Science with ALMA: Molecular Clouds & Astrochemistry

For more details, see the:

• MMA Report of the Galactic Molecular Clouds & Astrochemistry Working Group
• Science with the LSA/MMA - Molecular Clouds in Galaxies

The Galaxy and the Interstellar Medium

The galactic center and its environs can be observed free of obscuration. High resolution is essential to distinguish SgrA* from confusion in this crowded region. Interstellar molecular absorption lines will be studied along a great many sight-lines towards extragalactic sources. An interferometer is essential to resolve out contaminating extended emission, and the sight-lines are guaranteed to sample random (unperturbed) clouds, as the background sources are extragalactic.

Astrochemistry

Galactic molecular clouds and astrochemistry will of course be major targets for the ALMA. It will be used to study the conditions at the start of cloud collapse near star-formation regions and the interactions of newly-born stars with nearby molecular clouds. It will allow vastly improved chemical abundance analysis, limited only by intrinsic line blending. Observations of Galactic and extragalactic molecular clouds will provide comparative studies of chemistry and abundance variations.