Department of Physics & Astronomy
University of New Mexico

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

The next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) - Science and Telescope Design

Presented by Bryan Butler (NRAO)

Building on the remarkable success of the VLA, VLBA, and ALMA, NRAO is planning a large collecting area interferometer which will replace the VLA and VLBA - the next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA). For many of the same reasons that the VLA was constructed where it was (fraction of sky visible, quality of site, accessibility, etc.), the core and bulk of the collecting area of the ngVLA will be on the Plains of San Agustin, near where the center of the current VLA is. The ngVLA will have more than 10 times the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the VLA and ALMA, operating at frequencies from 1.2-116 GHz. The ngVLA will be optimized for observations at wavelengths between those of ALMA at mm-submm wavelengths, and the future SKA-1 at dm-m wavelengths, to be complementary to those instruments. The ngVLA will be transformative, with exquisite sensitivity to thermal line and continuum emission down to milliarcsecond resolution. The science goals are broad (a science book with more than 90 chapters and 285 unique authors has been written), but focus on: formation of planetary systems on terrestrial planet scales, including astrochemistry; characterization of galaxy structure and evolution; using pulsars in the Galactic center to test fundamental theories of gravity; and understanding the formation and evolution of stellar and supermassive black holes in the era of multi-messenger astronomy.

3:30 pm, Friday, February 3, 2023
PAIS-1100, PAIS

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A schedule of talks within the Department of Physics and Astronomy is available on the P&A web site at http://physics.unm.edu/pandaweb/events/index.php