Collaborative Research: BICEP2 and SPUD - A Search for Inflation with Degree-Scale Polarimetry from the South Pole

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ANT-0742818, PI: John M. Kovac, California Institute of TechnologyANT-0742592, PI: Clement L. Pryke, University of ChicagoCollaborative Research: BICEP2 and SPUD - A Search for Inflation with Degree-Scale Polarimetry from the South PoleThe proposed work is a four-year program of research activities directed toward upgrading the BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) telescope operating at South Pole since early 2006 to reach far =stretching goals of detection of the Cosmic Gravitational-wave Background (CGB) . This telescope is a first Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) B-mode polarimeter, specifically designed to search for CGB signatures while mapping ~2% of the southern sky that is free of the Milky Way foreground galactic radiation at 100 GH and 150 GHz. The BICEP1 telescope will reach its designed sensitivity by the end of 2008. A coordinated series of upgrades to BICEP1 will provide the increased sensitivity and more exacting control of instrumental effects and potential confusion from galactic foregrounds necessary to search for the B-mode signal more deeply through space. A powerful new 150 GHz receiver, BICEP2, will replace the current detector at the beginning of 2009, increasing the mapping speed almost ten-fold. In 2010, the first of a series of compact, mechanically-cooled receivers (called SPUD - Small Polarimeter Upgrade for DASI) will be deployed on the existing DASI mount and tower, providing similar mapping speed at 100 GHz in parallel with BICEP2. The latter instrument will reach (and exceed with the addition of a SPUD polarimeter) the target sensitivity r = 0.15 set forth by the Interagency (NSF/NASA/DoE) Task Force on CMB Research for a future space mission dedicated to the detection and characterization of primordial gravitational waves. This Task Force has identified detection of the Inflation's gravitational waves as the number one priority for the modern cosmology. More broadly, as the cosmology captures a lot of the public imagination, it is a remarkably effective vehicle for stimulating interest in basic science. The CGB detection would be to Inflation what the discovery of the CMB radiation was to the Big Bang. The project will contribute to the training of the next generation of cosmologists by integrating graduate and undergraduate education with the technology and instrumentation development, astronomical observations and scientific analysis. Sharing of the forefront research results with public extends the new knowledge beyond the universities. This project will be undertaken in collaboration between the California Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago.