Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect

The Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect (often abbreviated as the SZ effect) is the result of high energy electrons distorting the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) through inverse Compton scattering, in which the low energy CMB photons receive an average energy boost during collision with the high energy cluster electrons. Observed distortions of the cosmic microwave background spectrum are used to detect the density perturbations of the universe. Using the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect, dense clusters of galaxies have been observed.

Contents

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Timeline of observations
• 3 See also
• 4 References
• 5 Further reading
• 6 External links

Introduction

The Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect can be divided into:

• thermal effects, where the CMB photons interact with electrons that have high energies due to their temperature
• kinematic effects, a second-order effect where the CMB photons interact with electrons that have high energies due to their bulk motion (also called the Ostriker–Vishniac effect, after Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Ethan Vishniac.^[1])
• polarization

Rashid Sunyaev and Yakov Zel'dovich predicted the effect, and conducted research in 1969, 1972, and 1980. The Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect is of major astrophysical and cosmological interest. It can help determine the value of the Hubble constant. To distinguish the SZ effect due to galaxy clusters from ordinary density perturbations, both the spectral dependence and the spatial dependence of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background are used. Analysis of CMB data at higher angular resolution (high l values) requires taking into account the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect.

First detected by Mark Birkinshaw at the University of Bristol

Current research is focused on modelling how the effect is generated by the intracluster plasma in galaxy clusters, and on using the effect to estimate the Hubble constant and to separate different components in the angular average statistics of fluctuations in the background. Hydrodynamic structure formation simulations are being studied to gain data on thermal and kinetic effects in the theory.^[2] Observations are difficult due to the small amplitude of the effect and to confusion with experimental error and other sources of CMB temperature fluctuations. However, since the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect is a scattering effect, its magnitude is independent of redshift. This is very important: it means that clusters at high redshift can be detected just as easily as those at low redshift. Another factor which facilitates high-redshift cluster detection is the angular scale versus redshift relation: it changes little between redshifts of 0.3 and 2, meaning that clusters between these redshifts have similar sizes on the sky. The use of surveys of clusters detected by their Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect for the determination of cosmological parameters has been demonstrated by Barbosa et al. (1996). This might help in understanding the dynamics of dark energy in forthcoming surveys (SPT, ACT, Planck).

 

Timeline of observations

• 1983 – Researchers from the Cambridge Radio Astronomy Group and the Owens Valley Radio Observatory first detect the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect from clusters of galaxies.
• 1993 – The Ryle Telescope is the first telescope to image a cluster of galaxies in the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect.
• 2003 – The WMAP spacecraft maps the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) over the whole sky with some (limited) sensitivity to the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect
• 2005 – The Atacama Pathfinder Experiment – Sunyaev-Zel'dovich camera saw first light and shortly after began pointed observations of galaxy clusters.
• 2005 – The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager and the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich Array each begin surveys for very high redshift clusters of galaxies using the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect
• 2007 – The South Pole Telescope (SPT) saw first light on 16 February 2007, and began science observations in March of that same year.
• 2007 – The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) saw first light on 8 June, and will soon begin an SZ survey of galaxy clusters.
• 2008 – The South Pole Telescope (SPT) discover for the first time galaxy clusters via the SZ effect.
• 2009 – The Planck spacecraft, launched on 14 May 2009, to realize a full sky SZ survey of galaxy clusters.
• 2012 – The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) performs the first statistical detection of the kinematic SZ effect.^[3]
• 2012 – The first detection of the kinematic SZ effect in an object is observed in MACS J0717.5+3745,^[4] confirmed in 2013.^[5]

 

See also

• Background radiation
• Compton effect
• Cosmic microwave background radiation
• Rashid Sunyaev
• Yakov Zel'dovich
• Yoel Rephaeli

 

References

Ostriker, Jeremiah P. & Vishniac, Ethan T. (1986). "Effect of gravitational lenses on the microwave background, and 1146+111B,C". Nature 322 (6082): 804. Bibcode:1986Natur.322..804O. doi:10.1038/322804a0.

Cunnama D., Faltenbacher F.; Passmoor S., Cress C.; Cress, C.; Passmoor, S. (2009). "The velocity-shape alignment of clusters and the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect". MNRAS Letters 397 (1): L41–L45. arXiv:0904.4765. Bibcode:2009MNRAS.397L..41C. doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2009.00680.x.

Hand, Nick; Addison, Graeme E.; Aubourg, Eric; Battaglia, Nick; Battistelli, Elia S.; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Bond, J. Richard; Brewington, Howard; Brinkmann, Jon; Brown, Benjamin R.; Das, Sudeep; Dawson, Kyle S.; Devlin, Mark J.; Dunkley, Joanna; Dunner, Rolando; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Fowler, Joseph W.; Gralla, Megan B.; Hajian, Amir; Halpern, Mark; Hilton, Matt; Hincks, Adam D.; Hlozek, Renée; Hughes, John P.; Infante, Leopoldo; Irwin, Kent D.; Kosowsky, Arthur; Lin, Yen-Ting; Malanushenko, Elena; et al. (2012). "Detection of Galaxy Cluster Motions with the Kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect". Physical Review Letters 109 (4): 041101. arXiv:1203.4219. Bibcode:2012PhRvL.109d1101H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.041101. PMID 23006072.

Mroczkowski, Tony; Dicker, Simon; Sayers, Jack; Reese, Erik D.; Mason, Brian; Czakon, Nicole; Romero, Charles; Young, Alexander; Devlin, Mark; Golwala, Sunil; Korngut, Phillip; Sarazin, Craig; Bock, James; Koch, Patrick M.; Lin, Kai-Yang; Molnar, Sandor M.; Pierpaoli, Elena; Umetsu, Keiichi; Zemcov, Michael (2012). "A Multi-wavelength Study of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect in the Triple-merger Cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 with MUSTANG and Bolocam". Astrophysical Journal 761: 47. arXiv:1205.0052. Bibcode:2012ApJ...761...47M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/761/1/47 (inactive 2015-01-09).

Sayers, Jack; Mroczkowski, T.; Zemcov, M.; Korngut, P. M.; Bock, J.; Bulbul, E.; Czakon, N. G.; Egami, E.; Golwala, S. R.; Koch, P. M.; Lin, K.-Y.; Mantz, A.; Molnar, S. M.; Moustakas, L.; Pierpaoli, E.; Rawle, T. D.; Reese, E. D.; Rex, M.; Shitanishi, J. A.; Siegel, S.; Umetsu, K. (2013). "A Measurement of the Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Signal Toward MACS J0717.5+3745". Astrophysical Journal 778: 52. arXiv:1312.3680. Bibcode:2013ApJ...778...52S. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/778/1/52.

Further reading

• Rephaeli, Y. (1995). "Comptonization Of The Cosmic Microwave Background: The Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 33 (1): 541–580. Bibcode:1995ARA&A..33..541R. doi:10.1146/annurev.aa.33.090195.002545.
• Barbosa, D.; Bartlett, J. G.; Blanchard, A.; Oukbir, J. (1996). "The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and the value of Ω₀". Astronomy and Astrophysics 314: 14. arXiv:astro-ph/9511084. Bibcode:1996A&A...314...13B.
• Birkinshaw, M.; Gull, S. F.; Hardebeck, H. (1984). "The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect towards three clusters of galaxies". Nature 309 (5963): 34–35. Bibcode:1984Natur.309...34B. doi:10.1038/309034a0.
• Birkinshaw, Mark (1999). "The Sunyaev Zel'dovich Effect". Physics Reports 310 (2–3): 97–195. arXiv:astro-ph/9808050. Bibcode:1999PhR...310...97B. doi:10.1016/S0370-1573(98)00080-5.
• Cen, Renyue; Jeremiah P. Ostriker (1994). "A hydrodynamic approach to cosmology: the mixed dark matter cosmological scenario". The Astrophysical Journal 431: 1. arXiv:astro-ph/9404011. Bibcode:1994ApJ...431..451C. doi:10.1086/174499.
• Hu, Jian; Yu-Qing Lou (2004). "Magnetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in galaxy clusters". ApJL 606: L1–L4. arXiv:astro-ph/0402669. Bibcode:2004ApJ...606L...1H. doi:10.1086/420896.
• Ma, Chung-Pei; J. N. Fry (27 May 2002). "Nonlinear Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect". PRL 88 (21): 211301. arXiv:astro-ph/0106342. Bibcode:2002PhRvL..88u1301M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.211301.
• Myers, A. D.; Shanks, T.; et al. (2004). "Evidence for an Extended SZ Effect in WMAP Data". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 347 (4): L67–L72. arXiv:astro-ph/0306180. Bibcode:2004MNRAS.347L..67M. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07449.x.
• Springel, Volker; White, Martin; Hernquist, Lars (2001). "Hydrodynamic Simulations of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect(s)". ApJ 549 (2): 681–687. arXiv:astro-ph/0008133. Bibcode:2001ApJ...549..681S. doi:10.1086/319473.
• Sunyaev, R. A.; Ya. B. Zel'dovich (1970). "Small-Scale Fluctuations of Relic Radiation". Astrophysics and Space Science 7: 3. Bibcode:1970Ap&SS...7....3S. doi:10.1007/BF00653471 (inactive 2015-01-09).
• Sunyaev, R. A.; Ia. B Zel'dovich (1980). "Microwave background radiation as a probe of the contemporary structure and history of the universe". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 18 (1): 537–560. Bibcode:1980ARA&A..18..537S. doi:10.1146/annurev.aa.18.090180.002541.
• Diego, J. M.; Martinez, E.; Sanz, J. L.; Benitez, N.; Silk, J. (2002). "The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect as a cosmological discriminator". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 331 (3): 556–568. arXiv:astro-ph/0103512. Bibcode:2002MNRAS.331..556D. doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05039.x.
• Royal Astronomical Society, Corrupted echoes from the Big Bang? RAS Press Notice PN 04/01

External links

• Corrupted echoes from the Big Bang? innovations-report.com.
• Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect on arxiv.org

BICEP 3

See: Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation - Sixty Symbols

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See: BICEP: Robinson Gravitational Wave Background Telescope

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See Also:

• Science

Proofing BICEP2

Inflation—the hypothesis that the Universe underwent a phase of superluminal expansion in a brief period following the big bang—has the potential of explaining, from first principles, why the Universe has the structure we see today. It could also solve outstanding puzzles of standard big-bang cosmology, such as why the Universe is, to a very good approximation, flat and isotropic (i.e., it looks the same in all directions). Yet we do not yet have a compelling model, based on fundamental particle physics principles, that explains inflation. And despite its explanatory power and a great deal of suggestive evidence, we still lack an unambiguous and direct probe of inflation. Theorists have developed different models for inflation, which all share a common, robust prediction: Inflation would have created a background of gravitational waves that could have an observable effect. These waves would cause subtle, characteristic distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB)—the oldest light in the Universe, released when photons decoupled from matter and the Universe became transparent to radiation. Viewpoint: Peering Back to the Beginning of Time

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First Direct Evidence of Cosmic Inflation

Almost 14 billion years ago, the universe we inhabit burst into existence in an extraordinary event that initiated the Big Bang. In the first fleeting fraction of a second, the universe expanded exponentially, stretching far beyond the view of our best telescopes. All this, of course, was just theory.

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 LSC Congratulates BICEP2 Colleagues

 

18 March 2014 - The BICEP2 Collaboration result, if confirmed, is a landmark discovery in cosmology, allowing us for the first time to peer back almost to the moment of the Big Bang through the observation of the imprint of primordial gravitational waves on the cosmic microwave background. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration congratulates our BICEP colleagues on their accomplishment and will further follow discoveries and implications of these observations with great interest. - See more at: http://www.ligo.org/news/bicep-result.php#sthash.mJlemItG.dpuf

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See Also:

• The Inverse Problem. Sorry, we don’t have experimental evidence for quantum gravity.
• Detection of B-Mode Polarization at Degree Angular Scales by BICEP2
• BICEP2′s Cosmic Polarization: Published, Reduced in Strength(Lawrence M. Krauss,) 
  Published June 19, 2014  |  Physics 7, 64 (2014)  |  DOI: 10.1103/Physics.7.64

Ripples From The Big Bang

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See Also:

• Quantum Mechanics Smackdown
• The BICEP2 Dust-Up Continues

Multiverse or Universe? - Andre Linde (SETI Talks)

Published on Jan 1, 2013

SETI Talks archive: http://seti.org/talks

Cosmological observations show that the universe is very uniform on the maximally large scale accessible to our telescopes, and the same laws of physics operate in all of its parts that we can see now. The best theoretical explanation of the uniformity of our world was provided by inflationary theory, which was proposed 30 years ago.

See:  Multiverse or Universe? - Andre Linde (SETI Talks)

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See Also:

• Andrei Linde: universe or multiverse?
• Multiverse: One Universe or Many 

The Map of B Mode Imprints

Figure 3: Left: BICEP2 apodized E-mode and B-mode maps filtered to 50 < ℓ < 120. Right: The equivalent maps for the first of the lensed-ΛCDM+noise simulations. The color scale displays the E-mode scalar and B-mode pseudoscalar patterns while the lines display the equivalent magnitude and orientation of the linear polarization. Note that excess B-mode is detected over lensing+noise with high signal-to-noise ratio in the map (s/n > 2 per map mode at ℓ ≈ 70). (Also note that the E-mode and B-mode maps use different color/length scales.)

BICEP2 2014 Release Figures from Papers

 You know the distinctions on how one might see information as purported to exist as gravitational waves  of course held my perspective. Like others,  is this a way in which BICEP has illustrated something of the every nature of space-time, as to my thoughts then, when it really was only about seeing a footprint in the WMAP.

Gravitational waves open up a new window on the universe that will allow us to probe events for which no electromagnetic signature exists. In the next few years, the ground-based interferometers GEO-600, LIGO, VIRGO and TAMA should be able to detect the high-frequency gravitational waves produced by extreme astrophysical objects, providing the first direct detection of these disturbances in space–time. With its much longer arm lengths, the space-based interferometer LISA will, if launched, be able to detect lower-frequency gravitational waves, possibly those generated by phase transitions in the early universe. At even lower frequencies, other experiments will look for tiny signatures of gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background. Source: NASA.

Gravity Wave Spectrum

So it is a footprint then and I might show some of those maps and ask what do these footprints show in the early universe as to say, that given the inflationary timeline what can be garnered about looking back so far as to suggest 13.8 billion years and have such an imprint hold relevance, and equal the very nature of space-time itself.

Figure 18: Results of far-field beam characterization with a chopped thermal source. Left: Typical measured far-field beam on a linear scale. Middle: The Gaussian fit to the measured beam pattern. Right: The fractional residual after subtracting the Gaussian fit. Note finer color scale in the right-hand differenced map.

BICEP2 2014 Release Figures from Papers

The nature of the question for me is a "sensor mode developmental model" that chooses to exemplify gravitational waves over another and I had to make this clear for myself. So you can see where this has lead me. To where I want to further understand. If you choose not to show a comment then I guess that is where I lose.

 
Weber developed an experiment using a large suspended bar of aluminum, with a high resonant Q at a frequency of about 1 kH; the oscillation of the bar after it had been excited could be measured by a series of piezoelectric crystals mounted on it. The output of the system was put on a chart recorder like those used to record earthquakes. Weber studied the excursions of the pen to look for the occasional tone of a gravitational wave passing through the bar...

See:Weber Bars Ring True?

The analogy rests with how the nature of gravitational waves had been sounded so as to show a connection to the WMAP as a footprint. So you have this 2 dimensional map surface as to exemplary how gravitational waves may appear on it, yet,  the visual extent of that correlation is representative to me of a defined configuration space. You need your physics in order to establish any correlation to the timeline of the inflationary model and to see that such a map reveals efforts to penetrate the Planck era. To suggest quantum gravity.

At least two detectors located at widely separated sites are essential for the unequivocal detection of gravitational waves. Local phenomena such as micro-earthquakes, acoustic noise, and laser fluctuations can cause a disturbance at one site, simulating a gravitational wave event, but such disturbances are unlikely to happen simultaneously at widely separated sites. 

Correlating Gravitational Wave Production in LIGO

See Also:

• The LIGO and Virgo Gravitational-Wave Detectors 
• Observational Gravitational-Wave Astronomy.
• Gravity is Talking, LISA will Listen

So indeed to have such a map is very telling to me not just of the imprint but also of the sensory mode we had chosen to illustrate that map of the B mode representation as a valid model description of that early universe.

The Reference Frame: BICEP is good news for string gas cosmology

The Reference Frame: BICEP is good news for string gas cosmology: Guest post by Robert Brandenberger of McGill University The indirect discovery of primordial gravitational waves on cosmological scales vi...

The Reference Frame: Axion monodromy inflation

The Reference Frame: Axion monodromy inflation: Guest post by Prof Eva Silverstein, string theorist and cosmologist at Stanford & SLAC Let us assume that the BICEP2 result is confirm...

First Direct Evidence of Cosmic Inflation- Harvard University Special Colloquium March 25 2014

Are Artifacts of CMB Right Next to Me?

 Looking back seems strange to me and that if one is to take such a position then evidence must exist in this very moment?

Models of Earlier Events

This may seem like a stupid question to some, but for me it is really about looking at where I exist in the universe and what exists right next to us in the same space. I am not sure if that makes any sense but hopefully somebody out there can help me focus better.

ESA and the Planck Collaboration

The mission's main goal is to study the cosmic microwave background – the relic radiation left over from the Big Bang – across the whole sky at greater sensitivity and resolution than ever before.

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the furthest back in time we can explore using light.

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is detected in all directions of the sky and appears to microwave telescopes as an almost uniform background. Planck’s predecessors (NASA's COBE and WMAP missions) measured the temperature of the CMB to be 2.726 Kelvin (approximately -270 degrees Celsius) almost everywhere on the sky. 

So with parsing some of these points from the link associated above with picture, I am not sure if my question has been properly asked.

 A discussion about the definition of nothing.

For me then too, I would always wonder about "what nothing is" as that to relates to the question about what can exist right next to me. It was meant to be logical and not metaphysical question, so as to be reduced to those first moments.

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If BICEP2′s recent result is correct:

” -as big as a large fraction of a percent of the Planck temperature (where the universe would have been hot enough to make black holes just from its own heat) or

– as small as the temperature corresponding to about the energy of the Large Hadron Collider (where it would barely have been hot enough to make Higgs particles)”

History of the Universe- 
“not of the whole universe but rather just the part of the universe (called, on this website, “the observable patch of the universe“) that we can observe today,”

Why is this “observable patch” important and where in the CMB map is this located? As strange a question as this might be, can this “observable patch” be right next to us?

So I am constructing a method here to help us see the universe as if I am on a location within this CMB map.

"The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is detected in all directions of the sky and appears to microwave telescopes as an almost uniform background. " -See: ESA and Planck Collaboration

So of course you look at the map,  and for me,  I wonder where we are located on that map. So with regard to that particular patch what does the background look like?-

"The contents point to a Euclidean flat geometry, with curvature (\Omega_{k}) of −0.0027+0.0039 −0.0038. The WMAP measurements also support the cosmic inflation paradigm in several ways, including the flatness measurement."- WMAP

So such a illustration and my question about our location and where we are in that "all sky map(CoBE, WMAP, and PLanck)" tells us something about the region we are in? Right next to us,  in this map while seeking our placement, I am curious as to what this region looks like in relation to say another point on that map.

Cosmological parameters from 2013 Planck results^[23][24][25]

Parameter	Age of the universe (Gy)	Hubble's constant ( km⁄Mpc·s )	Physical baryon density	Physical cold dark matter density	Dark energy density	Density fluctuations at 8h−1 Mpc	Scalar spectral index	Reionization optical depth
Symbol
Planck Best fit	13.819	67.11	0.022068	0.12029	0.6825	0.8344	0.9624	0.0925
Planck 68% limits	13.813±0.058	67.4±1.4	0.02207±0.00033	0.1196±0.0031	0.686±0.020	0.834±0.027	0.9616±0.0094	0.097±0.038
Planck+lensing Best fit	13.784	68.14	0.022242	0.11805	0.6964	0.8285	0.9675	0.0949
Planck+lensing 68% limits	13.796±0.058	67.9±1.5	0.02217±0.00033	0.1186±0.0031	0.693±0.019	0.823±0.018	0.9635±0.0094	0.089±0.032
Planck+WP Best fit	13.8242	67.04	0.022032	0.12038	0.6817	0.8347	0.9619	0.0925
Planck+WP 68% limits	13.817±0.048	67.3±1.2	0.02205±0.00028	0.1199±0.0027	0.685+0.018 −0.016	0.829±0.012	0.9603±0.0073	0.089+0.012 −0.014
Planck+WP +HighL Best fit	13.8170	67.15	0.022069	0.12025	0.6830	0.8322	0.9582	0.0927
Planck+WP +HighL 68% limits	13.813±0.047	67.3±1.2	0.02207±0.00027	0.1198±0.0026	0.685+0.017 −0.016	0.828±0.012	0.9585±0.0070	0.091+0.013 −0.014
Planck+lensing +WP+highL Best fit	13.7914	67.94	0.022199	0.11847	0.6939	0.8271	0.9624	0.0943
Planck+lensing +WP+highL 68% limits	13.794±0.044	67.9±1.0	0.02218±0.00026	0.1186±0.0022	0.693±0.013	0.8233±0.0097	0.9614±0.0063	0.090+0.013 −0.014
Planck+WP +highL+BAO Best fit	13.7965	67.77	0.022161	0.11889	0.6914	0.8288	0.9611	0.0952
Planck+WP +highL+BAO 68% limits	13.798±0.037	67.80±0.77	0.02214±0.00024	0.1187±0.0017	0.692±0.010	0.826±0.012	0.9608±0.0054	0.092±0.013

So as we look at this map much is told to us about the Cosmological Parameters and what can be defined in this location we occupy.

Parameter	Value	Description
Ωtot		Total density
w		Equation of state of dark energy
r	, k0 = 0.002Mpc−1 (2σ)	Tensor-to-scalar ratio
d ns / d ln k	, k0 = 0.002Mpc−1	Running of the spectral index
Ωvh2		Physical neutrino density
Σmν	eV (2σ)	Sum of three neutrino masses

See:

• WMAP Parameters Summary
• WMAP Cosmological Parameters Model/Data Set Matrix

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See Also:

• All-sky map 
• Probing the early and present Universe with Planck
• Lawrence Krauss - Debate in Stockholm, 2013
• Inflation on the back of an envelope
• "Does nature hide strong curvature regions?"
• Timeline

BICEP2 Press Conference

• BICEP2 Technical Presentation Part 1
• BICEP2 Technical Presentation Part 2

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Lubos Motl is officially "link king." :)

See Also:

• BICEP2 Observatory in Antarctica
• Wayne Hu Primer

BICEP2 Observatory in Antarctica

Cosmic searches at the South Pole. The BICEP-2 Telescope is the up-facing dish at right. The larger white dish is the South Pole Telescope (SPT), and the building is the Dark Sector Laboratory. Both experiments observe in the millimeter-submillimeter part of the spectrum, mapping polarization patterns in the cosmic background radiation.

BICEP-2 Project

First Direct Evidence of Cosmic Inflation

...... will announce a “major discovery” about B-modes in the cosmic microwave background See: Who should get the Nobel Prize for cosmic inflation?

UPDATE: 

Closing thoughts -
BICEP2: Primordial Gravitational Waves!

The BICEP result, if correct, is a spectacular and historic discovery.  In terms of impact on fundamental physics, particularly as a tool for testing ideas about quantum gravity, the detection of primordial gravitational waves is completely unprecedented.  Inflation evidently occurred just two orders of magnitude below the Planck scale, and we have now seen the quantum fluctuations of the graviton.  For those who want to understand how the universe began, and also for those who want to understand quantum gravity, it just doesn't get any better than this.

In fact, it all seems far too good to be true.  And perhaps it is: check back after another experimental team is able to check the BICEP findings, and then we can really break out the champagne.

This should be really interesting.

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Stanford Professor Andrei Linde celebrates physics breakthrough  

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See Also:

• BICEP2 Updates
• BICEP2: New Evidence Of Cosmic Inflation!
• Discovery Clarification
• LSC Congratulates BICEP2 Colleagues
• BICEP2 2014 Results Release
• Helioseismology and Gravitational Waves
• Gravity Wave Spectrum