ALMA-IMF II -- investigating the origin of stellar masses: Continuum Images and Data Processing

TL;DR

This paper details the first data release of the ALMA-IMF Large Program, providing calibrated continuum images of dense molecular clouds to study the core mass function and star formation processes.

Contribution

It introduces new calibrated, high-quality continuum images from ALMA, along with data processing techniques for improved noise reduction and spectral analysis.

Findings

ALMA data can distinguish free-free from dust emission.

Processed images show improved noise characteristics.

Preliminary spectral index analysis identifies optically thick sources.

Abstract

We present the first data release of the ALMA-IMF Large Program, which covers the 12m-array continuum calibration and imaging. The ALMA-IMF Large Program is a survey of fifteen dense molecular cloud regions spanning a range of evolutionary stages that aims to measure the core mass function (CMF). We describe the data acquisition and calibration done by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory and the subsequent calibration and imaging we performed. The image products are combinations of multiple 12m array configurations created from a selection of the observed bandwidth using multi-term, multi-frequency synthesis imaging and deconvolution. The data products are self-calibrated and exhibit substantial noise improvements over the images produced from the delivered data. We compare different choices of continuum selection, calibration parameters, and image weighting parameters, demonstrating the utility and necessity of our additional processing work. Two variants of continuum selection are used and will be distributed: the "best-sensitivity" data, which include the full bandwidth, including bright emission lines that contaminate the continuum, and "cleanest", which select portions of the spectrum that are unaffected by line emission. We present a preliminary analysis of the spectral indices of the continuum data, showing that the ALMA products are able to clearly distinguish free-free emission from dust emission, and that in some cases we are able to identify optically thick emission sources. The data products are made public with this release.