New Simons Observatory in Chile aims to map afterglow of the Big Bang
Scientists will also be able to track the motion of asteroids and monitor active black holes alongside various other scientific endeavors.
The Simons Observatory is set to map the cosmic microwave background (CMB) also often referred to as the afterglow of the Big Bang but this time with ten times the sensitivity of Europe’s Planck space probe.
Aiming to dive deeper into the early universe, cosmologists are readying themselves at the observatory placed at an altitude of 5,300 meters on Cerro Toco, in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert.
“It will be the best view of the CMB that we’ve ever had,” expressed Jo Dunkley, a cosmologist at Princeton University in New Jersey
Due to be completed in a few weeks
According to Nature, the observatory, costing an estimated $ 109.5 million, is due to be completed in a matter of weeks. Scientific programs are expected to commence a few months post-enhancement and testing.
The main goal is to locate fingerprints left in the CMP via gravitational waves originating from the Big Bang, providing the “first incontrovertible evidence for cosmic inflation.”
Furthermore, cosmologists are also striving to study various aspects of the early universe from the earliest known history of radiation through space to the formation of large-scale structures.
Nature says scientists will study how the primordial radiation was affected during the 13.8 billion years it spent traveling in space before it got to Earth.
Additionally, Nature explained that during cosmic inflation, tiny quantum fluctuations in the energy density of the inflation field unfold. These oscillations stretch across space during the universe’s expansion, acting as seeds for the formation of large-scale structures such as galaxies and galaxy clusters.
Enabling cosmologists to hunt for B-mode patterns
For the observations, the new facility has been equipped with a collection of four telescopes, including three 0.4-meter small aperture telescopes (SATs) and one six-meter Large Aperture Telescope (LAT).
The telescopes will track and document the variations in the temperature and polarization of the CMB across different portions of the sky.
The information gathered will potentially enable cosmologists to hunt for B-mode patterns that indicate cosmic inflation while also studying gravitational lensing effects.
Additionally, scientists will also be able to track the motion of asteroids and monitor active black holes alongside various other scientific endeavors.
The project was an initiative spearheaded by five US universities and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California.
To monitor ‘active black holes’
Now the team of cosmologists are hoping to map CMB to determine the impact neutrinos have on the universe’s mass density.
They hope this will help them evaluate the elusive mass of neutrinos which remains a mystery.
“It is a guaranteed signal,” stated Brian Keating, an astrophysicist at the University of California, San Diego, who is also the project’s principal investigator.
The LAT will also scan the sky continuously to follow the movement of asteroids in the Solar System and monitor ‘active black holes’ in the center of the galaxies along with tracking the shifts in ots output eventually.
“We’re going to be able to track 20,000 or more active galactic nuclei, which are, we think, supermassive black holes with jets,” Dunkley added.
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