SO:UK Phase A
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The Simons Observatory (SO, https://simonsobservatory.org/) is a new Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiment to be located on Cerro Toco in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. It is an international project, led by the US, and with significant participation already from the UK, Japan, Canada, Chile, France, Italy, Sweden, South Africa, Australia and Israel. The project is currently funded primarily in the US at the level of ~$93M by the Simons Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the primary US institutions. A collaboration of UK CMB scientists have proposed to STFC that it should fund a major UK role in the SO project (refereed to as "SO:UK"). This initial phase of the SO:UK project is aimed at producing a detailed project plan for the proposed UK contribution and on demonstrating some of the key technologies that have been proposed for the SO:UK instruments.
Planned Impact
We expect the technical development work to be conducted during SO:UK Phase A to lead to significant industrial and economic impact. In particular, the SO:UK project includes the development of ultra-low noise quantum detectors for astronomy, which will have considerable benefits for UK innovation and technology, both within the astronomy community and further afield (e.g. the space industry and industrial/security monitoring). Similarly, the readout solution that the project is considering makes use of advanced digital signal processing techniques that have potential crossover applications in the fields of advanced wireless communications and 5G mobile networks. We will work with QMC Instruments and University of Manchester Intellectual Property (UMIP, https://umip.com) to seek out such commercialisation opportunities arising from this research.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Michael Brown (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Abitbol M
(2021)
The Simons Observatory: gain, bandpass and polarization-angle calibration requirements for B-mode searches
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Hervías-Caimapo C
(2022)
Galactic Foreground Constraints on Primordial B-mode Detection for Ground-based Experiments
in The Astrophysical Journal
McCallum N
(2021)
Spin-based removal of instrumental systematics in 21 cm intensity mapping surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McCallum N
(2022)
Fast map-based simulations of systematics in CMB surveys including effects of the scanning strategy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McCallum N
(2021)
Spin characterization of systematics in CMB surveys - a comprehensive formalism
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Thomas D
(2020)
Controlling systematics in ground-based CMB surveys with partial boresight rotation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Thomas D
(2021)
Consequences of constant elevation scans for instrumental systematics in Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments
in The Open Journal of Astrophysics
Williams J
(2021)
Blind map level systematics cleaning: a quadratic estimator approach
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Wolz K.
(2023)
The Simons Observatory: pipeline comparison and validation for large-scale B-modes
in arXiv e-prints
| Description | SO:UK - A major UK contribution to Simons Observatory |
| Amount | £9,817,459 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/X006344/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2022 |
| End | 03/2030 |
| Description | Simons Observatory:UK technology development and demonstration |
| Amount | £274,403 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/X006336/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2022 |
| End | 09/2025 |
| Description | Simons Observatory |
| Organisation | Cardiff University |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We are developing novel KIDs detector and readout technology with the intention for it to be deployed as part of the Simons Observatory CMB experiment in Chile. A successful demonstration of this technology and securing of further funding for the full project will leverage a major UK role in this high-profile international cosmology experiment. |
| Collaborator Contribution | At Manchester, we have been developing the readout system for the KIDs detectors (which are being developed by collaborators in Cardiff). To implement the readout system we have exploited existing expertise with using Radio Frequency System On Chip (RFSoC) digital signal processing boards. A basic implementation is complete and the demonstration readout system will soon be tested in conjunction with prototype detectors at Cardiff University. |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Simons Observatory |
| Organisation | Simons Observatory |
| Country | Chile |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We are developing novel KIDs detector and readout technology with the intention for it to be deployed as part of the Simons Observatory CMB experiment in Chile. A successful demonstration of this technology and securing of further funding for the full project will leverage a major UK role in this high-profile international cosmology experiment. |
| Collaborator Contribution | At Manchester, we have been developing the readout system for the KIDs detectors (which are being developed by collaborators in Cardiff). To implement the readout system we have exploited existing expertise with using Radio Frequency System On Chip (RFSoC) digital signal processing boards. A basic implementation is complete and the demonstration readout system will soon be tested in conjunction with prototype detectors at Cardiff University. |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2020 |