Detection of B-mode Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation at Degree Angular Scales with BICEP2

by Dr Angiola Orlando (University of California, San Diego)

Tuesday 27 May 2014, 15:00 → 16:30 Europe/Rome

131 (INFN edificio C)

The BICEP2 telescope is an instrument designed to search for the signature of primordial gravitational waves on the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at degree angular scales. Such gravitational waves are a generic prediction of inflationary models of the early universe. BICEP2 observed from the South Pole for three seasons from 2010 to 2012, mapping the sky at 150GHz with a planar array of 500 polarization sensitive antenna-coupled TES bolometers. This new detector technology has enabled a large increase in sensitivity with respect to previous instruments. I will present the first results from this instrument, outline the observations that led to this result, and discuss its implications for cosmology.