Putting the "Big" in "Big Bang": The Primordial Inflation Explorer
Al Kogut
Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA
The Primordial Inflation Explorer is an Explorer-class mission to
measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through
its distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic
microwave background. PIXIE uses an innovative optical design to
achieve background-limited sensitivity in 400 spectral channels
spanning 2.5 decades in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50
micron wavelength). The principal science goal is the detection and
characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in
the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10^-3 at 5 standard
deviations. The rich PIXIE data set will also constrain physical processes
ranging from Big Bang cosmology to the nature of the first stars to
physical conditions within the interstellar medium of the Galaxy. I
describe the PIXIE instrument and mission architecture needed to detect
the inflationary signature using only 4 semiconductor bolometers.
Date: | Mardi, le 31 janvier 2012 |
Heure: | 16:00 |
Lieu: | Université McGill |
| Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, R.E. Bell Conference Room (room 103) |
Contact: | Robert Rutledge |
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