Cometary science with ALMA

International audienceThis paper presents a prospect for the observations of comets with ALMA. Thanks to unprecedented sensitivity, angular resolution and instantaneous uv-coverage, key measurements on a number of topics related to the chemical and physical properties of the coma and the nucleus will be obtained. These include (1) the identification of new molecular species and measurements of key isotopic ratios, (2) measurements of the composition of short-period comets coming from the trans-Neptunian scattered disc, to investigate chemical diversity within the whole comet population, (3) imaging of gas jets and their relationship with dust features, (4) the study of extended sources of gas in the coma, and (5) the study of the physical and outgassing properties of the nucleus