Cosmic Background Radiation Studies at the South Pole

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This project will measure the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) at several wavelengths and angular scales using radio telescopes placed at South Pole Station, Antarctica. The wavelengths measured will be 3 mm, 12 mm and 20 mm, wavelengths that are absorbed by water vapor in the atmosphere, and because South Pole is one of the driest inhabited places on Earth, it is an excellent observing site. The CMBR is radiation that was produced very early in the formation of the universe, and its distribution provides the best information that can be obtained at the present time about how the universe was created. To date, all CMBR observations have shown the radiation to be isotropic, that is, the waves arrive at Earth with equal intensity from all directions. It is certain that at some level the radiation is anisotropic, and the level and angular scale at which the radiation loses its isotropy is very important for differentiating between various cosmological theories. This investigator has already made measurements from South Pole that are the most sensitive ever made anywhere, and the results are very close to ruling out one of the standard cosmologies, the so-called "cold dark matter" model.