A Bolometric Array Receiver for Measurements of Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

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Church, Sarah E., and Bock, James J."A Bolometric Array Receiver for Measurements of Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation"AST-0096778This program will develop an instrument package to detect and characterize the weak polarization signal of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) over 100 square degrees at frequencies of 100, 150, and 220 GHz. The awardees will construct a bolometer array called QUEST that will simultaneously observe 37 pixels on the sky in two orthogonal directions of linear polarization. They will work in collaboration with researchers at University of Cardiff, Wales, who will develop a 2.6-meter-diameter telescope as the platform for QUEST, to be located at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. CMB polarization has not yet been detected, but potentially contains much important cosmological information regarding the state of the universe at the time of recombination. The QUEST experiment will enable limits to be set on the cosmic inflationary potential that are 3 times more sensitive than expected from the space-based Planck Surveyor telescope. ***