QUBIC: Observing the Polarized Microwave Sky over the Puna

GARCIA, B; GARCIA, B (QUBIC COLL.); HARARI, D.; SCÓCCOLA, C,

Science Reviews - from the end of the world

Centro Redes y Asociación Argentina para el Progreso de las Ciencias (AAPC)

Año: 2020 vol. 1 p. 47 - 65

2683-9288

QUBIC(Q&U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology) is an experimentdesigned to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwavebackground (CMB), the relic radiation from the Big-Bang.Detailed measurements of tiny temperature anisotropies in theCMB shaped our understanding of the early Universe. Accurate measurementsof its polarization may reveal even earlier features, inparticular the presence of gravitational waves with primordial origin.Such measurements can probe inflationary cosmological models,which postulate that quantum effects during an accelerated expansionat the earliest stages after the Big-Bang produced gravitationalwaves along with the density fluctuations that later seededgalaxy formation. QUBIC will join other international efforts currentlypursuing this goal using a novel approach, which combines thesensitivity of bolometric detectors with the control of systematic effectsprovided by interferometry. After its current calibration phase iscompleted a technological demonstrator already constructed in Europeanlaboratories will be deployed in Alto Chorrillos, a site in thePuna near San Antonio de los Cobres, Salta, Argentina. The completefirst module of the instrument is planned to be installed during2020. We review the scientific goals of the project, the instrumentdesign and its expected performance.p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }