This project, supported under the Small Grant for Exploratory Research program, is intended to test a polarization modulation scheme, using a working prototype installed at the White Mountain Barcroft facility. This test is necessary, because of concerns about possible systematic biases and other shortcomings of the method. The future intent is a large deployment of arrays of telescopes to multiple sites in the northern and southern hemispheres to measure what are called B, or curl, modes in the polarization anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). It is important to develop and test multiple approaches to this important science, and this modest trial will steer future large efforts in CMB research.
The group has a strong record of involving students with experimental physics and observational astrophysics, to the benefit of all, and includes education and outreach to high schools and community colleges as an intrinsic part of their cosmological research.
