JOINT
ASTROPHYSICS/JOINT PARTICLE SEMINAR
Date:
Tuesday, 17 February
2004
Time:
4:00 pm
Place:
1114 Nat. Sci. 1
Speaker:
Asantha Cooray, Caltech
Title:
"After WMAP: Next Generation CMB"
Abstract: The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy
Probe (WMAP) measured, primarily, fluctuations in the intensity, or
temperature, of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The interest is
now on the precise detection of CMB polarization and the measurement of
its anisotropy structure. A certain aspect of the polarization
distribution is expected to contain a signature of gravitational waves
that were generated at the earliest times of the universe during the
inflationary epoch. With a high recommendation from the National
Research Council, NASA now considers the detection of this primordial
gravity wave background, a smoking-gun signature of inflation, as one
of its highest priorities over the next decade. We will discuss
theoretical aspects of this signature, issues related to its detection,
and what we will learn about the universe with the Exploration Probe of
Inflationary Cosmology (EPIC) mission.
Host:
G. Chanan