Probing Inflationary Cosmology with CLASS

Sarah Marie Bruno被授予美国国家科学基金会天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在约翰霍普金斯大学进行研究和教育项目。布鲁诺将为宇宙大角尺度勘测者（CLASS）望远镜阵列开发新的仪器，以大大提高其灵敏度。这些改进将使在大角度尺度上对宇宙微波背景（CMB）偏振的敏感测量成为可能，从而允许对早期宇宙的宇宙学模型进行严格的测试。布鲁诺还将为物理学领域的女性、初高中学生和科学政策制定者开展一个教育和推广项目。布鲁诺将领导两个新的探测器阵列的开发，以提高CLASS在CMB偏振测量中对b模式的灵敏度。在CMB中探测到b模式将表明引力波的量子起源，这将有力地支持暴胀理论。布鲁诺还将为物理学领域的早期职业女性建立一个同伴指导小组，为中学生和高中生开发现代科学教育模块，并为新兴技术的政策举措提供科学建议。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。

Sarah Marie Bruno is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct a program of research and education at Johns Hopkins University. Bruno will develop new instrumentation for the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) telescope array to greatly enhance its sensitivity. The enhancements will enable sensitive measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization at large angular scales, allowing stringent tests of cosmological models of the early Universe. Bruno will also conduct a program of education and outreach for women in physics, middle and high school students, and science policy makers.Bruno will lead the development of two new detector arrays to increase the sensitivity of CLASS to B-modes in CMB polarization measurements. Detection of B-modes in the CMB would indicate a quantum origin for gravitational waves, and it would strongly support the theory of inflation. Bruno will also establish a peer mentoring group for early-career women in physics, develop modern science educational modules for middle and high school students, and provide scientific advice to inform policy initiatives on emerging technology.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.