James J. Bock
JPL/Caltech
Friday, January 25, 2008
4:00 pm in SPL 57
Current and Future CMB Polarization Measurements
Abstract: The Inflationary paradigm has been remarkably successful in passing observational tests, largely from Cosmic Microwave Background temperature anisotropy measurements. Gravitational waves produced during the epoch of Inflation may imprint a detectable polarization signal in the CMB. This polarization signal, which has a distinctive 'B-mode' pseudo-vector field that cannot be duplicated by matter over/under-densities, depends on the physics of Inflation and thus can be used to distinguish among Inflationary models.
We have developed the BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) experiment to measure degree-scale CMB polarization in a search for evidence of an inflationary gravitational wave background. I discuss the unique design of the receiver and its performance after two seasons of observations from the South Pole. Recent advances in antenna-coupled TES bolometers developed at JPL enable significant improvement in system sensitivity. We are developing two new instruments based on these new detectors, SPIDER to measure large-scale polarization from a long-duration balloon, and SPUD to deeply integrate in a small region of the sky with low Galactic foregrounds from the ground. These measurements will ultimately culminate in a space-borne measurement with large detector arrays, NASA's Einstein Inflation Probe.
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