|
The proposed One-Centimetre Receiver Array (OCRA)
Ian Browne (Jodrell)
The One Centimetre Receiver Array (OCRA) is a 100-element wide-field
array detector to survey the sky at 1-cm wavelength (30 GHz). With
OCRA we can carry out unbiased searches for distant clusters of
galaxies using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect -- the numbers of
clusters found is a strong function of the cosmological density
parameter Omega and the processes of cluster formation. By making
large unbiased surveys for discrete radio sources, OCRA will also make
a vital contribution to the interpretation of data from CMBR
experiments, in particular from Planck Surveyor. The deep OCRA
surveys, carried out at seven times higher frequency than any previous
large--area surveys, offer the potential of completely new astrophysical
discoveries in addition to these clear-cut cosmological goals.
OCRA is a 10x10 beam system and when mounted on the Torun 32-m
telescope it will advance astronomy at 1-cm wavelength as much as SCUBA on
JCMT has advanced sub-mm than SCUBA; our conservative estimate of the cost
is 1.5M sterling. OCRA is a collaborative project, primarily between the
University of Manchester and the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun,
Poland, but also involving the University of Bristol.
(Ian Browne, Peter Wilkinson, Shude Mao, Mark Birkinshaw, Andrzej Kus.)
|