QUBIC: Observing the Polarized Microwave Sky over the Puna

GARCIA BEATRIZ; HARARI, D.; SCÓCCOLA, C.; ROMERO, GUSTAVO E

Science Reviews from the end of the world

Centro de Estudios sobre Ciencia, Desarrollo y Educación Superior

Lugar: BUENOS AIRES; Año: 2020

2683-9288

QUBIC (Q&U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology) is anexperiment designed to measure the polarization of the cosmicmicrowave background (CMB), the relic radiation from the Big-Bang. Detailed measurements of tiny temperature anisotropies inthe CMB shaped our understanding of the early Universe. Accuratemeasurements of its polarization may reveal even earlier features,in particular the presence of gravitational waves with primordialorigin. Such measurements can probe inflationary cosmologicalmodels, which postulate that quantum effects during an acceleratedexpansion at the earliest stages after the Big-Bang producedgravitational waves along with the density fluctuations that laterseeded galaxy formation. QUBIC will join other international effortscurrently pursuing this goal using a novel approach, which combinesthe sensitivity of bolometric detectors with the control of systematiceffects provided by interferometry. After its current calibration phaseis completed a technological demonstrator already constructed inEuropean laboratories will be deployed in Alto Chorrillos, a site inthe Puna near San Antonio de los Cobres, Salta, Argentina. Thecomplete first module of the instrument is planned to be installedduring 2020. We review the scientific goals of the project, theinstrument design and its expected performance.