Seminars and Colloquia

The Microwave Sky in the Era of the Simons ObservatoryAstrophysics Seminar

by Fazlu Rahman (Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, USA)

Asia/Kolkata
Auditorium

Auditorium

Description

Abstract

The Simons Observatory is beginning a new era of high-sensitivity observations of the microwave sky, opening new opportunities for precision cosmology with the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Realizing this potential requires a detailed understanding of the microwave sky and the complex Galactic emission between us and the CMB. In this talk, I will present our recent efforts to characterize the small-scale statistical properties of Galactic foreground emission. We find a remarkably common non-Gaussian behavior across different foreground components, providing a new way to test how well current sky models represent the microwave emission from our Galaxy. Comparisons with these models show how such measurements can guide improved small-scale foreground modelling, including Hα-based free-free models and filament-based dust models. I will also discuss ongoing work connecting the observed non-Gaussianity to MHD simulations of the ISM, with the goal of understanding whether they reproduce the statistical properties of the observed sky and how these measurements can ultimately constrain the underlying ISM physics. Finally, I will connect these efforts back to the broader CMB science goals of the Simons Observatory, including primordial B-modes, CMB lensing and delensing, and searches for new physics.