The CMB in HD: The Low-noise High-resolution Frontier

The CMB still contains a wealth of information about the cosmology and fundamental physics of our Universe. Unlocking all the information likely necessitates opening up a new window of CMB observations over a significant portion of the sky (~10%) that is of much lower noise (0.1 uK-arcmin) and higher resolution (10 to 20 arcsec) than previous CMB surveys. Such ultra-deep, high-resolution CMB measurements could potentially provide a novel way to map small scale dark matter, allowing, for example, a new probe of dark matter’s particle properties. They would also open a new window on galaxy cluster physics through the thermal and kinetic SZ effects and high-z cluster detection, and on extragalactic mm/submm source populations. In addition, such observations would push the boundaries of our knowledge about the early Universe, dark energy, reionization, and galaxy evolution.

The aim of this workshop is to explore the science gain of and instrumental paths forward for such an ultra-deep, high-resolution CMB survey. We will bring together theorists exploring this frontier of CMB measurements as well as instrumentalists working to make high-resolution CMB surveys a reality, via, for example, the Green Bank Telescope (https://greenbankobservatory.org/) or AtLAST (http://atlast-telescope.org/). One goal of the workshop will be the drafting of one or more science white papers for the Astro2020 Decadal highlighting the new science gain from opening up this new regime of CMB observations.

If you are interested in attending please fill out the form linked here by November 9: https://goo.gl/forms/ErBbCl9pEeIlA0Gl2. We will accommodate as many as possible given space limitations.

For a detailed schedule of the workshop go here.

Organized by:
Gil Holder (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Joel Meyers (Southern Methodist University)
Tony Mroczkowski (European Southern Observatory)
Neelima Sehgal (CCA/Stony Brook University)