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Register a new userScience with an ngVLA: Prebiotic Molecules
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Extraterrestrial amino acids, the chemical building blocks of the biopolymers that comprise life as we know it on Earth are present in meteoritic samples. More recently, glycine (NH$_2$CH$_2$COOH), the simplest amino acid, was detected by the Rosetta mission in comet 67P. Despite these exciting discoveries, our understanding of the chemical and physical pathways to the formation of (pre)biotic molecules is woefully incomplete. This is largely because our knowledge of chemical inventories during the different stages of star and planet formation is incomplete. It is therefore imperative to solidify our accounting of the chemical inventories, especially of critical yet low-abundance species, in key regions and to use this knowledge to inform, expand, and constrain chemical models of these reactions. This is followed naturally by a requirement to understand the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of this inventory. Here, we briefly outline a handful of particularly-impactful use cases in which the ngVLA will drive the field forward.
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Planets assemble in the midplanes of protoplanetary disks. The compositions of dust and gas in the disk midplane region determine the compositions of nascent planets, including their chemical hospitality to life. In this context, the distributions of volatile organic material across the planet and comet forming zones is of special interest. These are difficult to access in the disk midplane at IR and even millimeter wavelengths due to dust opacity, which can veil the midplane, low intrinsic molecular abundances due to efficient freeze-out, and, in the case of mid-sized organics, a mismatch between expected excitation temperatures and accessible line upper energy levels. At ngVLA wavelengths, the dust is optically thin, enabling observations into the planet forming disk midplane. ngVLA also has the requisite sensitivity. Using TW Hya as a case study, we show that ngVLA will be able to map out the distributions of diagnostic organics, such as CH3CN, in nearby protoplanetary disks.
Most massive galaxies are now thought to go through an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) phase one or more times. Yet, the cause of triggering and the variations in the intrinsic and observed properties of AGN population are still poorly understood. Young, compact radio sources associated with accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs) represent an important phase in the life cycles of jetted AGN for understanding AGN triggering and duty cycles. The superb sensitivity and resolution of the ngVLA, coupled with its broad frequency coverage, will provide exciting new insights into our understanding of the life cycles of radio AGN and their impact on galaxy evolution. The high spatial resolution of the ngVLA will enable resolved mapping of young radio AGN on sub-kiloparsec scales over a wide range of redshifts. With broad continuum coverage from 1 to 116 GHz, the ngVLA will excel at estimating ages of sources as old as $30-40$ Myr at $z sim 1$. In combination with lower-frequency ($ u < 1$ GHz) instruments such as ngLOBO and the Square Kilometer Array, the ngVLA will robustly characterize the spectral energy distributions of young radio AGN.
The science case and associated science requirements for a next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) are described, highlighting the five key science goals developed out of a community-driven vision of the highest scientific priorities in the next decade. Building on the superb cm observing conditions and existing infrastructure of the VLA site in the U.S. Southwest, the ngVLA is envisaged to be an interferometric array with more than 10 times the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the current VLA and ALMA, operating at frequencies spanning $sim1.2 - 116$,GHz with extended baselines reaching across North America. The ngVLA will be optimized for observations at wavelengths between the exquisite performance of ALMA at submm wavelengths, and the future SKA-1 at decimeter to meter wavelengths, thus lending itself to be highly complementary with these facilities. The ngVLA will be the only facility in the world that can tackle a broad range of outstanding scientific questions in modern astronomy by simultaneously delivering the capability to: (1) unveil the formation of Solar System analogues; (2) probe the initial conditions for planetary systems and life with astrochemistry; (3) characterize the assembly, structure, and evolution of galaxies from the first billion years to the present; (4) use pulsars in the Galactic center as fundamental tests of gravity; and (5) understand the formation and evolution of stellar and supermassive blackholes in the era of multi-messenger astronomy.
The next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) is an astronomical observatory planned to operate at centimeter wavelengths (25 to 0.26 centimeters, corresponding to a frequency range extending from 1.2 to 116 GHz). The observatory will be a synthesis radio telescope constituted of approximately 244 reflector antennas each of 18 meters diameter, and 19 reflector antennas each of 6 meters diameter, operating in a phased or interferometric mode. We provide a technical overview of the Reference Design of the ngVLA. This Reference Design forms a baseline for a technical readiness assessment and the construction and operations cost estimate of the ngVLA. The concepts for major system elements such as the antenna, receiving electronics, and central signal processing are presented.
Gravitational-wave (GW) and gravitational slingshot recoil kicks, which are natural products of SMBH evolution in merging galaxies, can produce active galactic nuclei that are offset from the centers of their host galaxies. Detections of offset AGN would provide key constraints on SMBH binary mass and spin evolution and on GW event rates. Although numerous offset AGN candidates have been identified, none have been definitively confirmed. The ngVLA offers unparalleled capabilities to identify and confirm candidate offset AGN from sub-parsec to kiloparsec scales, opening a new avenue for multi-messenger studies in the dawn of low-frequency GW astronomy.
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