The goal of this collaborative research is to conduct the first end-to-end simulations of systematic errors in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments conducted with interferometers. A variety of cosmological processes have imprinted the CMB radiation with faint polarization signals, including Thomson scattering, gravitational lensing, and gravitational waves released during inflation. Measurements of these faint signals will determine key parts of the cosmological puzzle, among which are the energy scale of inflation and the masses of the neutrinos. Detecting these small signal levels is extremely challenging, and this program will help determine the best ways to accomplish such measurements.
The broader impacts of this program include training of undergraduate students in research, and public release of simulations which will be useful to future CMB experiments.
