Probing the Early Universe with Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Anisotropies and Bringing our Research Into New York City Classrooms

用宇宙微波背景偏振各向异性探测早期宇宙并将我们的研究带入纽约市的课堂

• 批准号: 1102774
• 负责人: Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud
• 金额: $ 8.3万
• 依托单位: Reichborn-Kjennerud Britt
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-05-15 至 2014-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1102774&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Probing; Early; Universe; Cosmic; Microwave

Dr. Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at Columbia University. Contemporary and future experiments that measure cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization anisotropies hold the promise of providing an unprecedented understanding of the origin, composition and dynamics of the universe, as well as possibly the strongest evidence yet supporting inflation theory. To push forward the design of a cutting-edge CMB polarization experiment, Dr. Reichborn-Kjennerud will lead an initiative to characterize the next generation of polarization-sensitive bolometric detectors in a new dedicated testing facility at Columbia University. Dr. Reichborn-Kjennerud will also play a key role in the Antarctic flight campaign and data analysis of the E and B Experiment (EBEX), a leading CMB polarization instrument. EBEX is unique among its contemporaries in its combination of high-frequency coverage and sensitivity to a wide range of scales; these characteristics will allow EBEX to make unprecedented measurements of the amplitude of the galactic polarized dust foreground, which will play a critical role in the analysis of data from future CMB instruments. Additionally, EBEX will probe both of the yet-undetected CMB polarization B-mode signals that were imprinted during the first fraction of a second of the universe, and at late times due to the lensing of foreground matter.Dr. Reichborn-Kjennerud will also expand an ongoing summer outreach program for New York City public high school students and teachers into a full-year program that would be replicable at other institutions. During each year of the program, one teacher and two students will join the lab during the summer to complete a hands-on research project and to learn about astrophysics and about the lab and university environments. The EBEX timeline will allow the experiment to act as an ideal platform on which the teachers and students will participate in building experimental hardware and working in scientific teams, and the participants will gain first-hand experience with an experiment as it travels from the lab, to Antarctica, and to the edge of space. Each teacher will work with Dr. Reichborn-Kjennerud to produce an action plan for bringing the research experience back to the classroom through school-year activities such as analysis of science data with students, student visits to the lab, and visits by lab members to the school.

Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud 博士获得美国国家科学基金会天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在哥伦比亚大学开展研究和教育项目。当代和未来测量宇宙微波背景（CMB）偏振各向异性的实验有望为宇宙的起源、组成和动力学提供前所未有的理解，并可能提供迄今为止支持暴胀理论的最有力证据。为了推进尖端 CMB 偏振实验的设计，Reichborn-Kjennerud 博士将领导一项举措，在哥伦比亚大学的一个新的专用测试设施中表征下一代偏振敏感测辐射热探测器。 Reichborn-Kjennerud 博士还将在南极飞行活动以及领先的 CMB 偏振仪器 E 和 B 实验 (EBEX) 的数据分析中发挥关键作用。 EBEX 在其同时代产品中独一无二，因为它结合了高频覆盖范围和对各种尺度的敏感性；这些特性将使 EBEX 能够对银河偏振尘埃前景的振幅进行前所未有的测量，这将在未来 CMB 仪器数据分析中发挥关键作用。此外，EBEX 将探测尚未检测到的 CMB 偏振 B 模式信号，这些信号在宇宙诞生的前几分之一秒内以及在后期由于前景物质的透镜效应而被印记。 Reichborn-Kjennerud 还将把正在进行的针对纽约市公立高中学生和教师的夏季外展计划扩展为一个全年计划，该计划可以在其他机构复制。在该项目的每一年，一名教师和两名学生将在夏季加入实验室，完成实践研究项目并了解天体物理学以及实验室和大学环境。 EBEX 时间线将使该实验成为一个理想的平台，教师和学生将在该平台上参与构建实验硬件并在科学团队中工作，并且参与者将在实验从实验室到南极洲再到太空边缘的过程中获得第一手的实验经验。每位教师将与 Reichborn-Kjennerud 博士合作制定一项行动计划，通过学年活动将研究经验带回课堂，例如与学生一起分析科学数据、学生参观实验室以及实验室成员参观学校。