BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events
BEGIN:VEVENT
SEQUENCE:0
UID:UW-Physics-Event-3238
DTSTART:20140212T220000Z
DURATION:PT1H0M0S
DTSTAMP:20260317T063230Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20140127T135617Z
LOCATION:4274 Chamberlin Hall
SUMMARY:Exploring Fundamental Physics through Measurements of the Cosm
 ic Microwave Background\, Faculty Candidate Seminar\, Bradford Benson\
 , University of Chicago
DESCRIPTION:The cosmic microwave background (CMB) provides a unique wi
 ndow into the early universe and cosmology.  The CMB is generated by w
 ell-understood dynamics\, only ~400\,000 years after the Big Bang\, th
 at enables precise calculation of its observable features and which di
 rectly connects new measurements to fundamental physics.  I will discu
 ss the latest measurements of the CMB by the South Pole Telescope (SPT
 )\, including the first detection of a curl-only component (B-modes) i
 n the polarization of the CMB by SPTpol. I will describe the instrumen
 tation and detector technology in development for next-generation expe
 riments\, including SPT's next camera\, SPT-3G\, and a future ground-b
 ased CMB experiment\, CMB-S4.  The science goals of these experiments 
 aim to answer some of the most exciting questions in cosmology: to dif
 ferentiate between dark energy and modified gravity to explain the ori
 gin of cosmic acceleration\, to test and constrain physics at grand-un
 ified theory energy scales (~1e16 GeV)\, to measure the sum of the neu
 trino masses at a sensitivity below the minimum mass expected from neu
 trino oscillations (<0.06 eV)\, and to precisely constrain the relativ
 istic energy density of the universe and any "dark radiation" componen
 t.
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=3238
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR