Relic Neutrino Physics with the South Pole Telescope
by
Nathan Witehorn(UC Berkeley)
→
Europe/Stockholm
A12167
A12167
Description
During the Big Bang, neutrinos were produced in tremendous quantities and today compete with photons for the title of most numerous particle in the universe. Through gravitational interactions, this neutrino sea has had profound effects on the history of our universe. These effects depend on fundamental and hard-to-measure properties of neutrinos, notably neutrino mass, the mass hierarchy, and the existence of sterile neutrinos and other light, non-interacting particles. High-resolution surveys of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can measure these effects, providing a unique window into neutrino physics and the properties of the dark sector. In this context, I will discuss the upcoming SPT-3G receiver for the South Pole Telescope, to be deployed at the end of this year, as well as the follow-on CMB-S4 project, which is expected to provide a high-significance detection of neutrino mass even at the minimum allowed by terrestrial oscillation measurements.
