Proposing

The key dates for Cycle 8 2021 are:

Proposal types in Cycle 8 2021 will include Regular, Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Passive Phasing, Target of Opportunity, and Large Program.  VLBI proposals work in concert with the Global mm-VLBI Array (GMVA) or the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).  GMVA programs must also submit a proposal to the GMVA by its 1 February 2021 deadline. Additional information about proposing with ALMA using the GMVA will be made available in the GMVA Call for Proposals in early January 2021. 

Antenna configurations for the main 12-m Array will be called C-1, C-2, and so on up to C-10, with C-1 having similar characteristics to the C43-1 configuration of Cycle 7, and likewise for the others.  Cycle 8 2021 will not include the two longest baseline 12-m Array configurations, C-9 and C-10.  Maximum baselines in Cycle 8 2021 will therefore be 8.5 km in configuration C-8. Configurations C-9 and C-10 with maximum baselines of 13.9 km and 16.2 km, respectively, will again be available in Cycle 9.

In addition to the main Cycle 8 2021 CfP, the JAO will issue a Supplemental Call for proposals to use the ACA in stand-alone mode.  More information on the Supplemental Call is given below.

New in Cycle 8 2021

 The following technical capabilities will be available this Cycle for the first time:

• Solar observations in Band 5
• A passive-phasing mode that allows observations of fainter VLBI targets (Bands 3 and 6), and can also be used in an ALMA-only mode primarily for observations of pulsars (Band 3). This mode can be used to observe sources with a correlated flux density < 500 mJy within an unresolved core on ALMA baselines up to 1 km, but requires there to be a bright calibrator close to the science target.
• High frequency observations (Bands 9 and 10) with the stand-alone 7-m Array
• Mosaicking of continuum linear polarization observations (Bands 3 to 7) with the 12-m Array
• Spectral scans with the 7-m Array
• Up to a total of 75 hours of full polarization observations of a single field with the 7-m Array in stand-alone mode at the Main Call only

Updates to the Proposal Review Process

 ALMA will adopt a distributed peer review process for scientific review of most proposals submitted to Cycle 8 2021. After a successful pilot run in the Cycle 7 Supplemental Call (see ALMA Memo 616), distributed peer review will be used for all proposals requesting less than 25 hours on the 12-m Array, and ACA stand-alone proposals requesting less than 150 hours on the 7-m Array. In this review system, for each submitted proposal the PI (or one of the delegated co-Is) will be responsible for reviewing up to 10 other submitted proposals, thus increasing the involvement of the ALMA community in the review process.

• Large proposals and proposals requesting more than 25 hours on the 12-m Array will be reviewed by science review panels, as in previous cycles. 
• ALMA encourages PIs to submit larger, more ambitious proposals. Therefore, there is no longer a cap on the total time that can be allocated to Large Programs. Further, Large Programs and proposals that require more than 25 hours on the 12-m Array will have first priority to fill at least 10% of the observing queue.  
• All Cycle 8 2021 proposals will be reviewed using a dual anonymous procedure.  While proposers will still enter their names and affiliations in the Observing Tool, their identities will be concealed from the reviewers.  It will be the responsibility of the investigators to write their proposals such that anonymity is preserved.  By using this procedure, we aim to minimize unconscious bias.  Guidelines on preparing anonymous proposals will be made available prior to the time of the CfP.

A FAQ on the proposal process is available here.