Professors Lyman Page, Suzanne Staggs, and David Wilkinson will measure minute variations in the temperature and polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB). The CMB is now widely accepted as the remnant radiation from the fiery big bang. It is the oldest light in the universe and may be thought of as a fossil of the cosmic conditions that gave rise to such objects as galaxies. The CMB has cooled with the expansion of the universe so that it now emits predominantly in the microwave region of the spectrum. The research focuses on two open questions: to what degree is the CMB polarized and how does the intensity of the radiation vary from position to position on the sky on angular scales of order a tenth the size of the moon. Both questions are pursued through the development of new instrumentation coupled with new observational and data analysis techniques.
Cosmology is in the midst of a revolution. Through new technologies and techniques, coupled with theoretical advances, the physics of the universe is being comprehended in ways only dreamt of a decade ago. The CMB, already having played a central role in the current understanding, is the premiere tool for making the next advances. Measurements of the polarization and fine scale angular distribution of the CMB directly address the following questions: what were the sources of dynamism in the universe just 300,000 years after the big bang? what are the properties of the new form energy, the recently discovered "cosmological constant"? how exactly did the first cosmic structures form? and how much of the universe is made of the material of which we are made?
