The ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU for short) constitutes the top priority of the ALMA 2030 development roadmap. The upgrade of the full signal chain of ALMA - from the receivers and digitizers, all the way through to the correlator - together with the increase of the instantaneous spectral bandwidth by factors two to four, will result in increases of the overall continuum and spectral line sensitivity for all observations and in increases on spectral scan speed up to a factor of 50 for the highest spectral resolution. The science case for the upgrade spans topics as diverse as star formation, planet-forming discs and the high-redshift Universe.

The aim of this lunch session is to present the ongoing upgrade, give a status update and engage the community by showcasing the science that will be enabled in the upcoming years.

Programme

Our session will consists of five talks addressing the following topics and leaving time for Q&A and discussion:

• An overview of the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade including the planned timeline and other programmatic aspects of interest to the scientific community such as impact on ALMA operations.
• An overview of the scientific goals that drive this ALMA upgrade.
• A keynote talk on the advancements on extragalactic science afforded by the upgrade.
• A keynote talk on the advancements on galactic science afforded by the upgrade.
• Plans of the ALMA scientific community beyond 2030.

Invited speakers

• Ilse de Looze Universiteit Gent
• Stefano Facchini University of Milan
...

Scientific organisers

Maria Diaz Trigo (ESO, chair), Elizabeth Humphreys (ESO) and Martin Zwaan (ESO)

Contact

Maria Diaz Trigo (mdiaztri @ eso.org)