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The ALMA Observing Preparation Tool

The ALMA Observing Preparation Tool. NRAO / North American ALMA Science Center. Video versio ns of this material:. Click here. Registering with User Portal. To register for the user portal, go to either: http://almascience.org/ http://almascience.nrao.edu/ (saves one step)

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The ALMA Observing Preparation Tool

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  1. The ALMA Observing Preparation Tool NRAO / North American ALMA Science Center

  2. Video versions of this material: April 26, 2011

  3. April 26, 2011

  4. Click here April 26, 2011

  5. April 26, 2011

  6. Registering with User Portal • To register for the user portal, go to either: • http://almascience.org/ • http://almascience.nrao.edu/ (saves one step) • Go to the User Portal to access: • ALMA info and news • Call for Proposals • ALMA tools and documentation • Helpdesk • Project Tracker • ALMA Science Archive April 26, 2011

  7. April 26, 2011

  8. Launch the Application A couple of dialog boxes will pop up April 26, 2011

  9. Hover over these icons to get help • New Proposal (Phase I) • Open project from Archive • … • New Phase I Science Goal… • Sensitivity Calculator … • Help! Contextual help on proposal workflow April 26, 2011

  10. Tips • Be alert to the presence of sliders, some information may be off-screen April 26, 2011

  11. Tips • Stippled edges can be dragged to resize panes April 26, 2011

  12. Tips • Arrowheads maximize and minimize panes April 26, 2011

  13. A walk through of a simple example • Observe molecular gas in NGC 1097 • Use CO (1-0) emission line • Rest frequency: 115.2712 GHz • Band 3 (2.6 mm) • Size of NGC 1097 is 9’ x 6’ • The field of view for a single pointing at 115 GHz is ~ 45” • Single pointing of the nucleus • During ES, up to 50 pointing mosaics are allowed. Synthesized beam w/400m baseline NGC 1097 from S4G, Sheth et al. 2010 April 26, 2011

  14. Proposal Preparation Workflow – Using the Contextual help Click through the tabs and follow the instructions on the left. April 26, 2011

  15. Fill out these relevant fields April 26, 2011

  16. Fill out these relevant fields Proposal Title Abstract April 26, 2011

  17. Fill out these relevant fields { Click here to set PI and co-Is April 26, 2011

  18. Type in the name or username An error may pop up April 26, 2011

  19. Finding Help • If you get stuck on any step, look for the “?” Icon • Click on it to get help. April 26, 2011

  20. April 26, 2011

  21. Attaching the Sci / Tech Justification… …as a single PDF file April 26, 2011

  22. April 26, 2011

  23. At any point you can check whether your proposal passes validation Validation is required before proposal can be submitted April 26, 2011

  24. Click on this turn-key to continue April 26, 2011

  25. Press on Science Goal tab to create a science goal April 26, 2011

  26. What is a Science Goal in the OT? • A science goal is: • One correlator / front end setup in one ALMA band • spectral windows, rest freq, polarization products, line/continuum modes • Subject to one set of control parameters • spatial resolution, sensitivity, dynamic range • Using one mapping strategy • Mosaic or single-pointing • And one calibration strategy • User or system-defined • Applied to an arbitrary set of sky targets (field centers) • Each with its own LSR velocity • In ES all windows in one science goal must have the same bandwidth and channel spacing April 26, 2011

  27. Describe your science goal if you wish – for the technical assessors (not required) Enter in Source name April 26, 2011

  28. Make sure and double check the coordinates. April 26, 2011

  29. Check the velocity used -> observing frequency. April 26, 2011

  30. Click on Spatial Tab to visualize observations Red text indicates incorrect or missing value April 26, 2011

  31. Clicking here opens the visualizer panel Press Query to get the image from pre-loaded servers - or - Load your own image* (Galactic coordinates won’t work yet) April 26, 2011

  32. Placing beams on an image (the graphical method) Enter frequency April 26, 2011

  33. For Calibration Set up: Unless you have a strong reason for choosing User-defined calibration, then leave this as System-defined calibration. April 26, 2011

  34. Currently supported modes for Cycle 0 Press here to add a line April 26, 2011

  35. e.g. Type in “CO” A window that can search Splatalogue will open. April 26, 2011

  36. Double click on the transition Now, the line list will be limited to those that can be observed at same time! Transition moves into this window Press here to accept selection April 26, 2011

  37. Your chosen Line is now loaded into the Setup: April 26, 2011

  38. Click on Spectral Tab to visualize observations Atmospheric transmission April 26, 2011

  39. LO CO line Band 3 LO Range Sidebands Press here to change resolution April 26, 2011

  40. Select correlator mode Trade-off between bandwidth & resolution April 26, 2011

  41. Can add up to 4 spectral windows – must have same resolution and bandwidth in Cycle 0 Location of windows is constrained April 26, 2011

  42. Summary: A very versatile tool with lots of options Note that the colors can be changed from the Preferences: April 26, 2011

  43. Request the resolution and sensitivity you need for your Science Goal April 26, 2011

  44. Back to our example of NGC 1097 To get a 10σ detection on the faintest emission in the map requires ~10 mJy/beam in a 10 km/s channel. The ALMA correlator gives 1.275 km/s channels; we will bin 8 channels to get to 10 km/s. So required sensitivity in one correlator channel ~ 10 mJy/bm * sqrt (8) ~ 28 mJy/beam Nobeyama maps of NGC 1097 (Kohno et al. 2003) April 26, 2011

  45. Back to our example of NGC 1097 1.4”~ 110pc Sufficient to resolve the ring Press here to get an idea of how long it will take to do this April 26, 2011

  46. ALMA with 16 x 12m antennas is very fast! • BUT be aware that your UV-coverage may not be ideal – we recommend that you use simdata to check April 26, 2011

  47. Back to our example of NGC 1097 April 26, 2011

  48. Time allocation for the proposal will be the Total Estimated time. April 26, 2011

  49. Validation Step April 26, 2011

  50. List of problems… April 26, 2011

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