PIRSA:09090006

Experimental Quantum Cosmology with the BICEP CMB Polarimeter

APA

Keating, B. (2009). Experimental Quantum Cosmology with the BICEP CMB Polarimeter. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/09090006

MLA

Keating, Brian. Experimental Quantum Cosmology with the BICEP CMB Polarimeter. Perimeter Institute, Sep. 23, 2009, https://pirsa.org/09090006

BibTex

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:09090006,
            doi = {10.48660/09090006},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/09090006},
            author = {Keating, Brian},
            keywords = {},
            language = {en},
            title = {Experimental Quantum Cosmology with the BICEP CMB Polarimeter},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2009},
            month = {sep},
            note = {PIRSA:09090006 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Brian Keating University of California, San Diego

Collection
Talk Type Scientific Series

Abstract

The Background Imager of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (BICEP) experiment is the first polarimeter developed to measure the inflationary B-mode polarization of the CMB. During three seasons of observing at the South Pole, Antarctica beginning in 2006, BICEP mapped 2% of the sky chosen to be clean of polarized foreground emission, with sub-degree resolution. In this colloquium I will present initial results derived from a subset of the data acquired during the first two years of data and discuss the unique design features of BICEP which led to the first meaningful limits on the tensor-to-scalar ratio to come from B-mode polarization. Recently, Xia, Li & Zhang (2009) have claimed a detection of parity-violating "cosmic birefringence" effects using publicly available BICEP data. I will discuss polarimetric fidelity in the light of systematic errors and how such effects are particularly pernicious for probes of cosmic parity violation. I will conclude with a discussion demonstrating how BICEP, and its successor "BICEP2" will inform future measurements of the inflationary gravitational wave background and cosmic birefringence.