학술논문

The Simons Observatory: Astro2020 Decadal Project Whitepaper
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article
Author
Collaboration, The Simons ObservatoryAbitbol, Maximilian HAdachi, ShunsukeAde, PeterAguirre, JamesAhmed, ZeeshanAiola, SimoneAli, AamirAlonso, DavidAlvarez, Marcelo AArnold, KamAshton, PeterAtkins, ZacharyAustermann, JasonAwan, HumnaBaccigalupi, CarloBaildon, TaylorLizancos, Anton BaleatoBarron, DarcyBattaglia, NickBattye, RichardBaxter, EricBazarko, AndrewBeall, James ABean, RachelBeck, DominicBeckman, ShawnBeringue, BenjaminBhandarkar, TanayBhimani, SanahBianchini, FedericoBoada, StevenBoettger, DavidBolliet, BorisBond, J RichardBorrill, JulianBrown, Michael LBruno, Sarah MarieBryan, SeanCalabrese, ErminiaCalafut, VictoriaCalisse, PaoloCarron, JulienCarl, Fred MCayuso, JuanChallinor, AnthonyChesmore, GraceChinone, YujiChluba, JensCho, Hsiao-Mei SherryChoi, SteveClark, SusanClarke, PhilipContaldi, CarloCoppi, GabrieleCothard, Nicholas FCoughlin, KevinCoulton, WillCrichton, DevinCrowley, Kevin DCrowley, Kevin TCukierman, AriD'Ewart, John MDünner, RolandoHaan, Tijmen deDevlin, MarkDicker, SimonDober, BradleyDuell, Cody JDuff, ShannonDuivenvoorden, AdriDunkley, JoBouhargani, Hamza ElErrard, JosquinFabbian, GiulioFeeney, StephenFergusson, JamesFerraro, SimoneFluxà, PedroFreese, KatherineFrisch, Josef CFrolov, AndreiFuller, GeorgeGalitzki, NicholasGallardo, Patricio AGhersi, Jose Tomas GalvezGao, JiansongGawiser, EricGerbino, MartinaGluscevic, VeraGoeckner-Wald, NeilGolec, JosephGordon, SamGralla, MeganGreen, DanielGrigorian, ArpiGroh, JohnGroppi, ChrisGuan, YilunGudmundsson, Jon E
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Subject
astro-ph.IM
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Abstract
The Simons Observatory (SO) is a ground-based cosmic microwave background(CMB) experiment sited on Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert in Chile thatpromises to provide breakthrough discoveries in fundamental physics, cosmology,and astrophysics. Supported by the Simons Foundation, the Heising-SimonsFoundation, and with contributions from collaborating institutions, SO will seefirst light in 2021 and start a five year survey in 2022. SO has 287collaborators from 12 countries and 53 institutions, including 85 students and90 postdocs. The SO experiment in its currently funded form ('SO-Nominal') consists ofthree 0.4 m Small Aperture Telescopes (SATs) and one 6 m Large ApertureTelescope (LAT). Optimized for minimizing systematic errors in polarizationmeasurements at large angular scales, the SATs will perform a deep,degree-scale survey of 10% of the sky to search for the signature of primordialgravitational waves. The LAT will survey 40% of the sky with arc-minuteresolution. These observations will measure (or limit) the sum of neutrinomasses, search for light relics, measure the early behavior of Dark Energy, andrefine our understanding of the intergalactic medium, clusters and the role offeedback in galaxy formation. With up to ten times the sensitivity and five times the angular resolution ofthe Planck satellite, and roughly an order of magnitude increase in mappingspeed over currently operating ("Stage 3") experiments, SO will measure the CMBtemperature and polarization fluctuations to exquisite precision in sixfrequency bands from 27 to 280 GHz. SO will rapidly advance CMB science whileinforming the design of future observatories such as CMB-S4.