ALMA Special Session at the 208th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society: "Imaging Star Formation in the Cosmos with ALMA", Calgary, Alberta, June 5, 2006

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) will provide quantum leaps in improvement compared to existing facilities, enabling entirely new science at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. Star formation in the Milky Way will be revealed with a hundred-fold increase in sensitivity and resolution, making it possible to see evidence of protoplanets in protostellar disks and to measure disk chemical differentiation. Star-forming molecular gas in nearby galaxies will be imaged with high sensitivity at parsec-scale resolution, providing new insight into the structure and evolution of galaxies. Multiple transitions of molecular and atomic gas will be imaged in distant galaxies back to the era of recombination, providing information on the chemistry, structure, formation and evolution of the earliest galaxies.

The North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) sponsored a special session at the 208th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, held 4-8 June 2006 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The special session took place from 2:30-4:00pm on Monday June 5, in order to adjoin the meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASA). It featured review talks highlighting ALMA's capabilities and scientific potential in three key research areas, and an associated poster session. Each of the presentations (talks and posters) is available for download, in either powerpoint or pdf format.

TALKS:

• ALMA and Distant Galaxies, Andrew Blain, Caltech     [ppt]
• Using ALMA to Disentangle the Physics of Star Formation in our Galaxy, Doug Johnstone, NRC-HIA, U. Victoria     [ppt]
• Imaging star-forming gas in nearby galaxies with ALMA, Jean Turner, UCLA     [ppt]

POSTERS:

• The North America ALMA Science Center, Chris Carilli, John Hibbard, Crystal Brogan and the NAASC, NRAO     [ppt]
• The ALMA Level One Science Goals, Al Wootten, NRAO    [pdf]  [ppt]
• Star Formation Research: Now & with ALMA, Debra Shepherd, NRAO     [ppt]
• The Splatalog (Database for Astronomical Spectroscopy) and Calibase (Calibration Source Catalog) , Andrew J. Markwick-Kemper, Anthony J. Remijan, Ed Fomalont and the NAASC, NRAO     [ppt]
• The Band 3 Receiver Cartridges for ALMA, L. Knee, S. Claude, D. Johnstone, K. Yeung, and the rest of the Band 3 Team Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, Victoria, BC, Canada Summary   [pdf]

ALMA Town meeting at the 207th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC - January 2006

ALMA held a Town Meeting at the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C.  The town meeting was held on Monday January 9th from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the Cotillion Ballroom and was attended by over 200 AAS members. The NRAO Director, Fred K.Y. Lo, kicked off the meeting with a welcome and introduction, followed by a dynamic presentation by the North American ALMA Project Manager, Adrian Russell. This included a list of the impressive accomplishments achieved by ALMA over the past year, as well as current pictures of the on-going construction at the ALMA sites in Chile.  Chris Carilli gave a presentation on the main science goals of ALMA, and Crystal Brogan described the plans for the North American ALMA Science Center. These presentations were followed by 30min of discussion. All of the above presentations are available for download below in either PDF or in Power Point (PPT) format. After the meeting, members of the ANASAC joined Fred Lo and NRAO staff members for a lunch to discuss the ALMA project, the science center, and the
NA community.

Each of presentations is available for download, in either powerpoint or pdf format.

• Introduction, K. Y. Fred Lo    [pdf]  [ppt]
• ALMA Project Status, Adrian Russell    [pdf]  [ppt]
• ALMA: Imaging the Cold Universe, Chris Carilli    [pdf]  [ppt]
• The North American ALMA Science Center, Crystal Brogan    [pdf]  [ppt]
• Question and Answer Session    [pdf]  [ppt]

For more pictures from the 207th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC, click here. For a brochure of ALMA presented at the AAS meeting, click here.

ALMA Town meeting at the 205th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego, CA - January 2005

At the 205th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego, CA, ALMA held a Town Meeting that was well attended by a diverse group of AAS members representing all areas of astronomy.  The town meeting was held on Tuesday January 11th from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. in the Royal Palm 1-3 Ballroom. The NRAO Director, Fred K.Y. Lo, kicked off the meeting with a welcome and introduction.  Min S. Yun then presented some very impressive examples of the science expected from the ALMA array.  M. Tarenghi then gave an overview of the current status of the project and finally, Al Wooten described the plans for the North American ALMA Science Center. These presentations were followed by 15min of discussion moderated by Al Wooten.  Presentations from the ALMA Town meeting at the 205th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego, CA are available for download below in either PDF or in Power Point (PPT) format.