The Q & U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology: Status and Prospects

SCOCCOLA, CLAUDIA GRACIELA

Córdoba

Congreso; Charla plenaria invitada. Friends of Friends Meeting - FOF2023.; 2023

IATE

The Q & U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology: Status and Prospects The Q & U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) is a cutting-edge CMB polarimeter installed on the Puna plateau in Argentina. Its optimized design enables the measurement of B-mode polarization, one of the major challenges of observational cosmology. However, this signal is subject to systematic effects and astrophysical foregrounds, which QUBIC aims to control through multichroic observations and a novel approach called Bolometric Interferometry. This technique combines the advantages of interferometry and bolometric detectors to produce wide-band, background-limited sensitivity. Additionally, the QUBIC synthesized beam’s frequency-dependent shape produces maps of the CMB polarization in multiple sub-bands within the instrument’s two physical bands. QUBIC is thus complementary to other instruments and particularly suited to characterizing and removing Galactic foreground contamination. In this talk, I will present the status of QUBIC, including calibration results, the first real sky observations, and forecasts for B-modes detection. I will also highlight QUBIC’s unique spectral-imaging feature, which allows it to identify foreground contamination, even in the pessimistic case of Galactic dust exhibiting frequency domain decorrelation.