Research Infrastructure: MRI: Development of a Small Aperture Telescope Pathfinder to Advance Studies of the Polarized Cosmic Microwave Background

这个主要的研究仪器项目将帮助回答一个大问题：“宇宙是如何开始的？”它通过建造和测试一台灵敏的仪器来实现这一点，该仪器将测量由于早期宇宙过程而充满太空的电磁辐射。这种辐射最好是在微波波长下测量的，因此它被称为宇宙微波背景(CMB)。将建造一台名为PSAT的小型原型仪器，以评估为未来更精确地测量CMB而开发的许多技术。这个研究小组的成员将与教育工作者和公众一起观察/测量宇宙的起源。在CMB更大的实验计划中，该项目将为研究生和本科生提供研究经验，并为博士后研究人员提供培训。寻找宇宙膨胀的直接证据是当今天文学和物理学的一个重要目标。膨胀模型预测了原始引力波的存在，这给宇宙微波背景(CMB)的偏振带来了独特的“B模”模式，并提供了对这种模型的关键测试。已经有了一系列改进的仪器来进行必要的测量。该项目将开发和测试PSAT，这是一种CMB偏振仪，它集成了为下一代CMB-S4项目开发的探测器和光学元件，并与现有的经现场验证的BICEP阵列硬件相结合。PSAT将在BICEP阵列接收器低温恒温器中使用新的95 GHz/155 GHz双频双偏振原型探测器，原型光学元件包含宽带AR涂层，该阵列接收器将改装为包括一台100mk绝热退磁冰箱。工程、性能评估和代表性数据将提供给CMB-S4项目。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation project will help answer the big question: “how did the universe begin?” It does so by building and testing a sensitive instrument that would measure electromagnetic emission that fills space as a result of processes in the early universe. This emission is best measured at microwave wavelengths, so it is referred to as the cosmic microwave background (CMB). A small protype instrument, referred to as pSAT, will be built to evaluate many of the technologies that have been developed for a future, large experiment to measure the CMB far more precisely. The members of this research team will engage with educators and the public on observing/measuring the origins of the universe. Within the larger CMB experiment program, this project will provide research experience for graduate and undergraduate students, as well as training for postdoctoral researchers.Finding direct evidence for cosmic inflation is an important goal in astronomy and physics today. Inflation models predict the existence of primordial gravitational waves, which impart a unique “B-mode” pattern to the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and provide a key test of such models. There have been an improving series of instruments to make the needed measurements. This project will develop and test pSAT, a CMB polarimeter integrating detectors and optics developed for the next-generation CMB-S4 project with existing field-proven BICEP Array hardware. pSAT will utilize new 95 GHz/155 GHz dual-band dual-polarization prototype detectors, with prototype optics incorporating wide-band AR coatings, in a BICEP array receiver cryostat that will be adapted to include a 100mK adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. The engineering, performance evaluation, and representative data will be provided to the CMB-S4 project.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.