The ALMA Cycle 8 2021 Call for Proposals is now open with a submission deadline on April 21, 2021. 

The Allegro ARC Node would like to invite you to attend a proposal preparation workshop. The aim of this workshop is to assist you in making the most out of ALMA’s new capabilities, getting an overview of the new modes offered, and proposal preparation through the ALMA Observing Tool (OT). We will also offer guidance with writing double-anonymous proposals and in the new stages of proposal writing and reviewing (the “distributed proposal review process”) that will be in use from Cycle 8 2021.

The format of our workshop will be virtual, and it will consist of:

1. a live online event with the Allegro team on March 29th with a few presentations and an extensive Q&A session
2. online video tutorials that will be uploaded after the online event (watch last year’s video tutorials here)
3. online drop-in sessions on Wednesdays 14-15 and Fridays 9-10
4. individual 1-1 support that can be booked at any time (e-mail us)

Our online event will be used to address questions related to proposal submission and the distributed proposal review process that will be adopted from Cycle 8 2021 onwards. Since proposals will have to be written in a fully double-anonymous fashion this year, the Allegro team will provide advice on how this can be achieved, and explain how one can refer to unpublished data and previous ALMA projects without accidentally violating the double-anonymous guidelines.

You can register to attend the online event on March 29th using this registration form.

An overview of important dates and what’s offered in Cycle 8 2021 can be found in the Call for Proposals. As a reminder, the Cycle 8 2021 will include configurations from C-1 up to C-8, with a special focus on high frequency observing. New capabilities that will be offered include Solar observations in Band 5, a passive-phasing mode for VLBI, high-frequency observations (Bands 9 and 10) with the stand-alone 7-m array, mosaicking of continuum line polarisation observations (Bands 3 to 7), spectral scans with the 7-m Array and up to 75 hours of full polarisation observations of a single field with the 7-m Array. No long baseline observations are offered in Cycle 8 2021.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the ALMA Proposal Preparation Day on March 29th! Meanwhile, don’t hesitate to e-mail us if you have questions, concerns, or need support. We would be happy to set up a remote meeting with you. PIs who are considering a Large Program are especially encouraged to contact Allegro early so we can explore the many ways we can support your project and help optimize your program.

• Program
• Participants
• Connection details will be sent to registered participants

Program	March 29, 2021
9:30	Welcome
9:35-9:50	Violette Impellizzeri	ALMA Call for Proposals & Capabilities in Cycle 8 2021
9:50-10:10	Katharina Immer	Distributed Peer Review
10:10-10:30	Aida Ahmadi	Dual Anonymous Proposal Review
10:30-10:45	Break
10:45-11:20	Ashley Bemis & Andrés Pérez-Sánchez	The ALMA Observing Tool
11:20-11:40	Alex Hygate	Simulating ALMA Observations
11:40-12:00	Aida Ahmadi	Archive Mining
12:00	Open Q&A Session

Registered participants: (Last update 25-03-2021)

Michiel Hogerheijde	Leiden Observatory
Violette Impellizzeri	Leiden Observatory
Alex Hygate	Leiden Observatory
Andrés Pérez-Sánchez	Leiden Observatory
Ashley Bemis	Leiden Observatory
Aida Ahmadi	Leiden Observatory
Katharina Immer	Leiden Observatory
Pooneh Nazari	Leiden Observatory
Marta Frias Castillo	Leiden Observatory
Ian Roberts	Leiden Observatory
Kirsty Butler	Leiden Observatory
Leindert Boogaard	Leiden Observatory & MPIA
Jakob van den Eijnden	University of Oxford
Fernanda Roman de Oliveira	Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
Matthew Kenworthy	Leiden Observatory
Danial Rangavar Langeroodi	Leiden Observatory
Belen Alcalde	ESO
Maximilian Beyer	VU Amsterdam
Martijn van Gelder	Leiden Observatory
Cristina Garcia	Leiden Observatory
Antonello Calabro	INAF OAR
Jozsef Varga	Leiden Observatory
Audrey Coutens	IRAP
Dominika Itrich	ESO
Di Wen	Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
Daniele Aragao Ronso da Costa Lima	Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
Lucas Stapper	Leiden Observatory
Olga Bayandina	Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC
Lisa Wölfer	MPE Garching/Leiden Observatory
Elielson Soares Pereira	IAG-USP (Brazil)
Heitor Ernandes	USP
Joshua Butterworth	Leiden Observatory
Louise Lamblin	Leiden Observatory
Sicen Guo	Leiden Observatory
Ko-Yun (Monica) Huang	Leiden Observatory

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The ALMA Director, along with the regional partners, have decided to delay the proposal deadline for the ALMA Cycle 8 Call for Proposals to NO EARLIER than 15 UT on 19 May, 2020. Therefore, Allegro has decided to postpone the Proposal Preparation Workshop of March 26 to a later date, approximately 3 weeks before the actual deadline (when this is decided).

For those who want to get started on their ALMA proposal still on the original schedule, we are providing a series of pre-recorded presentations:

• ALMA Cycle 8 capabilities
• Dual-anonymous proposal review
• Observing Tool
• Simulating ALMA observations

which can be found below or on our YouTube channel.

Everyone is encouraged to e-mail Allegro with any questions that they may have after watching these presentations. We will answer all questions, either by e-mail or via an online session, and also collect Frequently Asked Questions in a constantly updated document. For your convenience, we have also created a toolbox with useful links to help you prepare your proposal.

We would like to highlight the possibility to submit Large Programs on both the main array (>50 hours) and ACA stand-alone (>150 hours). PIs who are considering a Large Program are encouraged to contact Allegro early to optimize your program and explore the many ways we can support your project.

PRESENTATIONS

 1. Welcome & ALMA Cycle 8 Capabilities (pdf file)

 2. Dual-Anonymous Proposal Review (pdf file)

 3. ALMA Observing Tool

Part 1/4: Introduction – download & installation (0:32), create a new proposal (3:13),
proposal information (4:50), proposal types (10:50)

Part 2/4: Science Goal Generation – general (2:30), field setup (3:30)

Part 3/4: Spectral Setup – continuum setup (1:30), spectral line setup (7:40)

Part 4/4: Calibration & Performance – synthesized beam (1:00), bandwidth for sensitivity (8:50),
technical justification (12:25), proposal summary (15:00), validation (19:30)

 4. Simulating ALMA Observations (pdf file)

Please don’t hesitate to e-mail us if you have questions, concerns, or need support. We would be happy to set up a remote meeting with you via a video link or other remote means.

 

You can register for the Proposal Preparation Day at the following link.

PARTICIPANTS  

Name	Institution
Michiel Hogerheijde	Leiden Observatory
Alvaro Hacar	Leiden Observatory
Andres Perez-Sanchez	Leiden Observatory
Aida Ahmadi	Leiden Observatory
Alex Hygate	Leiden Observatory
Lizette Guzman	Leiden Observatory
Christian Ginski	University of Amsterdam
Umit Kavak	SRON/Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
Sarah K Leslie	Leiden Observatory
Kimberly Emig	Leiden Observatory
Pooneh Nazari	Leiden Observatory
Marta Frias Castillo	Leiden Observatory
Leon Trapman	Leiden Observatory
Benoit Tabone	Leiden Observatory
Alice Booth	Leiden Observatory
Robin Mentel	Leiden Observatory
Jozsef Varga	Leiden Observatory
Katharina Immer	JIVE
Margot Leemker	Leiden Observatory
Anna Bartkiewicz	Nicolaus Copernicus University
Abigail Frost	KU Leuven
Daniel Harsono	ASIAA
Sofia Rojas	MPIA
Helga Denes	ASTRON