Chandra Users' Committee Recommendations to CXC Director Chandra Users' Committee Meeting, June 7-8, 1999 1. Funding for Guest Observers The launch delays and resulting funding delays with Chandra have made it difficult for GOs to hire graduate students and post docs. We recommend that the funds be made available as early as possible, and that the AO-1 funding period be extended beyond one year, if possible. 2. Data Analysis Software a. The committee was happy with the progress that had been made on the data analysis software, and generally pleased with the pre-release versions 1 and 2 software and documentation they tested. We wanted to thank the CXC for their efforts to make the software available to the CUC. b. Barycentric correction software should be included in the first public release of the software system, even if the routines are not integrated into the rest of the software system. If this is not possible, they should be made available as soon as possible. c. The software manuals should contain a cookbook showing people typical data analysis commands, including some examples of complete walk-throughs. d. There should be a maintained searchable web page with topical groupings with frequently asked questions about the software (similar to XMM). 3. Proposal Submission Software Instructions for the typical choices of ACIS configurations (which chips are turned on) should be more transparent in the documentation. The typical default choices (e.g., the 4 ACIS-I chips and 2 central ACIS-S chips for imaging with ACIS-I; the six ACIS-S chips for HETG spectra; the central 4 ACIS-S chips and two nearest ACIS-I chips for ACIS-S imaging) should be built into RPS as defaults. Similarly, the correct frame times should be automatically built into RPS for default observations. 4. Target Review The source position should be indicated on the target review form pictures of the optical and the X-ray field. 5. Coordinated HST/CXO Observations a. The coordinated HST/CXO program should be viewed as an experiment. The 400ks of HST-awarded time should be compared to the "weakest" 400ks of time selected during the normal CXO Cycle 2 review. The abstracts of the HST proposals in this category should be made available for this process. The committee would like to take this up again in a year's time. b. The TAC for the primary observatory in coordinated observations should have the options to turn down the entire proposal, approve just the primary observatory time, or approve both the primary and secondary observatory time. 6. Chandra Fellows a. There was concern about the usefulness of the Chandra Fellow symposium. The CXC should ensure that the symposium is well-attended by local scientists. b. The committee voted 9 - 0 (1 abstention) for the recommendation that the Chandra Fellow institutional rule be changed to at most one Fellow per year per institution. c. The committee felt that it would be ineffective to narrow the focus of the Chandra Fellows program, although there was concern about the relevance of the research of some of the selected Fellows to CXO. d. The committee voted to recommend against having any future Chandra Fellows-at-Large by a margin of 9 - 0 (1 abstention). 7. Emission-Line Project The committee is supportive of the Emission Line Project, but was concerned about the management of this important program. For this program to be successful, it needs more focused management and effective support within the CXC. The $150K found to support outside involvement is a step in the right direction, but needs more organization to be useful. 8. Progress on Pile-Up The committee was impressed with the efforts to simulate and understand pile-up effects in the calibration data, as presented by McNamara and Wise. The presentation on advanced statistical techniques was interesting, but its relevance has yet to be demonstrated. 9. Plans for AO-2 a. The committee continues to be concerned about the reliability of the human technical reviews. All of the human technical reviews should be screened by a senior CXC staff member, who would officially authorize the release of the reports. The human technical review should only be concerned with blatant technical problems, not scientific decisions. b. The committee found the proposal to post the GTO targets for Cycle 2 on the web, in lieu of a hard copy printed with the NRA, to be acceptable. c. If major changes in the instrument behavior are discovered after the release of the NRA, they should be posted prominently on the web site. The NRA should include a warning sentence, indicating that proposers should check the web site to get the latest details on instrument performance. d. The committee voted 4 - 4 (2 abstentions) on the question of publishing the names of the reviewers after the Cycle 2 review. Given the ambivalence, the names should remain confidential. e. The committee voted 6 - 4 in favor of allowing 6 pages (rather than 4) for science justification in Large Proposals. 10. Press Relations and Educational Outreach The committee was impressed by the preparation for press relations associated with the launch of the Chandra. The forthcoming interactions with the press are of great importance, and the project should use an energetic and eloquent spokesperson for this job. While good work is been done in preparing for the press releases, specific thought should be given to finding the ideal person to serve as press spokesperson.