Oct 11, 2021
Exploring the primordial Universe with QUBIC
Jean-Christophe Hamilton (APC)
Description :

The Q & U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) is a novel kind of polarimeter optimized for the measurement of the B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is one of the major challenges of observational cosmology. The signal is expected to be of the order of a few tens of nK, prone to instrumental systematic effects and polluted by various astrophysical foregrounds which can only be controlled through multichroic observations. QUBIC is designed to address these observational issues with a novel approach that combines the advantages of interferometry in terms of control of instrumental systematic effects with those of bolometric detectors in terms of wide-band, background-limited sensitivity. The QUBIC synthesized beam has a frequency-dependent shape that results in the ability to produce maps of the CMB polarization in multiple sub-bands within the two physical bands of the instrument (150 and 220 GHz). These features make QUBIC complementary to other instruments and makes it particularly well suited to characterize and remove Galactic foreground contamination. QUBIC will observe from a 5000m a.s.l. site in the Salta province in Argentina, near the city of San Antonio de los Cobres.

QUBIC was shipped to Argentina in spring 2021 and is now undergoing tests in an integration hall in Salta and will be installed at its observation site in early 2022 for commissioning.

In this seminar I will give an overview of the QUBIC instrument design, the main results of the calibration campaign, and present the scientific program of QUBIC including not only the measurement of primordial B-modes, but also the measurement of Galactic foregrounds. 

Start:
Monday, October 11, 2021 at 2:00:00 PM Central European Summer Time
End:
Monday, October 11, 2021 at 3:00:00 PM Central European Summer Time
Location:
Indico page: