Next Generation CMB Analysis

我们可以把光当作一种时间机器，通过看远处，我们可以看到过去。 这个极限让我们看到宇宙的快照，当它不到40万年的时候，是我们能看到的最古老的光。 宇宙是一个简单的地方，第一个恒星和星系在未来数亿年。 这种简单性对天文学家来说是一个布恩，因为我们可以了解宇宙的基本性质，而不必担心恒星和星系形成的方式仍然知之甚少。 这一领域的先前成果已经将宇宙学转变为一门精确的科学，并使我们能够测量宇宙年龄等基本参数，精确度超过1%。虽然这张宇宙快照（称为宇宙微波背景或CMB）已经教会了我们关于宇宙的大量信息，但新的望远镜将让我们在未来十年内了解更多。 我们将寻找宇宙膨胀的迹象，人们普遍认为这是今天宇宙性质的决定因素。 我们将测量中微子的质量，中微子是一种幽灵般的粒子，可以自由地穿过光年厚的铅而不撞到任何东西。 我们还将看到宇宙中质量最大的物体--星系团所投射的阴影。 这将有助于我们理解驱动星系团结构的复杂物理学。这些新的望远镜将产生大量的数据，必须更准确地分析这些数据，以解开宇宙的秘密。 我们现有的工具不足以以必要的精度处理即将到来的实验。 我将培训加拿大学生开发新的工具来处理这些数据，并在加拿大超级计算机上分析CMB数据。 这反过来将使我们能够在宇宙学研究的前沿国际合作中发挥主导作用，并回答有关宇宙性质的基本问题。

We can use light as a kind of time machine, and by looking far away we can see back in time. The ultimate limit of this lets us see a snapshot of the universe when it was less than 400,000 years old, and is the oldest light we can see. The universe was a simpler place then, with the first stars and galaxies hundreds of millions of years in the future. This simplicity has turned out to be a boon for astronomers, as we can learn about the fundamental properties of the universe without worrying about the still poorly-understood ways in which stars and galaxies were formed. Previous results in this field have transformed cosmology into a precision science, and have let us measure basic parameters like the age of the universe to better than 1% accuracy.******While this snapshot of the universe (called the cosmic microwave background or CMB) has already taught us a tremendous amount about the universe, new telescopes will let us learn even more in the coming decade. We will search for the signs of cosmic inflation, widely believed to be what set the properties of the universe today. We will measure the mass of the neutrino, ghostly particles that can freely stream through light years of lead without hitting anything. We will also look at the shadows cast by galaxy clusters, the most massive objects in the universe. This will help us understand the complicated physics driving the structure of clusters.******These new telescopes will create a flood of data that must be ever more accurately analyzed to unlock the secrets of the universe. The current tools we have are not enough to handle the upcoming experiments with the necessary precision. I will train Canadian students to develop the new tools to deal with this data, and to analyze CMB data on Canadian supercomputers. This in turn will enable us to play leading roles in international collaborations at the cutting edge of cosmology research and answer fundamental questions about the nature of the cosmos.********