Millimetre Science with the Upgraded Australia Telescope

Abstract

A new astronomical window into the southern skies has been opened with the high-frequency upgrade to the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), which allows radio-interferometric mapping of sources at wavelengths as short as 3 mm. In anticipation of the upgrade's completion, a two-day workshop was held at the University of Melbourne in November 2001. The workshop covered a diverse range of fields, tied together by a common theme of identifying key areas where ATCA observations can have an impact. More than half of the talks were concerned with molecular clouds and star formation, with the remainder covering topics such as molecular gas in the Galactic Centre, Seyfert nuclei, and high-redshift objects. Some early results from the 3 and 12 mm prototype systems were also presented. In consultation with the speakers, we are presenting in this article a summary of the talks. The original slides are available from the ATNF website.