AAO Colloquium.

Thursday, 28th October 2004 - 3:30 AAO Conference Room

Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background: New Results from the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI)

Steven T. Myers

NRAO, USA

Abstract: Measurement of the angular power spectrum of polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation is one of the key tests of the "standard cosmological model". I will describe the recently announced new results from the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) project, which is a 13-element interferometer dedicated to CMB observations located at a high-altitude site in the Chilean Andes. The CBI has measured the power spectrum of the predominant "E-mode" polarization, and found its amplitude and shape to be consistent with the predictions of the standard models in concordance with other observations (such as the previous results of WMAP, CBI, and ACBAR). For example, the signature peaks due to acoustic resonances driven by the primordial density and velocity fields at last scattering are seen to be one-half cycle out of phase with those seen in the CMB temperature power spectrum, in accordance with prediction. I will put these new results in context with other recently reported results from DASI and CAPMAP, and give prospects for future CMB polarization observations.