Review of the Science Requirements for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array

Summary ALMA is a multinational project being carried out between North America (the United States and Canada), Europe (the European Southern Observatory [ESO] and Spain), and Japan. Initial bidding on construction of the individual antennas in the array has raised the possibility that the project may need to be descoped in order to manage its cost. Credible independent advice on the impact of such a descoping on the technical performance and scientific capabilities of the instrument is required. The Committee appointed to review the science requirements for ALMA will evaluate the following issues related to a possible descope of the ALMA array to 40 or 50 12-m antennas. Were such a descope to be carried out: 1. What would be the impact on the attainability of the technical performance specifications? 2. What would be the loss of speed, image quality, mosaicing ability and point-source sensitivity? 3. What would be the impact on the scientific reach of the project? Would ALMA still be sufficiently transformational in terms of its scientific potential to warrant continued support by the United States? 4. Is there a particular threshold in the number of antennas below which ALMA would suffer a degradation in its performance sufficiently serious that it would not merit the scientific priority accorded it in the 1991 survey of astronomy and astrophysics?

Committee and Staff Members
Committee Membership	Roger D. Blandford, Chair, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology Donald Backer, University of California at Berkeley John E. Carlstrom, University of Chicago Sarah Church, Stanford University Lennox L. Cowie, University of Hawaii Aaron S. Evans, Stony Brook University David J. Hollenbach, NASA Ames Research Center Anthony C. Readhead, California Institute of Technology Mark J. Reid, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics David N. Spergel, Princeton Universiry
NRC Staff	Donald C. Shapero, Director Brian C. Dewhurst, Sr. Program Associate Celeste A. Naylor, Sr. Program Assistant David B. Lang, Research Assistant

Past Meetings		Future Meetings
April 6 – 7, 2005 Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Menlo Park, CA Agenda

Report

The ALMA committee published their final report, “The Atacama Large Millimeter Array: Implications of a Potential Descope.” If you would like a free copy of the report, please send an email to bpa@nas.edu.

Feedback

To send comments or suggestions to the committee, please send e-mail to bpa@nas.edu

Related Links

BPA Related Activities		Outside Links
NRC Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics		NRAO ALMA Home
2001 Decadal Survey of Astronomy & Astrophysics Report		National Radio Astronomy Observatory
1991 Decadal Survey of Astronomy & Astrophysics Report		Associated Universities, Inc.

The project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.