The most important changes to the OT since the last release are the following.
- New capabilities:
- Joint Proposals with other facilities, including JWST, VLA and VLT (see Sec. 5.2.1).
- Band 1 on the 12-m Array and for Stokes I only (no Stokes Q/U/V). This is anticipated to be available from March 2024.
- Spectral scans that include Total Power observations (see Sec. 5.3.3.10).
- 4x4-bit spectral modes for improved sensitivity on the 12-m Array (dual polarization, see Sec. 5.3.3.5 and 5.3.3.6).
- Solar observations in full polarization in Band 3 using only the 12-m Array (see Sec. 5.3.3.3).
- Phased array mode in Bands 1, 3, 6 and 7 (see Sec. 5.2).
- VLBI in Bands 1, 3, 6 and 7, including flexible tuning for spectral lines (see Sec. 5.3.2.4 and 5.3.3.7).
- Band-to-band phase calibration will be available for high frequency observations on both the 7-m Array and all 12-m Array configurations. The decision as to whether band-to-band observing is required is now based on a search of the calibrator catalogue.
- A warning will be triggered by the OT if the line width entered by the PI in the Field Setup is much larger than the requested Spectral Resolution.
- A new text box in the Technical Justification section is presented whenever the proposed observations require either high spectral dynamic range or high continuum/line imaging dynamic range.
- Source names that are composed of only numbers are no longer allowed.
- The standard Ctrl-Z (undo) and Ctrl-Y (redo) functionality are now available in several OT fields.
The ALMA OT Team, 2023 Jun 28