The inflation theory states that the Universe arose from a
tiny volume,
and underwent a super-luminar expansion when it was 1034s old.
This mechanism would have left a distinct signal in its afterglow
radiation:
the Cosmic Microwave Background. This signal is so faint that an
extremely sensitive instrument and a high noise and systematics control
are required to capture it. We are building BICEP Array, a microwave
telescope which incorporates in its focal plane a high number of
responsive
and low noise pixels. We are deploying it at the South Pole, which
is one of the best sites on Earth for microwave observations. But even
so, atmospheric fluctuations contaminate our data. We have analised the
South Pole Atmosphere with an independent instrument, a water vapour
radiometer (WVR) located next to BICEP Array, and we have developed
a new method for atmospheric noise subtraction that doesn’t involve any
loss of information in our cosmological data.
Elia Battistelli