Cosmic Microwave Background B-modes from BICEP/Keck Array and the South Pole Telescope

 

Dr Kimmy Wu
University of California at Berkeley
 

11 Jul 2016 (Monday)
2:00 pm
IAS2042, 2/F, Lo Ka Chung Building, Lee Shau Kee Campus, HKUST

Abstract:

Primordial gravitational waves generated from inflation and gravitational lensing of E-modes of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) creates "B-modes", a curl component in the polarization field of the CMB. Despite the minuscule amplitude of B-modes at ~1,000,000 times smaller than the 2.7K CMB blackbody temperature, B-modes were detected and their precision measurements have begun in the past few years. B-modes opened up a new window to probe the physics of our universe’s beginning and evolution. In this talk, the speaker will give a brief overview of CMB physics, present the unique capabilities of BICEP/Keck Array telescopes and the South Pole Telescope in measuring B-mode polarization, discuss a project to 'delens' the B-modes - to remove the lensing B-mode component in order to get a constraint on B-modes generated by primordial gravitational waves, and thereby put important constraints on various inflationary models. She will conclude the talk with future outlook for CMB experiments through the CMB Stage-4 (CMB-S4) effort.