Cycle-3 Capabilities and the OT Andy Biggs ALMA Regional Centre, ESO

New ALMA capabilities for Cycle 3 Band 10 Baselines up to 10 km FDM full polarization Total Power in Bands 9 and 10 (probably) m array antennas (probably) DiffGainCal –Band-2-Band transfer –Bandwidth switching ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Band 10 Frequency coverage: GHz ( μm) Angular resolution: ≈ mas OT will assume m array antennas –Actual number may be smaller Receiver temperature –Specification was 230 K (DSB) over 80% of band –OT will probably use a better figure 1 st octile of PWV across whole band –0.452 mm No mosaics (hot off the press!) ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Band-10 Transmission ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Long baselines Defined broadly as > 1.5 km Baselines up to 10 km will be available Available configurations will be band-dependent –B3, 4 and 6: ≤ 10 km –B7: ≤ 5 km –B8, 9 and 10: ≤ 1.5 km Reminder: ALMA will extend out to 16 km, eventually Phase calibrator cycle times will depend on –Band –Frequency ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Array selection This will be similar to Cycle 2 OT will automatically choose arrays based on –Angular resolution –Largest Angular Scale Up to two 12-m configurations are allowed “Long baselines” are fairly restricted –Only have one 12-m configuration –No ACA No TP if MRS(12m) < LAS < MRS(7m) –This is new ACA times will remain a multiple of the 12-m time ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Full polarization Cycle 2 –Only TDM default frequencies were allowed –Bands 3, 6 and 7 Cycle 3 –TDM and FDM at arbitrary frequencies –All FDM bandwidths will be available ( MHz) –Still only Bands 3, 6 and 7 Still on-axis only (single pointings) Only linear polarization officially supported Only one tuning per SG 3-hour minimum time estimate will remain ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Total Power at Bands 9 and 10 Single dish sideband separation now possible –Data reduction and analysis has been demonstrated “Spectral line” only –No nutator or “fast scanning” mode for continuum May be dropped –Band-8 TP may also be dropped (flux calibration issues) ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Sesame name resolver The OT has a “resolve” function for field sources –Positions/velocities automatically entered based on source name Previous interface had some problems –Queried multiple servers –ESO shut the NED server we were using –How it worked was quite opaque (and dangerous) Now using Sesame (by Simbad) –Searches Simbad and NED –One interface so easier to maintain –Must enter a recognised source name Science Archive already uses this ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Antenna beamsize OT has always assumed 1.2 λ / D This will change to 1.13 λ / D –TP SB generation had already been changed More mosaic pointings will result ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Correlator modes No change... Except for full polarization equivalents of existing FDM Reminder of existing capabilities –4 independent basebands (TDM or FDM) –4 spws per baseband (all must have same spectral resolution) For the future... –Multi-resolution modes –Over-sampling (twice Nyquist) –Different quantizations (3 and 4-bit) –32.5 MHz-wide spws ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Spectral Scan overlaps Cycle-2 OT assumed zero overlap for max. coverage Quality of edge channels can be poor –Ringing –Bad T sys measurements –This is in addition to the TDM channels that are usually flagged An overlap will therefore be enforced in Cycle 3 –Only a few TDM channels –Bandwidth dependent ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Time estimates All tunings will stay in one SB –Will be observed in separate SBs though –Time estimates will be corrected using a fudge factor OT will not include DiffGainCals Time estimates quantized by subscan duration –Subscan duration defaults to 30s –Reduced if a large number of pointings are being observed –Integer number of mosaics Larger minimum on-source time? –Currently set to 2 minutes over all sources –150 sources are allowed -> 20 s each ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

“Experimental” modes Were defined as projects that couldn’t be pipelined –A maximum of 25% of such projects was envisaged –However, definition is slowly expanding... Current list –Bands 8, 9 & 10 –Bandwidth switching projects –Full polarization –Spectral Scans –Long baselines (> 1.5 km) –Ephemeris observations –Non-standard calibrations Will be indicated to PI on cover sheet ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

Miscellaneous Lots of bug fixes and small improvements TJ will remain in OT and per SG –Format has been improved –Copy and paste/drag and drop will work Ability to import and export pointing positions per source No “point source” button Improved time estimate dialogue Improved time constraint interface Multiple rectangular mosaics And much, much more!!! ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT

OT Cycle-3 Timeline 30 Sep –Deadline for input 1 Dec –Deadline for final (small) changes –Some capabilities might be dropped 15 Dec –Code freeze Jan/Feb –Test, test, test 23 Mar –Deployment ARC Retreat 2014 – Cycle 3 Capabilities and the OT