MSIP: Innovation to Achieve the Full Science Reach of the BICEP Array Stage 3 CMB Polarization Experiment

由该计划资助的科学家开发先进的毫米波仪器，从美国南极站进行观测，研究早期宇宙的特性。该项目的主要目标是测试暴胀理论，这是一个非凡的想法，即整个可观测宇宙始于微观体积的剧烈加速膨胀。在此过程中，超导探测器技术和我们对天文发射的认识将得到显著的进步。正在研究的具体特征是宇宙微波背景辐射（CMB）中微小的旋涡偏振模式，这是大爆炸的2.7开尔文余辉。参与该项目的科学家们将设计并建造一个配备了2万多个最先进的超导传感器的望远镜，并将其部署到地球上最干燥的南极站。这些研究活动将为培养研究生和博士后提供良好的机会。此外，还有一系列针对公众受众的外展目标：(1)通过斯坦福大学教师研究经验项目，为初中和高中教师提供他们需要的培训和工具，以激励学生追求STEM；(2)通过组织良好的研讨会，激励从事所提议工作的教师、博士后和研究生成为有效的科学传播者；(3)通过制作一组动画，使人们能够广泛地了解现代宇宙学中一些最迷人但最困难的概念。该团队将使用BICEP阵列和SPT-3G数据对CMB偏振进行尖端测量。来自这个新系统的数据将用于区分来自我们银河系的尘埃发射和原始CMB信号。该计划由三个部分组成：(1)开发22,000个探测器220/270GHz接收器，以完成BICEP阵列。所需的高检测器计数是由一项新技术实现的？微波SQUID复用器；(2)结合SPT-3G实施去噪分析；(3)仪器系统控制的改进。除了抑制暴胀的主要科学目标外，高频接收器将极大地提高对极化银河系尘埃发射的理解。此外，BICEP阵列与SPT-3G的结合是CMB- s4计划建立“终极”第4阶段CMB极化实验的开拓者。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Scientists funded by this program develop advanced millimeter-wave instruments to conduct observations from the U.S. South Pole Station to study properties of the early Universe. The main goal of the project is to test the inflationary theory, a remarkable idea that the entire observable Universe began in a violently accelerated expansion of a microscopic volume. Along the way, superconducting detector technology and our knowledge on astronomical emission will be significantly advanced. The specific feature being pursued is a tiny swirly polarization pattern in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, the 2.7-Kelvin afterglow of the Big Bang. Scientists involved in this program will design and build a telescope populated with more than 20 thousand state-of-the-art superconducting sensors, and field it to the South Pole station -- the driest place on Earth. The research activities will provide excellent opportunities for training of graduate students and postdocs. In addition, there is a set of outreach goals aiming at the public audience: (1) Providing middle and high school teachers with the training and tools they need to inspire students to pursue STEM via the Research Experiences for Teachers program at Stanford; (2) Inspiring the faculty, postdocs, and graduate students engaged in the proposed work to be effective science communicators with well-organized workshops, and (3) Enabling broad access to some of the most fascinating, but difficult, concepts that underlie modern cosmology by creating a set of animations. The team will use the BICEP Array and SPT-3G data to produce cutting-edge measurements of CMB polarization. Data from this new system will be used to discriminate the dust emission from our own Galaxy and the primordial CMB signal. The program consists of three parts: (1) Development of a 22,000-detector 220/270GHz receiver to complete the BICEP Array. The required high detector count is enabled by a new technology?microwave SQUID multiplexers; (2) Implementation of delensing analysis in conjunction with SPT-3G; (3) Improvements to the control of instrumental systematics. In addition to the main science goal of constraining inflation, the high-frequency receiver will dramatically improve understanding of polarized Galactic dust emission. Also, BICEP Array combined with SPT-3G is a pathfinder towards the CMB-S4 initiative to build an "ultimate" Stage 4 CMB polarization experiment.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.