Mid-scale RI-1 (M1:DP): Consortium Proposal for CMB-S4 Design Development

寻找原始引力波作为宇宙膨胀的直接证据，是当今基础物理学和宇宙学最重要的目标之一。这一目标长期以来一直被认为是天体物理学界的首要研究优先事项，如NRC的《夸克到宇宙》报告(2003年)、天文学和天体物理学十年调查(2010年)和粒子物理项目优先小组(P5)《为发现而建：全球背景下的美国粒子物理战略计划》(2014)所建议的那样。宇宙微波背景(CMB)研究也被选为南极科学的战略优先事项之一。CMB Stage 4(CMB-S4)计划代表了几乎整个美国CMB研究人员社区的团结。这个项目建立在CMB几十年的地面测量基础上，它将是CMB社区未来20年的主要推动力。CMB-S4将使用迄今为止在CMB科学方面所做的大量投资开发的技术，将它们扩展到更大的规模，既可以跨越我们对宇宙理解的关键科学门槛，又可以在七年内以高节奏提供覆盖80%天空的强大和独特的毫米波观测，以服务于世界天文学社区，在这个多波长和多信使天体物理是新理解和发现的时代。该奖项将支持临时项目办公室(IPO)，其任务是通过MREFC规模的“初步设计阶段”开发CMB-S4计划。CMB-S4“稻草人概念”被天文学和天体物理学咨询委员会接受，该委员会为美国国家科学基金会、能源部和美国宇航局提供建议。该奖项的结果将由NSF/DOE联合小组进行审查，以确定是否准备好作为NSF/MREFC和DOE/MIE项目推进到相当于“最终设计阶段”的阶段。CMB-S4望远镜将部署在南极站(南极)和阿塔卡马高原(智利)。随着敏感度的大幅提高，CMB-S4将改变人们对宇宙起源和演化以及支配它的潜在物理定律的理解。CMB-S4计划将在测试膨胀理论、确定中微子的数量和总质量、限制可能的新轻遗迹粒子、提供对暗能量性质的精确限制以及在大范围内测试广义相对论等方面跨越临界阈值。该奖项阐述并推进了美国国家科学基金会“宇宙之窗：多信使天体物理学时代”计划的科学目标和目标。该奖项由基金会范围的中型研究基础设施项目支持，并将由地球科学局内的极地项目办公室管理。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The search for primordial gravitational waves as direct evidence for cosmic Inflation is one of the most important goals of fundamental physics and cosmology today. This goal has long been recognized as a top research priority for the astrophysics community, as recommended by the NRC's "Quarks to the Cosmos" report (2003), the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey (2010), and the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5), Building for Discovery: Strategic Plan for U.S. Particle Physics in the Global Context (2014). The cosmic microwave background (CMB) research is also selected as one of the strategic priorities for Antarctic Sciences. The CMB Stage 4 (CMB-S4) program represents a coming-together of almost the entire U.S. community of CMB researchers. This program is built on decades of CMB measurements from the ground, and it will be a major thrust of the CMB community for the next two decades. CMB-S4 will use the technologies developed from the considerable investment made in CMB science to date, extending them to far larger scales, both to cross critical science thresholds in our understanding of the Universe and to provide a powerful and unique millimeter-wave survey covering 80% of the sky at high cadence over seven years to serve the worldwide astronomical community in the era in which multi-wavelength and multi- messenger astrophysics is a path to new understanding and discoveries.This award will support an Interim Project Office (IPO) tasked with developing the CMB-S4 program through the MREFC-scale "Preliminary Design Phase". The CMB-S4 "Strawperson Concept" was accepted by the Astronomy & Astrophysics Advisory Committee that advises NSF, DOE, and NASA. The award's results will be reviewed by the joint NSF/DOE panel for readiness to move forward to the equivalent of the "Final Design Phase" as an NSF/MREFC and DOE/MIE project. CMB-S4 telescopes will be deployed at the South Pole Station (Antarctica) and the Atacama Plateau (Chile). With its large increase in sensitivity, CMB-S4 will transform understanding of the origin and evolution of the Universe and the underlying physical laws that govern it. The CMB-S4 program will cross critical thresholds in testing the theory of Inflation, determining the number and total masses of neutrinos, constraining possible new light relic particles, providing precise constraints on the nature of Dark Energy, and testing General Relativity on large scales. This award addresses and advances the science objectives and goals of the NSF's "Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics" program. This award is supported by the Foundation-wide Mid-scale Research Infrastructure program and will be managed by the Office of Polar Programs within the Directorate for Geosciences.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.