NASA CMBPOL Mission Studies

Details NASA CMBPOL Mission Studies NASA CMBPOL Mission Studies

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...209.4907b&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #49.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, V

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

2

Scientific paper

Gravitational waves produced during the epoch of Inflation, an exponential expansion of space-time occurring in the first moments after the Big Bang, may produce a detectable polarization signal in the Cosmic Microwave Background with a distinctive divergence-free B-mode pattern. Detecting the existence or absence of this gravitational wave background, a principal long-term goal of NASA’s Beyond Einstein Program, would probe the physical mechanism responsible for Inflation, and is expected to be detectable if inflation is associated with the energy scale of grand unification theories. The scientific importance and technical pathway leading to a space-borne CMB polarization experiment is described in a recent NSF/NASA/DOE CMB Task Force (CMBTF) report. A space-borne experiment offers the all-sky coverage, high sensitivity, and wide frequency coverage needed to detect the power spectrum characteristic of inflationary gravitational-wave polarization, and to distinguish it from local polarized foregrounds. We summarize three NASA mission study concepts that have been carried out to investigate experimental approaches to probing CMB polarization. We find that the scientific goals outlined by the CMBTF report can be carried out in a baseline space-borne mission using demonstrated technologies and experimental techniques. Several rapidly advancing technologies would allow the formulation of a mission with improved capabilities.

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