BRICS REPORT ON ASTRONOMY AND IDEAS TO TAKE THE BRICS ASTRONOMY FORWARD

1. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) share common aspirations for scientific and technological development, and for the growth of human capital resources. Astronomy captures the imagination of people everywhere, and touches a fundamental human desire to understand the universe that surrounds us, and our place in it. It provides an ideal way to attract young learners into scientific and technical studies, developing the human capacity for the knowledge-based economy of the future. Its appeal transcends boundaries that divide peoples and speaks to all members of our societies. The goal of the BRICS Astronomy Working Group (BAWG) is to exploit these basic strengths for the mutual betterment of our general populaces.

The BRICS Astronomy Workshop is held under the auspices of the BWAG and provides a platform for BRICS member countries to engage on scientific and technological discussions related to research, development and practice in astronomy, and to work on project proposals for promoting BRICS cooperation in astronomy. The BRICS Astronomy Working Group (BAWG) is composed of government officials (or their designated representatives) supported by the focal points on astronomy and experts from BRICS member countries.

The mission of the BAWG is to promote cooperation between BRICS member countries in the field of astronomy and enabling technologies, through joint activities of government, universities, research institutions, and industry, as relevant, in order to develop astronomical sciences, generate new knowledge, train human capital, develop new technologies and applications, and improve public understanding of science. At the first BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Ministerial Meeting which was held in Cape Town on 10 February 2014, five priority areas to be led by the respective BRICS member countries were endorsed. South Africa was given the responsibility to lead the astronomy priority area, and consequently chairs and provides the secretariat for the BAWG.

The Department of Science and Innovation of South Africa acts as the secretariat to the BAWG and is responsible for: • Dissemination of information to the BAWG using various media, including a website; • Organising annual meetings – organising a venue and meeting facilities, meeting agendas and relevant documents, as well as coordinating experts to develop topics of common interest; and • Capturing proceedings of the BAWG.

2. ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS A total of five BAWG meetings have been held, starting with the inaugural meeting in Cape Town in 2015, the second in Ekaterinburg in 2016, and the third one in Pune in 2017, the fourth one in Durban in 2018 and the fifth one in Rio de Janeiro in 2019. During these five years, the BAWG managed to achieve the following: • The Terms of Reference for the BAWG was adopted and it defines the mandate, scope of work and roles and responsibilities of each party; • A strategic plan was developed and adopted - it is called the 2017-2020

BRICS Astronomy

Framework for Scientific

Cooperation, and it defines the priority areas of cooperation and the modalities of engagement.

The priority science areas identified include but not limited to cosmology, galaxy formation and evolution, stellar and compact object astrophysics, and big data. • A website for the BAWG has been established -

http://www.bricsastronomy.org/

3. WORKSHOPS AND OUTCOMES The proceedings of each workshop and the resolutions made by the BAWG at each meeting are all published on the website. The following meetings and workshops have been held to date:

3.1 CAPE TOWN MEETING IN 2015 The inaugural meeting of the BAWG of senior officials and experts of the governments of Brazil ,Russia, India, China and South Africa was held in Cape Town on 1012 December 2015. The BAWG took note of the various presentations and broad discussions on policy instruments, innovation and industry developments and opportunities in the BRICS countries. The delegates visited the astronomical sites of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). The SKA would become the world’s largest radio telescope when it would be fully completed and South Africa is the co-host of the SKA together with Australia. Three of the BRICS members, South Africa, China and India are members of the SKA. Main outcome of the meeting: development of the ToR for the BAWG that defines the mandate, scope of work and roles and responsibilities of each party.

SCIENCE MINISTERS OF THE BRICS COUNTRIES VISITING THE SKA TELESCOPE IN THE NORTHERN CAPE IN SOUTH AFRICA BRICS DELEGATES AT THE ASTRONOMY MEETING IN EKATERINBURG IN RUSSIA IN 2016.

DELEGATES AT THE BRICS ASTRONOMY MEETING IN PUNE IN INDIA, 2017

3.2 MEETING IN RUSSIA IN 2016 The 2016 BRICS Astronomy workshop and working group (BAWG) meetings was hosted by Russia at the Ural Federal University from 5-7 September 2016. The workshop theme for the 2016 workshop was Astronomical Data and Computation. The main outcome of this meeting was the development of the 1st draft of the BRICS Astronomy strategic plan document. Main outcome of the meeting: The development of the 1st draft of the BRICS Astronomy strategic plan document and development of the website. 3.3 MEETING IN INDIA IN 2017 The meeting on Astronomy Infrastructure and Instrumentation was held at the Inter University of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pune, India from 2123 September 2017. The workshop brought together astronomers from BRICS countries to report on the existing astronomy infrastructure and instruments with a view to further collaboration on future instrumentation as well as present and future mega projects. In addition, discussions on furthering human resource development in astronomy through involvement of universities was held. Main outcome of the meeting: The strategic plan was finalised and adopted.

3.4 MEETING IN DURBAN IN 2018 Senior officials and representatives of the BAWG from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, held a meeting in Durban, South Africa, on 31October 2018, to deliberate on strategic and operational matters. :The BAWG took note of

the various presentations made and broad discussions held on the theme “Ideas for strengthening BRICS astronomy into the future” during the BRICS Astronomy Workshop that took place on 29-30 October 2018, and that this was followed by a site visit to the astronomy facilities of the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Main outcome of the meeting: A task team was set up during the Workshop with experts from each BRICS country. The task team was mandated to cluster the different project proposals and then work towards a single joint flagship project for the consortium.

SECRETARIAT SUPPORT TEAM IN SOUTH AFRICA DURING THE 2018 BRICS ASTRONOMY MEETING IN DURBAN 3.5 MEETING IN RIO DE JANEIRO IN 2019 The BAWG from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as astronomers from these countries attended the 2-day workshop on Multimessenger and Multiwavelength Astronomy, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 02 October 2019. Main outcome of this meeting: It was agreed that the BAWG will work on one joint flagship project that is known as the BRICS INTELLIGENT TELESCOPE AND DATA NETWORK. The project is led by Dr David Buckley from South Africa as the main principal investigator and he will be working with a team of principal investigators from each of the BRICS countries. A fully costed and detailed project proposal is being developed and will be submitted by end of May 2020 to the overall BRICS STI so that they can assist with the funding.

4. SUMMARY OF ASTRONOMY PROJECTS FUNDED UNDER THE BRICS STI CALLS The following three projects have been funded BRICS astronomy have been funded from the South Africa side:

4.1 ACCRETION PROCESSES ONTO COMPACT ASTROPHYSICAL OBJECTS DURING THEIR MOST LUMINOUS EPISODES OF X-RAY AND GAMMA-RAY EMISSION This project is led by David Buckley from the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) and it involves detailed studies of the accretion processes onto compact astrophysical objects during their most luminous episodes of X-ray and gammaray emission. The goal of this research is to identify the nature and fundamental physical parameters both of the compact objects and the accretion flows in their vicinity, and to compare results with theoretical models. Under the framework of this project, we plan to investigate transient phenomena in several classes of objects: X-ray pulsars, X-ray and dwarf Novae, systems with tidal disruption of one of the components, cosmic gamma-ray bursts on the prompt emission and afterglow stages; the latter is thought to be due to the accretion of part of the material ejected during the event onto the compact object and unusual supernovae (e.g. fast or superluminous). To complete our project goals, observations over a wide wavelength range are used – from X-ray and gammarays, registered by space observatories, to the optical and infrared band (which will be obtained with the help the Russian and Indian groundbased telescopes as well as by the South African Astronomical Observatory telescopes) and down to the radio-band (MeerKAT array). This project is the natural continuation of research performed by Russian, RSA and Indian scientists since 2009 (there are more than a dozen joint publications), including a joint Russia- RSA project which was supported by the RFBR and NSF. It is expected that at least a dozen publications will result from research performed during this project. ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE The widened scope of the research now also includes the study of unusual supernovae associated with the latetime evolution of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). Included in this is the study of the host galaxies, sometimes challenging due to the relative faintness of the objects. SALT will prove to be well suited in such studies. One team meeting with the Indian group (S. Pandey, ARIES) was conducted from 10-12 November 2019 in Nanithal. Plans were made for observations of galaxy hosts and for utilizing the 3.5-m DOT, which will be available soon for routine observations. With the successful launch of the Spectrum-RöntgenGamma (Spektr-RG) mission in July 2019, planning for following up of X-ray and gamma-ray transients has begun with Russian collaborators (A.Lutovinov, A. Pozanenko, IKI). This will

involve sources discovered by the ART-XC hard Xray telescope.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS One major achievement for the reporting period is the acceptance of a paper in Astrophysical Journal: “SN 2010kd: Photometric and Spectroscopic Analysis of a Slow-Decaying Superluminous Supernova”. This paper was led by a graduate student (A. Kumar) from the Indian group (headed by Prof S. Pandey, ARIES). The paper presents data and analysis of SN 2010kd, a low-redshift, H-deficient superluminous supernova (SLSN), based on ultraviolet/optical photometry and optical spectroscopy. This result represents the future possibilities for co-ordinated studies (e.g. amongst BRICS members) of energetic events themselves (like GRBs, SLSN), but also post-outburst studies of the galaxies which are host to these. We were successful in obtaining observing time in open calls for both SALT and SAAO time.

In the case of the former, we have had a nominal allocation of 30,000s per semester, for 4 semesters, running from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2020. In addition, we had an allocation of observing time on the SAAO 1.9-m (2 weeks) and 1.0-m (3weeks) telescopes in the third trimester of 2018 (Sep-Dec), during which 3 of our Russian collaborators visited to conduct the observations. The new Indian 3.5-m telescope, DOT, is now available for supporting observations following its commissioning. FUTURE PLANS A collaboration meeting of some of the Russian & Indian participants was planned for 6-8 April at SAAO, immediately following the 9th Fermi Symposium that was to have been held the previous week in Johannesburg, which some of the team were planning to attend. Due to the global COVID-19 crisis, these plans have had to be abandoned for now. We are now planning for significant participation of team members in the forthcoming Magnetism & Accretion conference (http://ma2020. saao.ac.za/), currently scheduled for November 2020 in Cape Town (with a fall-back option for Jan 2021, should circumstances with COVID-19 dictate). 4.2 PRECISION RADIO IMAGING IN THE SKA ERA (PRISE): PUSHING THE ALGORITHMIC ENVELOPE WITH MEERKAT AND UGMRT TELESCOPES Led by Prof Oleg Smirnov from Rhodes University, the project aims to considerably increase the scientific yield of the MeerKAT and uGMRT radio telescopes, and to pave the way to the future Square Kilometre Array (SKA), by implementing the most advanced of the novel calibration and imaging techniques that have emerged in recent years. In particular, the project aims to (a) incorporate baselinedependent averaging into a full self-calibration and imaging cycle, (b) incorporate the latest compressive sensing and Bayesian imaging techniques into MeerKAT and uGMRT pipelines, (c) incorporate directiondependent calibration techniques for e.g. ionospheric and primary beam modelling into existing software, and (d) provide HPC implementations of these algorithms that will be available to the scientific community.

4.3 SUPERCONDUCTING TERAHERTZ RECEIVERS FOR SPACE AND GROUND-BASED ASTRONOMY This project is led by Prof Coenradie Fourie from Stellenbosch and it is a recently funded project. 5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS • A networked community of astronomers and relevant government officials in the relevant science ministries has been developed and is working reasonably well together. • The BAWG has therefore laid a good foundation in the past five years and the challenge is now to take the cooperation to the next dimension of working together on a real project. • Continuation of the BAWG with no funding injection by BRICS governments will start to demoralise the astronomy communities in the BRICS countries after all these years and BAWG will start to lose credibility and possibly leading to decreased participation in these meetings. • Astronomy was funded through the BRICS STI

Call for Proposals but these projects are too small to make a real impact in BRICS astronomy as a whole. • It is therefore strongly recommended that funding opportunities beyond the BRICS STI call for proposals be made available as soon as possible.