SO:UK - A major UK contribution to Simons Observatory
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
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Publications
Azzoni S
(2023)
A hybrid map-C l component separation method for primordial CMB B-mode searches
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Cowell J
(2024)
Optimizing marked power spectra for cosmology
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dachlythra N
(2024)
The Simons Observatory: Beam Characterization for the Small Aperture Telescopes
in The Astrophysical Journal
Giardiello S
(2024)
The Simons Observatory: impact of bandpass, polarization angle and calibration uncertainties on small-scale power spectrum analysis
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Hadzhiyska B
(2023)
Cosmology with 6 parameters in the Stage-IV era: efficient marginalisation over nuisance parameters
in The Open Journal of Astrophysics
Harscouet L
(2025)
Fast Projected Bispectra: the filter-square approach
in The Open Journal of Astrophysics
Hertig E
(2024)
The Simons Observatory: Combining cross-spectral foreground cleaning with multitracer B -mode delensing for improved constraints on inflation
in Physical Review D
Li Z
(2023)
The Simons Observatory: a new open-source power spectrum pipeline applied to the Planck legacy data
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Wolz K
(2024)
The Simons Observatory: Pipeline comparison and validation for large-scale B -modes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Wolz K
(2025)
Catalog-based pseudo-C l s
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
| Title | Efficient power spectrum estimation |
| Description | NaMaster is a C library, Python module and standalone program to compute full-sky angular cross-power spectra of masked fields with arbitrary spin and an arbitrary number of known contaminants using a pseudo-Cl (aka MASTER) approach. The code also implements E/B-mode purification and is available in both full-sky and flat-sky modes. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The software is used by the wider community (both large collaborations and individual groups) for a broad range of analyses in cosmology, and has been implemented in the pipelines of the international experiments I am a member of. |
| URL | https://github.com/LSSTDESC/NaMaster |
| 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 |
| Description | Simons Observatory - SO |
| Organisation | Simons Observatory |
| Country | Chile |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I am co-leader for the B-modes Analysis Working Group of SO. As such, I am 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. I also contribute to the foregrounds, power spectrum and Sunyaev Zel'dovich working groups. Besides my scientific roles, I am also a member of the Theory and Analysis Committee, overseeing the scientific exploitation plan of SO. I have also served in the SO Publication Panel. In 2019 I secured institutional membership of SO for the University of Oxford, such that current and future postdocs and students in my group can join the collaboration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | SO combines the resources and infrastructure of two existing CMB observatories: the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (which I am also a member of) and the Simons Array, both located in Chile. The collaboration combines the skills of about 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 Simons and Heising-Simons foundations and with contribution from the US lead institutions.In 2019 I secured institutional membership of SO for the University of Oxford, such that current and future postdocs and students in my group can join the collaboration. |
| Impact | SO will start taking data in 2023, and will then provide ground-breaking advances in cosmology, with primordial gravitational waves from B-modes being one of the main science drivers. Since joining the collaboration, I have co-authored more than 10 publications associated to SO. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Simons Observatory - SO |
| Organisation | Simons Observatory |
| Country | Chile |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I am co-leader for the B-modes Analysis Working Group of SO. As such, I am 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. I also contribute to the foregrounds, power spectrum and Sunyaev Zel'dovich working groups. Besides my scientific roles, I am also a member of the Theory and Analysis Committee, overseeing the scientific exploitation plan of SO. I have also served in the SO Publication Panel. In 2019 I secured institutional membership of SO for the University of Oxford, such that current and future postdocs and students in my group can join the collaboration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | SO combines the resources and infrastructure of two existing CMB observatories: the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (which I am also a member of) and the Simons Array, both located in Chile. The collaboration combines the skills of about 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 Simons and Heising-Simons foundations and with contribution from the US lead institutions.In 2019 I secured institutional membership of SO for the University of Oxford, such that current and future postdocs and students in my group can join the collaboration. |
| Impact | SO will start taking data in 2023, and will then provide ground-breaking advances in cosmology, with primordial gravitational waves from B-modes being one of the main science drivers. Since joining the collaboration, I have co-authored more than 10 publications associated to SO. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Simons Observatory BB Hackathon |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Specialised workshop to develop the analysis pipelines for primordial B-modes in the Simons Observatory. Organised by my group at Oxford, attended by international members of the Simons Observatory Collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| Description | Talk at International conferences: Kyoto, DIPC, Dutch Theoretical Cosmology meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited speaker at international conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| Description | What is the age of the Universe? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public outreach activity involving high-school student, showing how to calculate the current expansion rate from galaxy data and what the associated age of the Universe is. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |