Event

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a
transformational millimeter interferometer being built in Chile that,
when complete, will have 10-100 times the sensitivity, 100 times the
resolution, and twice the wavelength coverage of existing millimeter
interferometers. ALMA will be the premiere telescope for studying
galaxy evolution and star and planet formation for the next several
decades and, even in early science, is already revolutionizing our
understanding of these important processes. In this talk, I will give
an overview of the instrument, an update on its current status, and
discuss the capabilities that will be provided in the upcoming Cycle
3 proposal call. Finally, I will highlight some exciting results from
early science with this telescope including my own work using ALMA to
quantify the molecular gas properties in one of the most extreme
galaxies in the local universe.

ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF
(USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), NSC and ASIAA
(Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the
Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO,
AUI/NRAO and NAOJ.