Arcminute Cosmology Bolometric Array Receiver

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

0091840 Holzapfel The proposed work will continue a study of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) with the ACBAR (Arcminute Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver) instrument, operating at South Pole station. Because of its stable atmosphere and extremely low water vapor, the South Pole is the best known terrestrial site from which to carry out this program of observations. The instrument itself is a sixteen element bolometer array, operating at 0.03 deg K, designed specifically for observations of CMB anisotropy and the SZE. It will operate in atmospheric windows spanning millimeter to submillimeter wavelengths; extending the spectral range over which observations of anisotropies are made is necessary to separate cosmic microwave background signals from foreground contamination. The combination of sensitive detectors, high angular resolution, and broad frequence coverage the instrument will advance cosmology research on several fronts. The project will determine cluster peculiar velocities (the motion of galaxy clusters with respect to the rest frame of the CMB), extend measurements of primordial CMB anisotropies to small angular scales, and serve as a natural complement to balloon and satellite missions at larger angular scales. ***