A Programme of Technology, Astrophysics and Cosmology in Cardiff 2012-14

我们提出了一项天体物理学和宇宙学的技术开发计划，同时实施在卡迪夫开发的技术，用于研究我们自己和其他星系中恒星和行星的形成，星系如何形成和演化，以及我们今天所看到的宇宙如何起源于大爆炸的世界领先项目。我们将继续开发世界上最灵敏的超长红外波长探测器，以及利用“超材料”的相关光学元件，这些材料是由人类设计和制造的，具有最适合其任务的特性，而不是依赖于天然存在的矿物和塑料。这两个技术发展领域都有可能广泛应用于天文学以外的领域，例如安全扫描仪和生物医学成像。用于成像的技术也可以扩展到光谱学，我们提出了一个计划，以发展获得大面积天空图像中每个点的光谱的能力，这对于了解在深度调查中发现的物体有多远，以及构成这些物体的气体条件是至关重要的。我们还建议发展干涉测量技术，将两个独立的望远镜组合在一起，以产生高角度分辨率，用于远红外波长，并参与美国领导的气球干涉仪实验。最后，我们提议参与Ebex气球实验，测量宇宙微波背景中所谓的b模式极化信号，如果发现它，将向我们展示宇宙最初的快速膨胀是如何发生的。

We propose a programme of technology development for Astrophysics and Cosmology, along with implementation of technology developed in Cardiff for world-leading projects to investigate star and planet formation in our own and other galaxies, how galaxies form and evolve, and how the Universe we see around us today originated in the big bang. We will continue to develop the world's most sensitive detectors for very long infrared wavelengths, along with associated optical components utilising 'metamaterials' the class of materials designed and manufactured by human beings to have the properties best suited to their task, rather than relying on naturally occurring minerals and plastics. Both of these areas of technology development have potential wide applications outside of Astronomy, in areas such as security scanners and bio-medical imaging for example. The technologies used for imaging can also be extended to undertake spectroscopy, and we propose a programme to develop the capability to obtain a spectrum of every point in a large area image of the sky, which is essential for understanding how far away the objects found in deep surveys are, but also what the conditions in the gas that make up these objects are. We also propose to develop the technique of interferometry, where two separate telescopes are combined to create high angular resolution, for far-infrared wavelengths and to participate in a US-led balloon interferometer experiment. Finally we propose to participate in the Ebex balloon experiment to measure the so-called B-mode polarization signal in the cosmic microwave background, which if found will show us how inflation, the rapid expansion at the very beginning of the Universe, occurred.