BICEP2 Science

BICEP2 has detected the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at large angular scales. This polarization is consistent with that caused by gravitational waves predicted by Inflation.

BICEP2 Telescope

The papers, data, and figures can be viewed and downloaded here:

http://bicepkeck.org

For a more in-depth description of the BICEP2 instrument, please see this paper.

BICEP2 employs arrays of slot-dipole antennas coupled to low-temperature tranisiton edge sensor (TES) bolometers to detect the faint polarization signature of the cosmic microwave background. Shown here is the back side of the focal plane where the dipole arrays are visible.

BICEP2 is an on-axis refractor which is employs a combination of liquid Helium and a three-stage Helium sorption refrigerator to cool the detectors to 0.27 degrees above absolute zero.

The telescope was designed to be as compact as possible while still having the angular resolution to observe degree-scale features (where the inflationary B-mode signature peaks).

On-axis, refractive optics allow the entire telescope to rotate around the optical axis for polarization modulation.

BICEP2 Collaborators

UCSD is part of the BICEP2 collaboration which includes Harvard, Caltech, Minnesota, and Stanford, as well as many other institutions across Europe and Canada.

Our Collaborator's BICEP2 websites can be found here:

• http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/CMB/bicep2/
• http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~lgg/bicep2/bicep2_front.htm
• http://kipac.stanford.edu/kipac/projects/bicep2
• http://science.jpl.nasa.gov/projects/BICEP2KeckArray/

Collaborators

• Caltech Observational Cosmology
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Harvard CMB Group
• NIST Boulder
• Stanford KIPAC
• UBC Experimental Cosmology
• University of Chicago
• University of Minnesota
• Universiy of Toronto
• University of Cardiff

BICEP2 Papers

The papers, data, and figures can be viewed and downloaded here:

http://bicepkeck.org

BICEP2 Travelogue

Two of the most commonly asked questions are "how do you get to the South Pole?" and "what's it like?" (followed usually by "how cold is it?")

Graduate student Jonathan Kaufman kept a blog during several of his trips with answers to many of these questions:

In addition, a traveling adventurer who worked as a cook for a season kept a fantastic blog documenting the South Pole, as well as BICEP2.