Oxford DPhil projects starting 2008:
Cosmology from the small-scale Cosmic Microwave Background
High resolution observations of the CMB are being made by new experiments in Chile and Antarctica. At
degree to arcminute
scales we will observe the primordial CMB anisotropy, and will also trace the evolution of structure in
the Universe via Sunyaev-
Zeldovich observations of clusters, and weak lensing of the CMB. By combining this information we will
be able to strongly
constrain inflationary parameters, test for non-standard inflation, measure properties of dark energy,
and better constrain the
number of neutrinos and their mass. This project will be both statistical and theoretical, focused on
the extraction of these
parameters, with particular application to the Atacama Cosmology Telescope currently operating in Chile.
Separating primordial signatures of inflation from the Galaxy
Strong evidence for inflation will come with the detection of gravitational waves, which we hope to see
in the next few years
via the large-scale polarized Cosmic Microwave Background. This project involves developing the tools to
estimate this
primordial CMB signal from observed sky-maps, given uncertainties in the microwave emission from the
Milky Way. Statistical
techniques will be developed and applied to released data (WMAP), as well as preparing for
imminent/future CMB missions
including PLANCK and CMBPol. The project will also have analytic components, including the modeling of expected
Galactic emission.
