BICEP2 and SPUD: Searching for Inflation with Degree-Scale Polarimetry from the South Pole

Details BICEP2 and SPUD: Searching for Inflation with Degree-Scale Polarimetry from the South Pole BICEP2 and SPUD: Searching for Inflation with Degree-Scale Polarimetry from the South Pole

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...209.1105k&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #11.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, V

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

3

Scientific paper

Inflation predicts a cosmic gravitational-wave background (CGB), the amplitude of which measures the Inflationary energy scale. The CGB in turn produces a faint but unique signature in the 'B-mode' polarization of the CMB at angular scales between 4 and 2 degrees. The simplest models of Inflation predict the CGB at levels r 0.01 to 0.1. At these levels, the Inflationary B-mode signal should be within experimental reach, leading the 2005 Task Force on CMB Research to identify this search as the number one priority for the field.
BICEP, the first CMB polarimeter specifically designed for this search, began operating at South Pole Station in early 2006. BICEP is mapping 2% of the sky that is uniquely free of Galactic confusion with angular resolution of 0.9 deg (100 GHz) and 0.6 deg (150 GHz), and should reach sensitivity to r < 0.1 during 2008.
A coordinated series of upgrades will retain the compact, cryogenic optical design which has been key to BICEP's success and efficiency, while providing the increased sensitivity and more exacting control of instrumental effects and confusion from Galactic foregrounds necessary to search more deeply. A powerful new 150 GHz receiver, BICEP2, is planned to replace BICEP1 in 2009, exploiting newly available antenna-coupled TES detector arrays to achieve 9 times higher mapping speed. In 2010, the first of a series of compact, mechanically-cooled receivers, SPUD1, will be ready for deployment on the DASI mount, providing similar speed at 100 GHz in parallel with BICEP2. In two seasons of operation, these receivers provide the sensitivity to detect r > 0.02 with 95% confidence, characterize the Galactic foregrounds in the cleanest field on the sky, and prepare for a yet more sensitive search for the CGB from South Pole with 6 SPUD-like telescopes deployed simultaneously on the DASI mount.

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