1. ALMA During Early Science
National Radio Astronomy Observatory - NAASC
Charlottesville, Virginia

2. The Breadth of ALMA Science
Image the redshifted dust continuum emission from evolving galaxies at epochs of formation as early as z = 10.
Probe the cold dust and molecular gas of nearby galaxies, allowing detailed studies of the interstellar medium in different galactic environments, the effect of the physical conditions on the local star formation history, and galactic structure.
Reveal the details of how stars form from the gravitational collapse of dense cores in molecular clouds. The spatial resolution of ALMA will allow the accretion of cloud material onto an accretion disk to be imaged, and will trace the formation and evolution of disks and jets in young protostellar systems. For older protostars and pre-main sequence stars, ALMA will show how (proto)planets sweep gaps in circumstellar and debris disks.
Uncover the chemical composition of the molecular gas surrounding young stars, including establishing the role of the freeze-out of gas-phase species onto grains, the re-release of these species back into the gas phase in the warm inner regions of circumstellar disks, and the formation of complex organic molecules
Image the formation of molecules and dust grains in the circumstellar shells and envelopes of evolved stars, novae, and supernovae.
Refine dynamical and chemical models of the atmospheres of planets in our own Solar System, and provide unobscured images of cometary nuclei, hundreds of asteroids, Centaurs, and Kuiper Belt Objects.
If you go to the ALMA pages, you’ll find a description of...
Bottom line - ALMA will be a very efficient telescope for doing origins science

3. Cycle 0 ALMA Sixteen 12m Antennae
Four Bands in the frequency range GHz
A Compact Configuration, with a min/max baseline of ~18m/125m (largest observable scale ~ 21” at 100 GHz)
An Extended Configuration, with a min/max baseline of ~36m/400m (max angular resolution ~ 0.23” at 675 GHz)
Single pointing + mosaics (up to 50 pointings)
a number of spectral/continuum correlator modes, with bandwidths from 58.6 MHz and 2 GHz per baseband
Sources as far North as declination ~ 40o can be observed
Observations of moving targets (except the Sun) supported

4. Cycle 0 ALMA Observing Frequencies
Band 3 6 7 9
ν (GHz)
84-116
λ (mm)
Angular Resolution (“)
1.56
0.68
0.45
0.23
Maximum Observable Scale (“) 21
Primary Beam (“) 62 27 18
Continuum Sensitivity (mJy/beam)
0.14
0.20
0.37
3.2
“Extended” Angular Resolution (“) ~ 0.5” x (300 / ν GHz) x (0.400 km / max baseline)
“Compact” Maximum Scale (“) ~ 7”x (300 / ν GHz) x (0.018 km / min baseline)
12m Primary Beam (“) ~ 20.3” x (300 / ν GHz)
Sensitivity = 5σ in 1 hour (dual polarization mode)

5. ALMA Bands & Atmospheric Transmission
0.5mm pwv
1.3mm pwv
Cycle 0 Bands
Of course, the bands represent regions of high transparency in the mm/submm
Resolution increases with increasing frequency
Weather (& sensitivity) degrade with increasing frequency

6. Example Correlator Modes
ALMA
Mode
Effective
Bandwidth
(GHz)
No. of
channels
Spectral
Resolution
(kHz)
Polarization 7
1.875
3840
488
Dual 9
469
122 12
58.6 15
Arp 220
HCN
HNC
HCO+
C2H
2 windows
E.g., for Mode 7:
~6600 km/s bandwidth per spectral window (x 2 windows )
~2 km/s resolution
Dual polarization cuts the needed integration time in half.

7. Comparison with existing arrays
ALMA
Telescope
altitude
diameter
No.
Area
νmax
(feet)
(m)
Dishes
(m2)
(GHz)
NMA
2,000 10 6
470
250
CARMA
7,300
3.5/6/10
8/9/6
800
IRAM PdB
8,000 15
1060
SMA
13,600 8
230
650
ALMA (ES)
16,400 12 16
1800
720
ALMA Full Science
ALMA 54
6100
950
ACA 7
490
EVLA
7,050 25 27
13250 43

8. Comparison with existing arrays
ALMA
SMA
Collecting Area &
Number of Baselines
CARMA
8 (28)
23 (253)
ALMA
Early Science
IRAM PdBI
64 (2016)
16 (120)
6 (15)
Spectral Coverage 3 4 6 7 8 9 10
(from D. Wilner)

9. ALMA test Data (5-6 Ant) ALMA
ALMA will detect lots of lines
Hot core of G : at 3mm - lots of molecular lines detected in 2 hours.

10. ALMA Data
ALMA
β Pictoris disk: Herschel on left and 870 micron dust emission from ALMA

11. ALMA Data ALMA NGC 253: Band 6: CO (2→1) and Band 9: Continuum

12. ALMA Data ALMA BRI 0952-0115: (z =4.43) Ionized Carbon
rest-frame158 μm) detected in 1 hour

13. Cycle 0 ALMA Call for Proposals issued 31 March 2011
Proposal Deadline = 15:00 UT on 30 June 2011
hours of observations in Cycle 0
North American time = 33.75%
Proposal Types: Standard (≤100 hours) & Target of Opportunity
Think of science that can be done in a few hours of observing time

14. Screenshot of the Proposal Preparation Tool
Phase I Tools
ALMA
Observing Tool (OT)
SIMDATA
Sensitivity Calculator
Splatalogue
Screenshot of the Proposal Preparation Tool

15. Phase I Tools ALMA Observing Tool (OT) SIMDATA Sensitivity Calculator
Splatalogue

16. Screenshot of Sensitivity Calculator in the OT
Phase I Tools
ALMA
Observing Tool (OT)
SIMDATA
Sensitivity Calculator
Splatalogue
Screenshot of Sensitivity Calculator in the OT

17. Screenshot of Splatalogue
Phase I Tools
ALMA
Observing Tool (OT)
SIMDATA
Sensitivity Calculator
Splatalogue
Screenshot of Splatalogue

18. Proposal Checklist ALMA
Read relevant documentation (CfP Guide, Primer)
Create an ALMA account by registering at the Science Portal
Download the Observing Tool (OT) & related guides
Prepare the Science & Technical Cases (PDF file)
Prepare Science Goals (sources, frequency & correlator setup, integration times) within the OT
Make use of the Helpdesk & the Knowledgebase

19. NRAO User Support
ALMA
NRAO User Support

20. The North American ALMA Science Center
located in Charlottesville, VA
User support for proposal preparation & post- observation
Support user visits to NAASC
NRAO Page Charge Support
Organize ALMA workshops

21. The North American ALMA Science Center
NAASC
Postdocs
Manuel Aravena, Rachel Friesen,
Violette Impellizzeri, Brian Kent,
Amy Kimball, Nuria Marcelino,
Robin Pulliam

22. The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

23. Key Cycle 0 dates ALMA Date Milestone 31 March 2011
Cycle 0 CfP & release of Observing Tool
29 April 2011
Cycle 0 Proposal Notice of Intent deadline
1 June 2011
Opening of archive for proposal submission
30 June 2011
Proposal deadline
July - Sept 2011
Technical Assessments
Science-Themed ALMA Review Panels (ARPs)
ALMA Proposal Review Committee (APRC)
mid-Sept 2011
Announce Results
30 September 2011
Anticipated start of ALMA Cycle 0 observing
February 2012
Anticipated one month engineering shutdown
30 June 2012
Anticipated end of ALMA Cycle 0