ALMA North American Science Advisory Committee

• 2020 ALMA Ambassadors:
  

Contact Information for those calling in.

• 10am CST 24 Feb
• Call using NAASC Zoom
• Zoom information:
  • Zoom browser link: https://zoom.us/j/568238143
  • One tap mobile:
    • +16468769923,,568238143# US (New York) or
    • +16699006833,,568238143# US (San Jose)
  • Dial by your location
    • +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) or
    • +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
    • Meeting ID: 568 238 143
    • Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/adNEe3sCkO
  • Join by SIP
    • 568238143@zoomcrc.com
• Leaders: G. Novak, P. Jewell, C. Brogan
• CV Room: ?

• Attendees:

Agenda

Topics

1. Old Business
   • Minutes from previous meeting not available
   • Upcoming NRAO eNews draft
   • The ALMA Development Roadmap
     • identified the multiplication of the IF bandwidth of ALMA (at least by a factor 2) as one of the main priorities for ALMA upgrades in the 2020s. This increase of the instantaneous bandwidth will be realized with the coordinated upgrade of the correlators the electronics feeding them: digitizers, backend and Data Transmission System (DTS) and the receivers ultimately supplying the signals. A series of meeting will be held this year to discuss considerations for all three elements needed do increase ALMA's bandwidth.
     • The first of these, a meeting to discuss considerations for the design of the next ALMA correlator was held in Charlottesville, Virginia February 11-13, 2020 (#NextALMACorrelator). Experts on the ALMA system and modern digital correlator design assembled to inform the submission of viable designs for the next ALMA correlator in the near future. Presentations are available on the website .
   • The second of these three, 'The ALMA 2030 Vision: Design considerations for Digitizers, Backend and Data Transmission System', will be held March 11-13, 2020, at NAOJ in Mitaka, Japan.
   • The third of these three, on the ALMA front ends, including receivers, will be held late next Spring in Europe; details to be announced.
2. New Business under Discussion.

Discussion Items

• Board Response to ASAC and Ad Hoc Charges Jan2020: AEDM-2019-058-O-SCResponsetoASACandAdHocChargesJan2020.pdf

• ASAC Documents: http://lennon.astro.northwestern.edu/ASAC_docs.zip

• ASAC is working on new "Principles of Review" and can summarize likely changes.

• EOC priorities

• Single-dish continuum sensitivity

• How to encourage high-risk proposals

• OT rewrite

1. ALMA science key indicators
   • 1781 refereed ALMA publications.
   • 2607 post-proprietary project data are available in the ALMA Archive,
   • 451 ALMA papers published so far in 2019.
2. ASAC f2f Meeting. ASAC members contact Sebastian Nikischer snikisch@nrao.edu for authorizations, reimbursements
3. The ALMA Board requests the ASAC to address the permanent charges as outlined in its Terms of Reference.
   • • ASAC Terms of Reference (ToR) permanent charges:
       • 2.2.1 The permanent charges are:
         • a) Assessment of the performance of ALMA scientific capabilities: The ASAC shall indicate what information is required from the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) to perform this assessment.
         • b) Assessment of the technical aspects of the ALMA system performance: The ASAC shall indicate what information is required from the JAO to perform this assessment.
         • c) Assessment of the science outcomes from ALMA: Statistics on publications, citations, press releases, web sites, etc. collected by the Executives shall be collated by the JAO, and analyzed by the ASAC.
         • d) Recommendation of ways to maximize ALMA's scientific impact: This includes review of the scientific effectiveness of the Proposal Review Process after each Proposal cycle.
         • e) Reporting on operational or scientific issues raised by the wider community as communicated by the three regional Science Advisory Committees (ANASAC, ESAC and EASAC).
         • f) Assessment of the scientific impacts of the ALMA Development Program, and particularly of new projects that are proposed.
       • See attachments for pdf Agenda

1. NAASC
   • Cycle 7 began 1 October. Proposal review results circulated 3rd week July. See JAO report.
   • The Cycle 7 ACA Supplemental Call for Proposals Deadline was 1 OCT. See JAO report.
     • Any comments?
   • Meeting updates:
2. ALMA Development
   • • New NA Studies Call opened Dec 2019
       • Notices of Intent due 16 March, proposals due 1 May 2020.
     • Past Studies Reports
3. Press Releases
4. ALMA Papers (choose ALMA)

Events of Interest

• Board Response to ASAC and Ad Hoc Charges Jan2020: AEDM-2019-058-O-SCResponsetoASACandAdHocChargesJan2020.pdf

• ASAC Report Nov2019: AEDM 2019-041-0 ASAC Report Nov. 2019.pdf

• 2020 ALMA Ambassadors: