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Session 87 - Large Scale Structure.
Display session, Friday, January 09
Exhibit Hall,
The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) is a NASA Mid-Class Explorer (MIDEX) space mission approved to launch in 2000. MAP will observe the cosmic microwave background anisotropy over the full sky at 0.21 degree angular resolution. Detailed measurements of the anisotropy to this angular scale will provide a wealth of information about the physics of the early universe, beyond that already probed by the COBE mission. Within the framework of inflationary dark matter models, the MAP observations will reveal the signatures of acoustic oscillations of the photon-baryon fluid at recombination. The validity of this class of models will be tested and, if agreement is found, accurate values for all of the key cosmological parameters will result. If disagreement is found, we will need to rethink our basic ideas about the physics of the early universe.
Systematic measurement errors typically limit the results from cosmic microwave background experiments, so the suppression, control, and knowledge of systematic measurement errors has driven the design of MAP. This includes its differential design, sky scan pattern, and orbit at L2. The MAP hardware is produced by the Goddard Space Flight Center in partnership with Princeton University. Additional science team members are at Brown U., NRAO, the U. of British Columbia, U. of Chicago, and UCLA.
