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The ALMA-IMF Large Program provides multi-tracer observations of 15 Galactic massive protoclusters at a matched sensitivity and spatial resolution. We focus on the dense gas kinematics of the G353.41 protocluster traced by N₂H⁺(1−0), with a spatial resolution of ~0.02 pc. G353.41, at a distance of ~2kpc, is embedded in a larger-scale (~8 pc) filament and has a mass of ~2.5 × 10³M_⊙within 1.3 × 1.3 pc². We extracted the N₂H⁺(1−0) isolated line component and decomposed it by fitting up to three Gaussian velocity components. This allows us to identify velocity structures that are either muddled or impossible to identify in the traditional position-velocity diagram. We identify multiple velocity gradients on large (~1 pc) and small scales (~0.2pc). We find good agreement between the N₂H⁺velocities and the previously reported DCN core velocities, suggesting that cores are kinematically coupled with the dense gas in which they form. We have measured nine converging “V-shaped” velocity gradients (VGs) (~20 km s⁻¹pc⁻¹) that are well resolved (sizes ~0.1 pc), mostly located in filaments, which are sometimes associated with cores near their point of convergence. We interpret these V-shapes as inflowing gas feeding the regions near cores (the immediate sites of star formation). We estimated the timescales associated with V-shapes as VG⁻¹, and we interpret them as inflow timescales. The average inflow timescale is ~67 kyr, or about twice the free-fall time of cores in the same area (~33 kyr) but substantially shorter than protostar lifetime estimates (~0.5 Myr). We derived mass accretion rates in the range of (0.35–8.77) × 10⁻⁴M_⊙yr⁻¹. This feeding might lead to further filament collapse and the formation of new cores. We suggest that the protocluster is collapsing on large scales, but the velocity signature of collapse is slow compared to pure free-fall. Thus, these data are consistent with a comparatively slow global protocluster contraction under gravity, and faster core formation within, suggesting the formation of multiple generations of stars over the protocluster’s lifetime. 

ALMA-IMF is an Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Large Program designed to measure the core mass function (CMF) of 15 protoclusters chosen to span their early evolutionary stages. It further aims to understand their kinematics, chemistry, and the impact of gas inflow, accretion, and dynamics on the CMF. We present here the first release of the ALMA-IMF line data cubes (DR1), produced from the combination of two ALMA 12 m-array configurations. The data include 12 spectral windows, with eight at 1.3 mm and four at 3 mm. The broad spectral coverage of ALMA-IMF (∼6.7 GHz bandwidth coverage per field) hosts a wealth of simple atomic, molecular, ionised, and complex organic molecular lines. We describe the line cube calibration done by ALMA and the subsequent calibration and imaging we performed. We discuss our choice of calibration parameters and optimisation of the cleaning parameters, and we demonstrate the utility and necessity of additional processing compared to the ALMA archive pipeline. As a demonstration of the scientific potential of these data, we present a first analysis of the DCN (3–2) line. We find that DCN (3–2) traces a diversity of morphologies and complex velocity structures, which tend to be more filamentary and widespread in evolved regions and are more compact in the young and intermediate-stage protoclusters. Furthermore, we used the DCN (3–2) emission as a tracer of the gas associated with 595 continuum cores across the 15 protoclusters, providing the first estimates of the core systemic velocities and linewidths within the sample. We find that DCN (3–2) is detected towards a higher percentage of cores in evolved regions than the young and intermediate-stage protoclusters and is likely a more complete tracer of the core population in more evolved protoclusters. The full ALMA 12m-array cubes for the ALMA-IMF Large Program are provided with this DR1 release. 

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. 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 12 m 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” ( bsens ) data, which include the full bandwidth, including bright emission lines that contaminate the continuum, and “cleanest” ( 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.