Submission of proposals for ALMA Early Science Cycle 0 closed on June 30. The astronomical community responded enthusiastically to the first ever ALMA Call for Proposals: 919 unique proposals were received. Their distribution across the four ALMA science categories is as follows:
- Cosmology and the high redshift universe: 20%;
- Galaxies and galactic nuclei: 27%;
- ISM, star formation/protoplanetary disks and their astrochemistry, exoplanets: 40%;
- Stellar evolution, the Sun and the solar system: 13%.
The scientific and technical assessment of the 919 proposals submitted for ALMA Early Science Cycle 0 has been completed. Fifty science assessors and 25 technical assessors from all over the world have considered the expected scientific value and technical feasibility of all the proposals submitted. As a result, the most promising proposals have been selected as those most likely for completion using the initial 16-antenna ALMA capabilities.
The 112 highest-priority projects cover a wide range of science:
- Cosmology and the high redshift universe: 18.8%;
- Galaxies and galactic nuclei: 25.9%;
- ISM, star formation/protoplanetary disks and their astrochemistry, exoplanets: 44.6%;
- Stellar evolution, the Sun and the solar system: 10.7%.
In addition, several filler projects have been identified among the best lower-priority ones.
The observations to collect the data required to complete these projects are expected to start on 30 September or soon after. However, the construction and operation of ALMA - one of the world’s largest and most complex observatories, at an altitude higher than any other ongoing human activity - continues to be very challenging, and changes to the plan may still be necessary.
Principal Investigators (PIs) of the proposals have been notified of the outcome of the proposal review process by email.
The initial Phase II products will be generated by ALMA staff. PIs of highly rated proposals will be contacted by a scientist from their supporting ALMA Regional Centre (ARC) to review these Phase II products.
Phase II is the process by which an approved proposal is made executable and submitted to the observing queue in order to be subsequently run at the telescope (subject to various scheduling constraints). The main part of this is the automatic generation of the Scheduling Blocks that are used to control the telescopes during the observations.
Completion of Phase II by the PI is required for any ALMA project that is approved for admission to the observing queue with a grade A or B. Phase II must be completed within a period of September 1st - 30th, 2011, immediately following the conclusion of the PRP. The Observatory may also additionally require that Phase II for highly-ranked projects be completed early in that period. Projects awarded grade C will overfill the observing queue to accommodate weather variations, and completion of Phase II for such projects may be deemed optional by the Observatory.
PIs will be contacted by their supporting ALMA Regional Centre (ARC) and provided with the name of a contact scientist to help PIs prepare their Phase II products. Each PI will then work with his/her ARC contact to ensure that the Phase II products are successfully prepared within the one-month window. This will be done using the ALMA Observing Tool, and will include the accommodation of any changes to the project mandated by the results of the PRP. The full details of the process and policies for handling all changes to projects from Phase II onwards will be made available in additional forthcoming documentation. Priority for ARC support for Phase II will also follow the A, B, C proposal ranking.
