SPIDER results and future observations of the cosmic microwave background

by Jon Gudmundsson (Stockholm University)

Tuesday 30 Mar 2021, 13:15 → 14:15 Europe/Stockholm

Fysikum equipment

Zoom: https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/62320153507

SPIDER is a balloon-borne experiment designed to image the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with the aim of constraining models of the early universe, including models within the inflationary paradigm. In a recent paper from the SPIDER Collaboration, we use data from the 1st flight of the experiment to limit the amplitude of primordial B-modes, or equivalently primordial gravitational waves, through the so-called tensor-to-scalar ratio, r. With a likelihood that jointly samples Galactic foreground template amplitudes and the r parameter space, we derive a 95% upper limit of r < 0.11 and r < 0.19 for a Feldman-Cousins and Bayesian construction, respectively. I will give an overview of the SPIDER experiment and the results presented in this paper and accompany that with a discussion of the key science goals as well as some specific challenges facing the flagship CMB experiments of this decade.