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发帖数: 43471 | 1 才300w，也就是一个R01的钱
Award Abstract #1044978
Collaborative Research: BICEP2 and SPUD - A Search for Inflation with
Degree-Scale Polarimetry from the South Pole
NSF Org: PLR
Division of Polar Programs
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Initial Amendment Date: June 9, 2010
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Latest Amendment Date: July 18, 2011
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Award Number: 1044978
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Award Instrument: Continuing grant
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Program Manager: Vladimir O. Papitashvili
PLR Division of Polar Programs
GEO Directorate for Geosciences
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Start Date: November 1, 2009
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Expires: April 30, 2013 (Estimated)
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Awarded Amount to Date: $2,919,786.00
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Investigator(s): John Kovac j*****[email protected] (Principal
Investigator)
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Sponsor: Harvard University
1350 MASSACHUSETTS AVE
Cambridge, MA 02138-3846 (617)495-5501
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NSF Program(s): EXTRAGALACTIC ASTRON & COSMOLO,
Antarctic Astrophys&Geosp Sci
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Program Reference Code(s): 0000, OTHR
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Program Element Code(s): 1217, 5115
ABSTRACT
ANT-0742818, PI: John M. Kovac, California Institute of Technology
ANT-0742592, PI: Clement L. Pryke, University of Chicago
Collaborative Research: BICEP2 and SPUD - A Search for Inflation with Degree
-Scale Polarimetry from the South Pole
The proposed work is a four-year program of research activities directed
toward upgrading the BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic
Polarization) telescope operating at South Pole since early 2006 to reach
far =stretching goals of detection of the Cosmic Gravitational-wave
Background (CGB) . This telescope is a first Cosmic Microwave Background (
CMB) B-mode polarimeter, specifically designed to search for CGB signatures
while mapping ~2% of the southern sky that is free of the Milky Way
foreground galactic radiation at 100 GH and 150 GHz. The BICEP1 telescope
will reach its designed sensitivity by the end of 2008. A coordinated series
of upgrades to BICEP1 will provide the increased sensitivity and more
exacting control of instrumental effects and potential confusion from
galactic foregrounds necessary to search for the B-mode signal more deeply
through space. A powerful new 150 GHz receiver, BICEP2, will replace the
current detector at the beginning of 2009, increasing the mapping speed
almost ten-fold. In 2010, the first of a series of compact, mechanically-
cooled receivers (called SPUD - Small Polarimeter Upgrade for DASI) will be
deployed on the existing DASI mount and tower, providing similar mapping
speed at 100 GHz in parallel with BICEP2. The latter instrument will reach (
and exceed with the addition of a SPUD polarimeter) the target sensitivity r
= 0.15 set forth by the Interagency (NSF/NASA/DoE) Task Force on CMB
Research for a future space mission dedicated to the detection and
characterization of primordial gravitational waves. This Task Force has
identified detection of the Inflation's gravitational waves as the number
one priority for the modern cosmology. More broadly, as the cosmology
captures a lot of the public imagination, it is a remarkably effective
vehicle for stimulating interest in basic science. The CGB detection would
be to Inflation what the discovery of the CMB radiation was to the Big Bang.
The project will contribute to the training of the next generation of
cosmologists by integrating graduate and undergraduate education with the
technology and instrumentation development, astronomical observations and
scientific analysis. Sharing of the forefront research results with public
extends the new knowledge beyond the universities. This project will be
undertaken in collaboration between the California Institute of Tech |
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