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Nuclear Particle Astrophysics (NPA) Seminar: Tom Essinger-Hileman, Johns Hopkins University, “Searching for the Signature Inflation in CMB Polarization: the ABS and CLASS experiments”
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US/Eastern
WLC 108
WLC 108
Description
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) offers a unique glimpse into the state of the young universe, providing a wealth of information about its structure and constituents. CMB polarization also provides a window onto the first moments after the Big Bang through its sensitivity to inflationary gravitational waves, which leave a distinctive curl (B mode) component in the CMB polarization. I will describe two experiments based in the Atacama Desert of Chile that aim to measure B modes: (1) the Atacama B-Mode Search (ABS) operated for three seasons with ongoing data analysis yielding new cosmological constraints soon; and (2) the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS), a multi-frequency array of telescopes that is unique in aiming to measure the B mode signal on the largest angular scales from the ground. CLASS will also make cosmic-variance-limited measurements of large-scale E mode polarization, improving constraints on the redshift of reionization and the sum of the neutrino masses. Measuring and characterizing B mode polarization would provide confirmation that inflation occurred, our first evidence of quantum gravitational effects, and a probe of physics at grand-unified theory (GUT) energy scales. I will review the observational challenges in making these measurements and prospects for the future.
Tom Essinger-Hileman is a candidate in the NPA Faculty Search
Sponsored by the Flint Fund, Wright Laboratory, Physics Department, and Yale University
Sponsored By:
Flint Fund, Yale Physics, and Yale Wright Lab
essinger-hileman_npa_slides.pdf
Host:
Thursday, January 21, 2016 - 3:45pm
The agenda of this meeting is empty
