks to address fundamental open questions about the CMZ. What are the environmental conditions that lead to the formation of the most massive stars ($>$100 \Msun)? How do mass and energy flows shape the CMZ, regulate star formation, and control the activity of the central supermassive black hole? This survey will not only address immediate science goals but also provide a resource for future studies. Insofar as the CMZ resembles the central regions of other barred spiral galaxies, starburst galaxies in a quiescent phase, and the highly dense and energetic environment expected in galaxies in the early universe, this data set can be used as our nearest proxy for these environments.
2014A-S093	Michael Dunham	55	MASSES: Mass Assembly of Stellar Systems and their Evolution with the SMAStars are assembled in molecular clouds through the gravitational collapse of dense cores of gas and dust. The final masses of stars are set during the protostellar stage by the complex interaction of many interrelated physical processes, including the mass infall rate, core and disk fragmentation, ejection from multiple systems, the formation and evolution of protostellar disks, and mass-loss through jets and outflows. Several key questions related to the growth of stars and origins of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) are yet to be answered, including: (1) When, where, and how do cores and disks fragment into multiple systems? (2) What role do disks play in the transfer of mass from cores to stars? (3) To what extent do outflows regulate the protostellar mass accretion process? To answer these questions, we propose to conduct a 230 and 345 GHz, continuum and molecular line emission survey of all 73 protostars in the nearby Perseus molecular cloud. Our program will enable significant progress in answering all three of these questions and ultimately determining how stars are assembled from the surrounding dense gas.
2017A-S060	Garrett "Karto" Keating	25	The Millimeter-wave Intensity Mapping Experiment (mmIME)Molecular gas is central to the formation of stars in galaxies, but at high redshift, it has been well-studied in only a handful of the most luminous systems. Recent surveys with ALMA have hinted at a significant population (larger than theoretically expected) of molecular gas-rich (i.e., CO-bright) main sequence-like galaxies at high redshift, although these surveys have been limited in volume. While instruments like ALMA afford incredible sensitivity and resolution for performing studies of individual systems, it is suboptimal for blindly surveying for such objects over the large volumes required to reduce the impact of cosmic variance and sampling biases. We instead propose to use the SMA, whose larger bandwidth and primary beam make it more well-suited for a blind, large volume survey, covering a total area of ~100 sq. arcmin, between 195-203/211-219/227-235 GHz, within four regions within areas that are rich in multi-wavelength data sets. With these observations, we will use direct detection, stacking, and intensity mapping techniques, which will allow us to probe the abundance and physical properties of molecular gas in galaxies in a volume of nearly a million cubic megaparsecs. The proposed measurement will additionally leverage line intensity mapping efforts with both VLA, ACA, and ALMA, enabling cross-correlation between a multitude of line species. Relevant SMA Publications ------------------------- No SMA publications to date, as our first observations were completed in Feb 2016. Analysis of these data is on-going, and we are presently finalizing our results for publication. We expect to submit said publication in September/October 2017. Summary of Relevant Pilot Projects ---------------------------------- Proposal is a large-scale continuation of 2016B-S044, and is the successor to a recently completed intensity mapping experiment with CARMA. This proposal leverages two existing programs: a large-scale campaign with VLA at 1cm, and a recently completed (Cycle 4) 40-hour program with the ACA at 3mm. We also plan to propose for additional time with ACA and VLA, which will require cross- correlation with SMA data to fully enable the science potential of new data with these instruments. This proposal additionally builds off of two separate awards: one archival study focused on searching SMA calibrator fields for blind detections of spectral line emission from high-redshift objects, and one technical study looking at the feasibility of daytime observing with the SMA. The calibrator study, which is being conducting by the PI Keating and M. Fuchs, has made steady progress towards the development of a software pipeline, capable of digesting calibrator data and producing -- from a variety of instrument setups and array configurations -- bandpass, gain, and spectral SEFD/flux correction factors, with the goal of automatically being capable of producing calibrated image cubes for all calibrator observations performed by the SMA. At the time of proposal submission, we estimate that the first version of this pipeline will be ready to deploy in September 2017. The daytime observing project, which is also being led by the PI (with significant help from numerous members of the SMA staff), has also made significant progress in the past 6 months, and early tests seem to indicate that the array may be capable of operating up to 22 hours a day under "normal" weather conditions. One significant factor that was limiting daytime observations -- the degradation of pointing during post-sunrise observations -- has already been solved, allowing for generally good array performance until approximately noon HST (i.e., 18 hours of observations a day). Progress is now underway looking at methods for realtime phase correction and improved bandpass calibration techniques, as well as isolating sources of crosstalk/coupling within the system. We anticipate these efforts to offer improved observing capabilities moving forward toward the proposed observations, although we have estimated our time/sensitivity requirements with what we believe to be feasible at the time of proposal submission.
2017B-S075	Jan Forbrich	12	SMA Survey of Resolved Dust and Simultaneous CO Observations of GMCs in M31We propose a powerful and unique SMA survey to detect and resolve dust continuum emission in a large population of (~100) Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) in the famous Andromeda galaxy M31. As demonstrated in our pilot study, the SMA wideband upgrade is now enabling resolved interferometric dust continuum detections of individual GMCs in M31 at 230 GHz, the first such detections beyond the Magellanic Clouds. Our observations will provide the most robust, dust-derived measurements of the physical properties of GMCs within an external disk galaxy. We also propose to acquire simultaneous observations of 12CO(2-1) and 13CO(2-1) emission to measure the gas content of the GMCs with identical uv coverage. We will combine these measurements to characterize the fundamental physical properties of the GMC population across M31 to a degree only comparable in many key aspects to Milky Way studies. This project will enable much high-impact science including: 1) high-fidelity measurements of the GMC masses and shapes leading to an improved GMC mass function in M31, 2) direct measurements of the infamous CO "X" factor in individual GMCs and its variation across the galaxy, 3) a significantly improved assessment of Larson's scaling relations in M31 GMCs, and 4) a detailed assessment of cloud-scale star formation laws in M31, utilizing extensive existing multi-wavelength data. These results will provide an important calibration for the use of CO observations in deriving basic gas and star formation properties of external galaxies. Additional science goals include an assessment of dust emission vs optical extinction in M31. The survey will provide a unique SMA legacy that will remain unsurpassed for many years, in particular exceeding what can practically be done with ALMA due to the combination of wideband sensitivity and nearby distance of this northern target.