Future MmSubmm Instrumentation and Science Opportunities Exa(2)

During the next decade a tremendous advance will take place in instrumentation for spectroscopy of the interstellar medium. Major new facilities (ALMA, SOFIA, APEX, LMT, Herschel and others) will be constructed and commissioned, so that the science opportu

2Phillips,Vastel:Futuremmandsubmm

instrumentation

1

ATMOSPHERIC TRANSMISSION

01

10002000FREQUENCY (GHz)

3000

Figure1.Illustrationoftheprincipalspectrallinesex-pectedatsubmillimeterwavelengths,shownsuperposedonthedustcontinuumemissionofa30Kinterstellarcloud.

parisonoftheatmospherictransmissionsbetweentheskyvisibleatCSO(withastandardprecip-itablewatercolumnof1mm)andtheskythatwillbevisi-bleforSOFIA(withastandardprecipitablewatercolumnof10µm),bothatanelevationof45o.

Athird,andpossiblydominantreasonfortheunder-developednatureofthe eldisthelackofmajorinstru-ments.Becausethemillimeter/submillimeterobserversaredevelopingtheir eldlater,intime,comparedtotheoptical,radioandX-raycommunities,wehavehadtowaitourturnformajorfunding.Thewaitisalmostoverandthefullpotentialofthisexciting eldisabouttoberealizedinthecomingdecade!

tothegasphase.Here,wediscussthisonlyfromthepointofviewofgasspectroscopy.

Table1listsmanyofthemajornewtelescopesandinter-ferometerswhichwillbeavailablewithinthenextdecade(hopefully).

Comparedtowhatwehavetoday,thiswillbeastag-geringnewcapabilityandthe eldwillleadastronomyinthatitwilldiscoverandde nethenewobjectsandnewconceptstobeinvestigated.Onemightworrythatthere2.NewInstruments

willnotbeenoughtrainedpeopleinthe eldtofully

Weareconcernedwiththenewopportunitiesforinter-utilizesuchacornucopiaoffacilities,souniversity-basedstellarchemistry,whichincludeinvestigationofmoleculesfacilitiesshouldexpandtheire ortsinthis eldnow!andatomsinthegasphase,dustgrainsandsurfacechem-ALMArepresentsthebiggeststepforward,providinganistryandtheinteractionsbetweenthegasanddustphases,unprecedentedspectroscopiccapability,throughouttheincludingaccretionofmoleculesontograins,andtheop-atmosphericwindows,fornearbyanddistantobjects.Thispositeprocess,wheretheaccretionmaterialis

returnedhugesensitivitywillprobablymanifestitselfmostdra-