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NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
Detection of degree angular scale B-mode polarization with BICEP2/Keck Array
Date: Thursday, April 17th
Time: 2:30 pm
Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
Speaker: Grant Teply, Caltech
Abstract: The BICEP2 experiment is a cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarimeter specifically designed to search for the signal of inflationary gravitational waves in the B-mode power spectrum around l=80. BICEP2 observed from the South Pole for three seasons from 2010 to 2012. Using its full 3-year CMB data set, we report an excess of B-mode power at the angular scales of interest, inconsistent with the null hypothesis at a significance of >5σ. The observed B-mode power spectrum is well-fit by a lensed-LCDM + tensor theoretical model with tensor/scalar ratio r=0.20+0.07−0.05. We will describe the BICEP2 instrument, observing strategy, data analysis, and results. We will also describe Keck Array, a successor to BICEP2, which is actively collecting sky data at both 100 and 150 GHz at high sensitivity for improved constraints on galactic foregrounds.
Host: Vandenbroucke
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