The proposal details page is the first page to show the typical frames layout of the XRPS forms, as described in § 4.5 and displayed in Fig. 6. It contains the first entries made in a proposal. Once this has been committed to memory successfully, the proposal as such exists in memory, meaning that now the user can leave XRPS, leaving the information in memory, and come back later (providing only user ID and password). By choosing the option ``Load proposal'', one can load the input back from memory and start working on the proposal again whenever convenient.
The functional buttons at the bottom of this page have been described in § 4.5.3. Input for each proposal starts with the proposal details page, where the following information is required (those items marked with asterisks being mandatory input again):
The maximum allowed length of a title is 80 characters.
Choose between GO and Pilot/Follow-up. Pilot/follow-up are observations with first one (or several periodic) short observations are performed to check the state of an X-ray source (e.g., whether an AGN is in its high luminosity state), followed by a longer observation if a user-defined success criterion for the pilot run is fulfilled (see item 8). More details are provided in § 5.4. Such observations are highly non-standard and disruptive in terms of scheduling. Therefore, their use during AO-1 is strongly discouraged; the user's choice here should then in (almost) all cases be ``GO''.
Please refer to the AO-1 web page to read the policies for pilot/follow-up observations as well as Targets of Opportunity (ToOs), linked and concatenated observations.
XRPS offers a choice of proposal categories matching the composition of the XMM Observatory Time Allocation Committee (OTAC) panels. Thus users can choose by which OTAC panel their proposal will be reviewed. The available categories are:
Due to a last-minute change, there is a minimal mismatch between the entries in the XRPS pull-down menu and those listed above. The categories tabulated here represent the final and official version.
Please enter the proposal abstract using the editor window provided (max. 800 ASCII characters).
In case one proposal depends heavily on the outcome of another, the other (``associated'') proposal should be mentioned here. If you have received back an email acknowledging receipt of the associated proposal (including a proposal identification number), please provide first the number, followed by the proposal title (max. 80 characters altogether).
It has been decided by the Project Scientist that requests for ToO observations must be sent in via a different mechanism, because XRPS will be taken offline after the deadline of AO-1; see the Policies and Procedures for details. The ToO flag MUST be left at its default value, which is ``false''!
Choose between SSC and GO. The meaning of ``SSC follow-up'' is explained in the following:
Selecting the ``SSC'' Follow-up option
By choosing this
option proposers indicate that they are
willing for the serendipitous content of their XMM EPIC
observations to be included in the follow-up programme being conducted by
the XMM Survey Science Centre (SSC) as part of its responsibilities to
the XMM project. In this context ``serendipitous" refers to X-ray
sources detected within the EPIC field of view but not associated
with the target of the observations. A summary of the SSC Follow-up
Programme and other SSC activities is given in the XMM User's Handbook
(UHB).
The overall goal of the SSC programme is to support the community's
access to, and exploitation of, the serendipitous data from XMM, and as
such all the results will be made public through the XMM science archive.
It should be stressed that the SSC programme involves the
follow-up/identification of only a small fraction of the serendipitous
sources that XMM will detect. The emphasis of the SSC programme is on the
characterisation of the XMM source population through the detailed
follow-up of well-defined, small subsamples.
Agreeing to this option does not alter the observer's proprietary rights for the intended target of the observation. For the serendipitous source content of the field it indicates that the observer allows access to the non-target sources by the SSC for the specific purposes of the follow-up programme, and those purposes only. XMM serendipitous source data only enters the public domain once the proprietary period expires. This applies equally where the observer grants follow-up permission: there is no question of such data entering the public domain at an earlier stage.
Except where there are alternate plans to conduct a follow-up programme based on the serendipitous X-ray source content of their XMM fields, observers are encouraged to agree to the SSC follow-up option. This will help to ensure the success of the SSC's programme which is being conducted for the benefit of the whole community. Where any uncertainty exists in the precise definition of the intended target of the XMM proposal the SSC will always undertake to clarify this with the observer, via the XMM Project Scientist.
For pilot/follow-up observations a success or fail criterion must be defined for the pilot run by the proposer, based on which a follow-up observation shall be carried out. The idea is that a pilot observation (i.e., either one or a periodic repetition of more than one short test observations) is carried out to determine whether a variable X-ray source is in a state fulfilling the pre-defined success/fail criterion. If not, XMM will continue with its scheduled observations (which is the default procedure) without executing a follow-up run. If the criterion should be fulfilled, a new schedule will be developed as fast as possible, the preplanned schedule interrupted and a longer follow-up observation of the target of the pilot run conducted.
Still within the main input window of the page, the three functional buttons ``Commit'', ``Add Co-I'' and ``Add Observation'' are displayed, which offer the following functionality.
As before; commit the proposal details that were entered into the form to the working memory. If you do not commit your entries to memory before moving on, you may lose what you have typed in.
Up to now only the PI personal information has been entered. All details about each Co-Investigator must be entered too. Fill in a separate page for each Co-I (see § 5.3.1).
After providing general proposal information the proposer can now continue by entering details about the proposed science observations into an observation page (§ 5.3.2), choosing the ``Add Observation'' option.
Note: An XMM proposal can consist of one or more observations. An ``observation'' is defined as a pointing to one particular position on the sky, including all sub-units of the observations, which are called ``exposures''. For example, a second pointing towards a slightly offset position compared to the first observation (because, e.g., the target does not fit into the EPIC field of view) is a second, independent observation. Pointing towards a new target or position is, by definition, always a new observation, because XMM has no capability to perform raster scans.