Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Acoustic processes in the plasma filling the Universe for the first 380,000 years have left two important signatures. They form a pattern of brightness and polarization variations on the sky at microwave wavelengths, the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background. They also form density bubbles on very large scales. The research proposed here is to continue our program of performing groundbreaking measurements of these acoustic ripples. All of these experiments follow the extraordinarily successful approach we took with WMAP: a small team works together on the full project from conception, instrument design and observations through analysis to scientific results. We have demonstrated an excellent track record with his approach of performing important sensitive experiments . Within the past year I have won the Breakthrough Prize (the so-called Oscars of Science) the Beals Award from CASCA (their highest award) and was named a 'Human of the Year' by Motherboard Magazine. This experimental approach provides an excellent setting for training of young researchers and engineers.******The Cosmic Microwave Background:******Measurement of the anisotropy and polarization of the CMB provides precise cosmological tests. With the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) we have extended CMB measurements to five times higher angular resolution than those of WMAP and Planck, made the first detection of gravitational lensing of the CMB and the first measurement the motion of galaxy clusters compared to it. With the data we propose to collect with this proposal the ACT data will provide useful constraints on neutrino masses and Hubble's constant.******With Bicep, operating at the South Pole, we have produced the most sensitive maps of polarization of the CMB to date, allowing us to study the mechanisms which drove inflation in the very early Universe through their unique gravitational radiation polarization signature.******CHIME:******I am the PI of CHIME, a novel radio telescope dedicated to studying baryon acoustic oscillations over the redshift range from 0.8 to 2.5, the epoch when dark energy becomes dominant in the Universe. We completed construction of the instrument in September 2017. We expect useful measurements of the hydrogen intensity power spectrum over the period of this grant. We have also built receivers for CHIME which allow it to search the sky for radio-transients, the so-called Fast Radio Bursts, and to measure signals from nearly all known pulsars in the Northern sky without interrupting the cosmological survey. These instruments are working well and will produce data early in the period of this research grant.******HQP:******My laboratory provides a unique environment where young researchers are exposed to the full life cycle of development of scientific instruments and their use in groundbreaking experiments. This is reflected in a high rate of HQP trainees taking faculty positions at major universities and key high tech positions in industry.