Welcome to the European ALMA Regional Centre Newsletter!
This monthly newsletter is a compilation of recent European ALMA Regional Centre news and announcements, showcases an exciting ALMA science result by European colleagues and announces upcoming ALMA and ALMA-related meetings and I-TRAIN sessions. In the "Meet the ARC" section, the work of ARC personnel and the services and expertise areas of an ARC node are highlighted. Every month, you can learn an incredible ALMA fact in "Did you know" and give your opinion about a particular ALMA matter in the "Poll of the month". You can also connect with the European ALMA Regional Centre via social media!
The ALMA Director, Sean Dougherty, would like to share the following statement on observatory priorities during implementation of the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU).
Allegro announces its first Joint ALMA + JWST Science Day, which will take place at Kapteyn Institute in Groningen on 30 January 2024. The Science Day aims to bring together members of The Netherlands astronomy community where we highlight the latest scientific results obtained with ALMA and JWST, with a particular emphasis on projects that make use of both. The meeting will also allow ample time to discuss user experiences and will have talks on news and updates for both ALMA and JWST. Registration for contributed talks is now open(registration form, deadline: 8 January 2024).
ALMA has released data acquired as part of the Extension and Optimization of Capabilities effort (EOC). The data were used to test, implement, and determine the accuracy of the solar full-polarization observing mode of ALMA.
The data are available here (please refer to the readme file at each of these locations for information on the content of the files):
The Science Verification data for W51 observed on 25 March 2023 and 4 April 2023 are now available on the Science Portal. The data were obtained in the observations of spectral lines (CS, SiO, CH3OH, and SO2) and continuum in Band 1, with the total on-source time of about 70 minutes.
The European ARC Network invites users to an introduction to data visualisation using FRELLED, on December 8th, 11:00 CET [Zoom]. FRELLED is a new FITS viewer designed to explore 3D spectral line data and assist with visual source extraction and analysis, using the artistic software Blender.
The European ALMA Regional Centre network is organising the first European ALMA School that will be hosted by the UK ARC Node on 10 - 14 June 2024 in Manchester. This school is designed to provide training on a broad range of aspects related to ALMA, including interferometry, data calibration and imaging, the ALMA archive, analysis techniques, ALMA science, and future ALMA developments. For more details and registration please visit the meeting website: https://sites.google.com/view/eu-alma-school-2024. The deadline for registration is 31 December 2023.
ALMA observations of Sgr B2(N1)'s outflow provide a new perspective on chemical segregation between O- and N-bearing organic molecules
Left panel: ALMA images taken as part of the ReMoCA survey towards Sgr B2(N1). They show continuum (dust and free-free) emission at 99.2 GHz in grey-scale overlaid by integrated intensity maps of SO blue-shifted (blue contours) and red-shifted (red contours) emission that can mostly be associated with the outflow originating from the central region of the hot core. This bipolar morphology is also prominently observed in emission of other S-bearing molecules and species that only contain N as a heavy element. Right panel: Molecular abundances with respect to H2 obtained towards positions N1S and N1SE1 in Sgr B2(N1).
Thanks to the sub-arcsecond angular resolution of the ReMoCA (Re-exploring Molecular Complexity with ALMA, Belloche et al. 2019) survey, Busch et al. (2023) were able to spatially resolve the molecular emission towards Sgr B2(N1), the most massive hot core of the high-mass star-forming region Sgr B2(N), which is located in the Galactic centre region. The goal of this work was to investigate the impact of shocks provoked by the protostellar outflow that emanates from the centre of Sgr B2(N1) on the molecular composition in the hot core.
Abundances with respect to H2 that were derived at a position in the blue-shifted lobe (N1SE1) were first compared to abundances derived at N1S, a position of the hot core that is not primarily associated with the outflow. This comparison revealed a clear segregation between O- and N-bearing organic molecules, where O-bearing (cyan) molecules are significantly less abundant at N1SE1 than at N1S while N-bearing molecules (pink) show similar or higher abundances at N1S and N1SE1.
The abundances were subsequently compared to predictions of astrochemical models and to observations of L1157-B1, a position located in the well-studied outflow of the low-mass protostar L1157, and the source G+0.693-0.027, located in the Sgr B2 molecular cloud complex. Based on these comparisons and given the short distance of N1SE1 to the central heating source of Sgr B2(N1), the authors proposed a scenario in which a phase of hot-core chemistry (i.e. thermal desorption of species from dust grains and high-temperature gas-phase chemistry) preceded a shock wave and enriched the gas with molecules, in contrast to the other two sources. The subsequent shock-induced compression and further heating of the material resulted in the accelerated destruction of (mainly O-bearing) molecules. Gas-phase formation of cyanides (i.e. CH3CN, C2H3CN, C2H5CN) seems to be able to compete with their destruction in the post-shock gas. Abundances of HCnN (n=3,5) are enhanced in the outflow component pointing to (additional) gas-phase formation. To confirm such a scenario, appropriate chemical shock models need to be run.
Meet the ARC
Prof. Dr. Frank Bertoldi
Since the EU-ARC inception in 2007, Frank has lead the Bonn branch of the German ARC node. As a professor of radioastronomy at the University of Bonn, Frank not only teaches astrophysics but is also passionate about science outreach, and he takes great pleasure in teaching and mentoring future physics school teachers. His administrative duties include serving currently as the deputy dean of the Science Faculty. Frank is dedicated to fostering Germany's participation in upcoming radio interferometers and enhancing their data science infrastructure.
Frank's research is primarily focused on the early evolution of galaxies and the study of galaxy clusters using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. Frank is also actively involved in the CCAT/FYST project, contributing to the development of an innovative submillimeter telescope situated at an altitude of 5,600 meters in Chile, and he serves on its board of directors.
Join the online ALMA training events!
The European ARC Network invites you to the next session of the online training series I-TRAIN, which will be:
3D Data Visualisation with FRELLED - 8th December 2023
You can find further details on this session below. You can access or subscribe to the calendar of sessions at [calendar URL][iCal address].
Please contact us by submitting a ticket to the ALMA HelpDesk (Department "General Queries") if you wish to provide your feedback on I-TRAIN. Information on the I-TRAIN sessions, including legacy materials and links to YouTube videos from previous sessions, are available in the Science Portal.
The European ARC Network invites users to an introduction to data visualisation using FRELLED, on December 8th, 11:00 CET [Zoom]. FRELLED is a new FITS viewer designed to explore 3D spectral line data and assist with visual source extraction and analysis, using the artistic software Blender.
that resubmitted science goals are sometimes observed under the original project code and sometimes under the resubmitted project code? This depends on whether observations for the science goal have been started in the original project or not. If no observations were taken for the science goal in the original project, then that science goal is set to ObservingTimedOut and observations of the science goal are started under the resubmitted project code. More information about resubmissions can be found in this helpdesk article.
