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B.G. Keating (Caltech), C.W. O'Dell, P.T. Timbie (University of Wisconsin at Madison)
The polarization state of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) has not yet been detected. Theoretical calculations predict its magnitude at large angular scales is < 1\mu K-- an order of magnitude below the large scale anisotropy level of the CMB. Detection of, or an improved upper limit on, the polarization of the CMB at large scales holds great promise for measuring fundamental properties of the standard cosmological model, such as the ionization history of the Universe and the contribution of gravitational waves to the spectrum of primordial density fluctuations.
The POLAR (Polarization Observations of Large Angular Regions) project is a ground-based, centimeter-wavelength correlation polarimeter designed to measure the polarization of the CMB at 28, 31, & 33 GHz. The POLAR radiometer acquired data during the Spring of 2000 from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The design of the instrument as well as results will be described. The prospects for detection of the CMB polarization in the presence of polarized synchrotron radiation will be discussed.
If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://cmb.physics.wisc.edu/polar/. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: bgk@astro.caltech.edu