Simons Observatory:UK technology development and demonstration
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
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| Description | Simons Observatory |
| Organisation | Simons Observatory |
| Country | Chile |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Oxford team members are active in both the instrumentation and data analysis aspects of SO. They lead the detector readout development for the SO:UK instruments and contribute to the early data pipeline. Alonso is the co-leader for the B-modes Analysis Working group of SO and is in charge of delivering one of the key science cases for the collaboration : constraining the amplitude of primordial gravitational waves from the properties of large-scale CMB B-modes. The wider Oxford team contribute to the foregrounds, power spectrum, Sunyaev Zel'dovich working groups. Taylor is on the Steering committee for SO:UK, Jones is on the SO:UK Instrument Management team and Alonso is the SO:UK Project Scientist. |
| Collaborator Contribution | SO combines the resources and infrastructure of two existing CMB observatories: the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the Simons Array, both located in Chile. The collaboration combines the skills of around 100 experts from more than 40 institutions around the world covering areas from instrumentation to theoretical predictions. The construction of the Observatory is funded by the Simon and Heising-Simons foundations with contributions from the US lead institutions. Initial institutional-level collaboration with Oxford began in 2016 and was later consolidated with the start of this and follow-on UKRI grants when a UK-wide collaboration (SO:UK) officially became partners in the project. The UK partners contribute across the board from instrumentation through to data analysis and theoretical predictions. |
| Impact | SO will start commissioning in 2023, with the SO:UK telescopes currently scheduled to start commissioning in 2026 onwards. |
| Start Year | 2016 |