Consortium Proposal for CMB-S4 Continuing Design

该奖项将资助NSF与能源部（DoE）高能物理办公室（HEP）的持续合作，以进一步设计CMB-S4实验，这是一个宇宙微波背景（CMB）第四阶段设施，如2013年斯诺马斯会议期间所定义的。 具体而言，资金将支持完成对替代仪器配置的评估，同时推进技术、预算和行政交付，以便为建设项目做好准备。 这项工作建立在NSF和DoE/HEP支持的先前活动的基础上。 CMB-S4采用成熟的技术，建立在数十年的发展基础上，并将其扩展到前所未有的规模。 如果成功，它将提供一个强大而独特的毫米波测量，以高节奏覆盖70%的天空，并将跨越我们对宇宙起源和演化的理解的关键科学门槛。 通过CMB-S4的设计，在CMB偏振、CMB的引力透镜、其他次级效应和尚未发现的信号中编码的信息的发现空间被最大化。 这次调查的独特数据产品将使整个天文学界和更广泛的多学科研究界受益，在这个时代，多波长和多信使天文学是理解和发现的途径。 CMB-S4提供了一个强大的和协同的补充，主要即将到来的天文调查和设施，如维拉C。鲁宾天文台遗产调查，南希格雷斯罗马太空望远镜和詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜。 该项目计划增加CMB-S4科学和STEM领域的多样性，由三个原则驱动：参与者的多样性，培训的多样性和成果的多样性。 早期职业培训包括每年为期四天的暑期学校，以及与HBCU和以URM为重点的机构建立伙伴关系，以进一步增加多样性。在预算严重不确定的时期，这是一个重要的变革性项目。 第二年和第三年的资金将在第一年年底重新评估和重新确定优先顺序，等待审查，资金的可用性和项目所涉及的工作的阶段性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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。

This award will fund the NSF side of a continuing collaboration with the Department of Energy (DoE) Office of High Energy Physics (HEP), to further the design of the CMB-S4 experiment, which is a cosmic microwave background (CMB) Stage IV facility, as defined during the 2013 Snowmass conference. Funding will support, specifically, completing assessment of alternative instrument configurations while advancing technical, budgetary, and administrative deliverables with the intention of reaching readiness for a construction project. This work builds on previous activity supported by NSF and by DoE/HEP. CMB-S4 uses proven technologies, building on decades of development, and takes them to unprecedented scales. If successful, it will provide a powerful and unique millimeter-wave survey covering 70% of the sky at high cadence, and will cross critical science thresholds in our understanding of the origin and evolution of the Universe. The discovery space of the information encoded in CMB polarization, in the gravitational lensing of the CMB, in other secondary effects, and in yet-to-be-discovered signals, is maximized by the design of CMB-S4. Unique data products from this survey will benefit the entire astronomical community and a broader, multi-disciplinary research community in an era in which multi-wavelength and multi-messenger astronomy is the path to understanding and discovery. CMB-S4 provides a powerful and synergistic complement to major upcoming astronomical surveys and facilities, such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and the James Webb Space Telescope. The project comes with a plan to increase diversity in CMB-S4 science and in STEM fields, driven by three principles: diversity of participants, diversity of training, and diversity of outcomes. Early-career training includes annual four-day summer schools, and development of partnerships with HBCUs and URM-focused institutions to increase diversity further.This is an important and transformative project during a time of significant budget uncertainty. Second and third years of funding will be re-evaluated and reprioritized towards the end of the first year, pending reviews, availability of funding, and phasing of the work involved in the project.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.