ALMA North American Science Advisory Committee

• L1521F:
  
  

Dynamical interaction of star-forming gas was found in a star-forming region by observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). This is a remarkable observation result that disproves a conventional assumption that stars are formed by slow contraction of gas clouds. Credit: NAOJ

These observation results were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (June 11, 2014) as Tokuda et al. "ALMA Observations of a High-density Core in Taurus: Dynamical Gas Interaction at the Possible Site of a Multiple Star Formation".

Contact Information for those calling in.

• Call date: 2014-7-10 2:00 pm EDT or 18:00 UT (Thursday (Friday in Taipei))
• Duration: 1 hr
  * USA Number: 1-866-692-4538
• Outside USA +1-517-466-2084
• Passcode: 9480444#
• Leaders: A. Bolatto, P. Jewell, A. Wootten
• CV Room: 331

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• Attendees:

Topics

1. Old Business
2. New Business under Discussion. Welcome (back) to Rachel Osten, new ASAC/ANASAC member)!

Discussion Items

1. NAASC (Jewell)

• JAO update
• EOC – Extension of Capabilities Highlights
  • Significant amount of observations were performed for the Vertex astro-holography campaign. Mike Kesteven, an external expert from CSIRO confirmed that the way the astroholography data was collected is satisfactory and met the needs of the analysis Work is continuing on data reduction and analysis.
  • Several tests were performed as part of the Total Power (TP) acceptance and the 4-bit non-linearity correction in the ACA correlator. The test group determined that a constant correction factor was found to apply to the TP data. The TRR for TP was held on 3 July and passed.
  • A face-to-face planning meeting to discuss the upcoming long baseline campaign took place from 2-3 June at IRAM in Grenoble. The meeting was very productive and everyone was very positive about the JAO plan.
  • A Go / No-Go Review for the Long-Baseline campaign was held on 3 July to review the readiness of pad electrical infrastructure on the extended arms; the decision was “Go.”
  • From June – Aug the EOC group is starting the high frequency optimization campaign. Data collected in June consisted of testing the band-to-band phase transfer and bandwidth switching observing techniques as well as testing the sideband separation procedures, bandpass stability and sideband ratios at all bands.
  • Data were taken for the following science verification campaigns: Polarization towards 3c286, High spectral resolution imaging in Band 8, Total Power observations towards M100.
  • Coordination with EOC continued with the ALMA Phasing Project and the ALMA Solar Observing Teams. Program plans were developed and sent to EOC management for review.
  • On a sad note, one of the JAO commissioning staff, Stan Stefl, passed away on Wednesday, 11 June 2014 following an automobile accident in Santiago.
• ES – Early Science
  • Cycle 2 ES is off to a good start. See Hibbard / Lonsdale report below
• CURRENT NAASC PRIORITIES[Week of July 7, 2014]
  • Pipeline pre-release testing
  • Data reduction
  • Contact Scientist work
• ANASAC f2f Meeting 28 May 2014
  • Awaiting report from NRAO Users Committee, expected by 31 July 2014

1. Program Scientist (Wootten)
   • NAASC Workshop Support--seeking ANASAC concurrence
     • Filamentary Structure in Molecular Clouds 10-11 Oct, Charlottesville
     • Ground and Space Observatories observing the Solar System (ESO/NAASC workshop 2-5 March 2015 in Santiago)
   • Early Science status.
     • 29 papers have been published by NA authors from 41 projects with delivered data (5 were fillers).
     • First Cycle 1 paper has appeared
     • First Cycle 2 data delivered to NA PI.
   • ASAC telecon meeting July
     • See Alberto's minutes, attached
     • Board actions in June relating to ASAC
       • Charges ASAC Charges for Charlottesville Meeting.: AEDM_2014-058-O_Approved_ASAC_Charges_-_October_2014_Meeting.pdf
       • Supporting materials for Charge 1(2):
         • Instructions for New Assessor Nominations: NewAssessors.txt
         • List of previous Science Assessors: SA_lists.xlsx
         • List for nominations of Science Assessors (see instructions): SA_suggestions.xlsx
         • List of PIs for Cycle 2 proposals from NA: NA_PISubmitters1.xlsx
         • List of NA astronomers who were coIs on 4 or more Cycle 2 proposals, excluding NAASC personnel: NA_TopSubmitters2.xlsx
   • ALMA Development (Wootten)
     • NA Calls
       • Studies have begun.
       • Projects approved by ALMA Board have begun.
2. Science Status (Hibbard, Lonsdale)
   • Cycle 1 Status Report March 2014
     • Changes since then: Did not get to configuration C32-5 in may; as a result 466hr of Cycle1 projects transferred to Cy2
     • Should be in C34-5 by next ES block (July 15); then C34-6 some week later. Still plan on returning to compact configs in Dec-Jan.
   • Observing Status
     • Locations Array is similar to C32-5.
     • Antennas at the AOS: 64 (52x12m, 12x7m). Antennas at the OSF: 2.
     • Currently in commissioning time (now called EOC). 45 antennas available for observation (34x12m, 11x7m), This week PWV has been submm but variable
     • Software for Total Power Observing mode passed Test Readiness Review. Going through end-2-end tests. Acceptance review mid-August.
     • Cycle 2 observations: have completed 4 ES blocks since last telecon. Session 5 begins July 15
       • Cycle 2 HP Projects: 352 projects total. So far 253 executions of 77 projects. 3 with some data delivered, none completely delivered (but 11 nominally completed, pending QA2).
       • Cycle 1 HP Projects: 198 total. 128 (64%) with some observations. 94 (47%) with some data delivered. 43 (22%) completely delivered.
       • Obtained 942 successful executions of Cycle 1 projects (860 thru May30); Since June 1, obtained 253 Cy2 executions and 82 Cycle 1, for 335. I.e., in 1.5mo of Cy2 observing, have reached 335/860=39% of Cy1 production. So - Cyc2 is off to a good start!
   • PL-assisted data reduction waiting on CASA 4.2.2. A pre-release of PL software was released yesterday and is undergoing testing. Expect ~1mo process to accept, update docs, & start deliveries. JAO will run all PL-compatible projects through PL. ARCs will handle projects that are not PL-compatible (high frequency/low S/N; polarization; data combination) and those that fail PL run.
   • Cycle 3 planning: Call/Deadline in Mar/Apr next year; panel meetings June; observing starts Oct1. 12mo cycle, so will be close to yearly cadence
   • Support to JAO: E. Fomalont & A. Remijan (long term EOC support), Jennifer Donovan Myer & Brian Mason (long term EOC support for high frequency observations July/Aug); J. Hibbard & Mark Rawlings (AoD support July/Aug).
   • NA Data Reduction:
     • NA Cycle 1 Data Reduction update: 190 EBs processed or being processed in-house; 5 SBs QA2 PASS in last week; 6 dataset deliveries. Currently: 8 staff reducing data. 14 SBs in queue.
     • NA Data Deliveries: 130 SBs for 53 projects. 25 NA projects completely delivered.
3. Astronomer Outreach
   • Google calendars for ALMA Science and Training events now linked to from Science Portal (under Helpdesk link)
   • NAASC TV
   • ALMA Questionnaire distributed shortly after Cycle 2 results mailed to PI. Asks for feedback on all aspects of ALMA, from proposal process to data reduction/products.
   • Next NAASC Workshop. Topic: [[https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/alma/naasc-workshops/alma2014/index][Transformational Science in the ALMA Era: Multi-Wavelength Studies of Galaxy Evolution]. Poster submissions being accepted. Please register and come! Registration is open May 16 - July 11, 2014
   • NA Regional workshops are planned:
     • 2015 AAAS Annual Meeting(February 2015).
       • 180 Minute Symposium: Galaxy Assembl
     • 2014 NAASC Workshop 4-7 Aug 2014 Transformational Science in the ALMA Era: Multi-Wavelength Studies of Galaxy Evolution. Charlottesville
     • Filamentary Structure in Molecular Clouds 10-11 Oct, Charlottesville
     • AAS Seattle. Plenary session on Recent Results from ALMA.
     • Ground and Space Observatories observing the Solar System (NAASC workshop 2-5 March 2015 in Santiago)
   • International workshops:
     • ALMA Conference 2014. "Revolution in Astronomy with ALMA -- The Third Year" 2014 December 8 to 11 at Tokyo International Forum near Tokyo Station
   • Other Astronomer Outreach: JAO ALMA Webpages; ALMA Newsletters; ARC-maintained wiki of ALMA science meetings and training events; NRAO eNews; NAOJ News.
4. Date of next meeting
   • 18 Sept 2014
   • Proposed dates for 2014 telecons: 18 Sep,20 Nov
5. Other Business

Science Corner

1. Memos and papers of note
   • 126 published refereed ALMA papers, 87 from Cycle 0 (29 NA 1st authors) and 1 from Cycle 1. There are 168 papers of all flavors with over 1000 citations.
2. Recent releases
3. ALMA Papers (choose ALMA) 168 and counting (more on arxiv not yet listed here)

Events of Interest

2014
01 June 2014		Start Cy2 science observing
05 Aug 2014		NAASC Workshop	Charlottesville
7 Oct 2014		ASAC f2f Meeting	Charlottesville
10 Oct 2014		NAASC Workshop on Filaments	Charlottesville
7 Dec 2014		ALMA Symposium	Tokyo
13 Dec 2014		ALMA Postdoc Symposium	Mitaka

(see also google calendars)

Upcoming, very recent, or ongoing Meetings

1. ALMA Science Meetings
2. ALMA Training Events

-- AlWootten - 2014-06-25

• Instructions for New Assessor Nominations: NewAssessors.txt

• List of previous Science Assessors: SA_lists.xlsx

• List for nominations of Science Assessors (see instructions): SA_suggestions.xlsx

• List of PIs for Cycle 2 proposals from NA: NA_PISubmitters1.xlsx

• List of NA astronomers who were coIs on 4 or more Cycle 2 proposals, excluding NAASC personnel: NA_TopSubmitters2.xlsx

• ASAC Charges for Charlottesville Meeting.: AEDM_2014-058-O_Approved_ASAC_Charges_-_October_2014_Meeting.pdf

• Minutes of 2 July ASAC telecon: asac07022014.txt