Collaborative Research: Next Generation CMB Polarization Measurements with the QUaD Experiment

提议的工作是在南极站进行第三年也是最后一年的宇宙学实验。该实验（QuaD = QUEST at DASI = Q and U Extra-Galactic Sub-mm Telescope at Degree角尺度干涉仪）由一台2.6 m的卡塞格伦望远镜组成，该望远镜配备了下一代偏振敏感辐射热计阵列，旨在以前所未有的灵敏度和角分辨率获得宇宙微波背景（CMB）偏振图。微波背景的极化是由等离子体中性跃迁时物质的大块运动产生的，极化测量是微波背景研究的下一个前沿，它既提供了对标准宇宙学模型进行关键测试的机会，也提供了超越标准宇宙学模型的新见解。该仪器将进行偏振测量，这是对另一个现有实验（BICEP =宇宙河外偏振背景成像）的补充，并有可能定义暴胀引力波，这是基础物理学和早期演化宇宙的重要标志。

The proposed work is to operate a cosmological experiment for a third and final year at South Pole Station. The experiment (QuaD = QUEST at DASI = Q and U Extra-Galactic Sub-mm Telescope at Degree Angular Scale Interferometer) consists of a 2.6-m Cassegrain telescope equipped with a next-generation polarization-sensitive bolometer array, which will be aimed at obtaining maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution. The polarization of the CMB results from bulk motions of material at the time of the plasma-neutral transition, and the polarization measurements are the next frontier of CMB research, offering both the opportunity to make crucial tests of the standard cosmological model, and fresh insights which will lead beyond it. The instrument will make polarization measurements that are complementary to another existing experiment (BICEP = Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization), and will potentially allow the defining of inflationary gravity waves, an important signature of fundamental physics and of the early evolving universe.