The National Science Foundation's AST Portfolio Review of 2012 is Not Relevant to the Green Bank Telescope of 2017: A White Paper

TL;DR

The 2012 NSF Astronomy Portfolio Review is outdated due to the Green Bank Telescope's new capabilities in 2017, including 3mm observations and gravitational wave research, making it vital for U.S. astrophysics progress.

Contribution

This white paper highlights the updated scientific capabilities and significance of the Green Bank Telescope in 2017, contrasting it with the 2012 review.

Findings

GBT now operates in the 3mm band, enabling advanced spectroscopy.

GBT contributes to gravitational wave research post-LIGO detection.

GBT plays a key role in multiple astrophysical research areas.

Abstract

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Astronomy Division's Portfolio Review of 2012 is no longer relevant to the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) of 2017 for two principal reasons, one instrumental and the other astrophysical: 1) The GBT has begun significant operations in the 3mm band, giving it unrivaled capabilities for spectroscopy and continuum studies over 67-116 GHz. It is now an instrument that is unique worldwide and is a critical complement to ALMA for the U.S. scientific community. These capabilities had not been implemented at the time of the review. 2) The detection of gravitational radiation by LIGO in 2015 places the GBT's work on pulsar observations of nano-Hz gravitational radiation at the forefront of modern astrophysics. The Green Bank Telescope of 2017 is not the GBT that was reviewed by the Eisenstein-Miller committee in 2012, a review that was specific to the NSF Astronomy portfolio. The GBT serves a wide spectrum of science areas including physics, chemistry, and planetary studies as well as astronomy. Besides its well-documented intellectual merit, it thus has a significant broader impact. The GBT is making significance advances in our understanding of gravitational waves, the equation-of-state of nuclear matter, the mass of supermassive black holes, the value of H0, and the physics of star-formation, all key science goals for astronomy identified in a recent National Academy study "New Worlds, New Horizons: A Midterm Assessment". In the era of ALMA and LIGO, other countries have bolstered their mm-wave and cm-wave facilities; it is critical that U.S. scientists have ready access to a large filled aperture to remain at the forefront of research.