Fundamental Physics with Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation University of California, Irvine, March 23rd to 25th, 2006.
The cosmological and astrophysical value of measuring the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy and polarization is well known. Many experiments - in progress, in preparation, and being planned - will image small-scale anisotropies in the CMB, deriving fundamental cosmological parameters. Future plans include ground-based, sub-orbital, and space-based, instruments, working towards detecting the B-mode polarization and thus studying inflation itself. This workshop will bring together about 100 CMB scientists, mixing equally experimenters, observers, and theorists, to discuss the entire program for the field. This meeting occurs at an especially important time, because of the release in the fall of 2005 of the report of the Task Force on CMB research, set up jointly by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
