Collaborative Research: Imaging the Beginning of Time from the South Pole: Observations with the Full SPUD Array

越来越多的证据表明，整个可见宇宙是在亚核体积的戏剧性超光速“膨胀”中产生的。物质的这种剧烈加速会产生宇宙引力波背景(CGB)，其幅度测量了发生膨胀的能量尺度。CGB在宇宙微波背景(CMB)的偏振中留下了一个微弱的信号，其幅度由张量与标量模的比率r=T/S参数表示。许多理论上支持的暴涨模型产生的这个比率在0.01到0.1之间，对应于产生的CMB B模偏振图案的平均幅度在30到100纳开尔文之间，其中它们在度的尺度上达到峰值。有了这个奖项，来自美国三个机构的研究人员将专注于探索并最终探测CGB偏振信号，这可以说是当今宇宙学最重要的目标。2005年，CMB研究社区工作队确定了该比率等于0.02的目标灵敏度，作为一个直接目标，以探测与标准宇宙模型有关的CMB偏振中的膨胀引力波。新安装的“用于DASI的小型偏振仪升级”(SPUD)将一个由五个接收器组成的望远镜重新配置为“南极膨胀宇宙学实验”(SPICE)，它将：(A)在150 GHz的CMB B模偏振中完成CGB搜索，达到基于电流灵敏度性能的深度，将探测到r为0.02的膨胀CGB；(B)证明该信号是宇宙起源的，同时单独测量最小的银河系前景污染；(C)在约1度的尺度上探测CMB偏振的引力透镜，如果通货膨胀的能量尺度较低，则将CGB探测到度尺度观测的透镜混淆极限(r 0.01)；以及(D)超过2005年CMB特别工作组建议的2013年仪器灵敏度目标。探测到CGB波之于膨胀，就像发现CMB辐射之于大爆炸理论一样。事实上，它的影响可能会更广泛，因为核物理在“热的”大爆炸模型建立之前就已经足够成熟，而膨胀直接影响到当前基础物理的前沿：广义相对论和量子力学、弦理论和最高可达能量的结合。南极洲的宇宙学和研究都吸引了公众的想象力，使这种结合成为激发科学兴趣和培养学生的非常有效的工具。

There is mounting evidence that the entire observable Universe was spawned in a dramatic superluminal "Inflation" of a subnuclear volume. This violent acceleration of matter would have produced a Cosmic Gravitational-wave Background (CGB), the amplitude of which measures the energy scale at which Inflation occurred. The CGB imprints a faint signature in the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with the amplitude parameterized by the ratio of tensor-to-scalar modes, r = T/S. Many theoretically favored models of Inflation produce this ratio between 0.01 and 0.1, corresponding to average amplitude from 30 to 100 nanoKelvins for the resulting CMB B-mode polarization patterns where they peak on scales of degrees. With this award, researchers from three U.S. institutions will focus on exploring and ultimately detecting the CGB polarization signature, which is arguably the most important goal in cosmology today. In 2005, the Community Task Force on CMB Research identified a target sensitivity of that ratio equaling to 0.02 as an immediate goal to detect the Inflationary gravitational waves imprint in the CMB polarization that pertain to the standard cosmological model. The newly installed 'Small Polarimeter Upgrades for DASI' (SPUD) reconfigured a five- receivers telescope to the "South Pole Inflationary Cosmology Experiment" (SPICE) that will: (a) Complete the CGB search in CMB B-mode polarization at 150 GHz, reaching depths which based on current sensitivity performance, that will detect the Inflationary CGB for r 0.02; (b) Prove that this signal is cosmic in origin while separately measuring the Galactic foreground contamination at its minimum; (c) Detect gravitational lensing of CMB polarization on scales of ~1 degree, probing the CGB to the lensing confusion limit for degree-scale observations (r 0.01) if the energy scale of Inflation is low; and (d) Surpass the instrumental sensitivity goals set forth for 2013 by the 2005 CMB Task Force recommendations. Detection of the CGB waves would be to Inflation what the discovery of the CMB radiation was to the Big Bang theory. Indeed, its impact may be even broader as nuclear physics had matured enough prior to the establishment of the "hot" Big Bang model, while Inflation directly bears on the current frontiers of fundamental physics: the union of general relativity and quantum mechanics, string theory, and the highest accessible energies. Cosmology and research in Antarctica both capture the public imagination, making this combination a remarkably effective vehicle for stimulating interest in science and train students.