Probing the Universe

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In the proposed grand period, my research group will develop and use balloon-borne instruments to study a variety of astronomical research topics. Flying from an altitude of over 35 km on flights up many weeks long, with payloads up to four tons, the stratospheric balloon platform permits access to a space like environment at a far lower cost suitable for Graduate student and postdoc research instrumentation and analysis projects.******Spider is mm-wave polarimeter which made its first flight in 2015. Spider's science goals are to measure or place limits on primordial gravitational waves, and determine r, the scalar to tensor mode ratio. The analysis and publication of data from the first flight, as well as a second flight with enhanced capabilities are scheduled for this grant period.******SuperBIT is a 0.5m visible/near-UV optical imaging telescope which will take diffraction-limited images over a 0.4 degree field of view. SuperBIT will fly from a Super-pressure balloon platform over the southern hemisphere, with flight lengths up to three months. SuperBIT will use strong and weak gravitational lensing to map out the distribution***of dark matter from the cosmic web down into the cores of 150 galaxy clusters in a single 100 night flight.******As well as having exciting scientific potential, SuperBIT is a test-bed for the development of technologies for a next-generation 1.4 m class balloon-born observatory which will provide 0.1" imaging at wavelengths down to 300nm, at speeds more than an order of magnitude faster than HST. We will develop this instrument during the proposed grant period, with first light in 2021.******We will also use the technologies our group has developed in support of other exciting missions of opportunity. BFORE is a mm-wave polarimeter which has been proposed to measure large scale polarisation of the Cosmic Microwave Background and interstellar dust to determine the optical depth to reionization, and to measure the dust foregrounds which may limit the ultimate sensitivity of next-generation Cosmic Microwave Background polarisation experiments.