BICEP-Array: the next stage of CMB degree angular scale observations

by Alessandro Schillaci (California Institute of Technology)

Monday 11 Dec 2017, 16:00 → 18:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Conversi (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)

BICEP Array, the Stage-3 instrument of the BICEP/Keck program, comprises four multi-frequency telescopes that will be deployed at the South Pole Station between 2018-2021. The 4 receivers  will observe simultaneously the degree-scale polarization of the Cosmic  Microwave Background and its Galactic foregrounds, ultimately improving the sensitivity to the primordial B-mode signal by one order of magnitude over the current most stringent limits (BK14).
The 1st receiver, which is currently being built, will operate at 30 and 40GHz to constrain the synchrotron foreground in the BK sky patch.  It will be followed by the 95GHz  and the 150GHz receivers and completed by the 220/270GHz receiver, bringing the total count of background-limited detectors to about  40,000. In this talk, I will present an overview of the instrument,  focusing on the ongoing 30/40GHz receiver development, and particularly on the improvements on its thermal filtering, magnetic shielding, focal plane and detector design. I will also show the predicted constraints on the synchrotron foreground that this first low-frequency receiver will bring after 1+ years of science operations.