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SUMMARY:CMB B-modes: observations\, systematics and novel non-Gaussianity 
 - Adri Duivenvoorden
DTSTART:20181022T120000Z
DTEND:20181022T130000Z
UID:TALK111946@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Tobias Baldauf
DESCRIPTION:One of the main goals of modern observational cosmology is to 
 constrain or detect a stochastic background of primordial gravitational wa
 ves. Realising this goal will rely on highly accurate measurements of the 
 B-mode signature in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In this talk I 
 will give an overview of the associated experimental challenges and in par
 ticular demonstrate how B-mode inference is biased by poorly understood op
 tical properties. I will discuss methods to model these optical systematic
 s efficiently. I will then concentrate on a particular dedicated B-mode ex
 periment: the balloon-borne SPIDER polarimeter. I will present preliminary
  results from the first flight and prospects for the second flight. Finall
 y I will explain how\, in principle\, upcoming B-mode data will allow us t
 o probe relatively unexplored assumptions about the early universe. I will
  show how to adapt existing bispectrum estimators to extract this informat
 ion from B-mode data.
LOCATION:CMS\, Pav. B\, CTC Common Room (B1.19) [Potter Room]
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