Science Goals
Measurements of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) by experiments such as COBE, BOOMERanG, WMAP, CBI and many others have greatly advanced our knowledge of cosmology, particularly the early evolution of the universe. It is expected that higher resolution CMB observations will not only improve the precision of current knowledge, but will also allow new types of measurements. At ACT resolutions, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZ), by which galaxy clusters leave an imprint on the CMB, should be prominent. The power of this method of detection is that it is a redshift-independent measurement of the mass of the clusters, meaning that very distant, ancient clusters are as easy to detect as nearby clusters.
It is expected that ACT will detect on the order of 100 such clusters. Together with follow-up measurements in visible and X-ray light, this would provide a picture of the evolution of structure in the universe since the Big Bang. Among other things, this would improve our understanding of the nature of the mysterious Dark Energy which seems to be a dominant component of the universe.
The South Pole Telescope has similar, but complementary, science objectives.
Read more about this topic: Atacama Cosmology Telescope
Famous quotes containing the words science and/or goals:
“Human Nature is the only science of man; and yet has been hitherto the most neglected.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“I think that any woman who sets goals for herself and takes her own life seriously and moves to achieve the goals that she wants as a person in her own right is a feminist.”
—Frances Kuehn (b. 1943)