CURRENT AND FUTURE PROSPECTS, AS WELL AS CHALLENGES FOR ALMA MOLECULAR LINE STUDIES

In this talk I will cover three topics. First, I will present some recent highlights from ALMA related to astrochemistry. Second, I will describe some of the challenges inherent in analyzing ALMA spectroscopic data, using as an illustrative template observations of NGC6334I - a cluster of forming massive protostars. Finally, I will give an overview of approved and future ALMA development projects that promise to open new windows for molecular spectroscopic study with ALMA

Synergy of multifrequency studies from observations of NGC6334I

We combine multifrequency observations from the millimeter to near infrared wavelengths that demonstrate the spatial distributions of H2, CO, and NH3 emission, which are all manifestations of various shocks driven by outflows of deeply embedded sources in NGC6334I. In addition to the well-known northeast-southwest outflow we detect at least one more outflow in the region by combining observations from APEX, ATCA, SMA, Spitzer and VLT/ISAAC. Potential driving sources will be discussed. NGC6334I exhibits several signs of active star formation and will be a major target for future observatories such as Herschel and ALMA.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, appeared in the proceedings of the workshop 'The Universe Under The Microscope - Astrophysics At High Angular Resolution', see http://www.iop.org/EJ/toc/1742-6596/131/

Pulsar Wind Nebulae in EGRET Error Boxes

A remarkable number of pulsar wind nebulae (PWN) are coincident with EGRET gamma-ray sources. X-ray and radio imaging studies of unidentified EGRET sources have resulted in the discovery of at least 6 new pulsar wind nebulae (PWN). Stationary PWN (SPWN) appear to be associated with steady EGRET sources with hard spectra, typical for gamma-ray pulsars. Their toroidal morphologies can help determine the geometry of the pulsar which is useful for constraining models of pulsed gamma-ray emission. Rapidly moving PWN (RPWN) with more cometary morphologies seem to be associated with variable EGRET sources in regions where the ambient medium is dense compared to what is typical for the ISM.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "The Multiwavelength Approach to Unidentified Sources", ed. G. Romero & K.S. Chen