SPT-3G: A Next-Generation Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Experiment on the South Pole Telescope

• Main Authors: Benson, B. A., Padin, S.
• Other Authors: Holland, Wayne S., Zmuidzinas, Jonas
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) 2014
• Subjects: South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://authors.library.caltech.edu/58235/; https://authors.library.caltech.edu/58235/1/Benson_2015p91531P.pdf; https://authors.library.caltech.edu/58235/2/1407.2973v1.pdf; https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150615-085907902

We describe the design of a new polarization sensitive receiver, SPT-3G, for the 10-meter South Pole Telescope (SPT). The SPT-3G receiver will deliver a factor of ~20 improvement in mapping speed over the current receiver, SPT-POL. The sensitivity of the SPT-3G receiver will enable the advance from statistical detection of B-mode polarization anisotropy power to high signal-to-noise measurements of the individual modes, i.e., maps. This will lead to precise (~0.06 eV) constraints on the sum of neutrino masses with the potential to directly address the neutrino mass hierarchy. It will allow a separation of the lensing and inflationary B-mode power spectra, improving constraints on the amplitude and shape of the primordial signal, either through SPT-3G data alone or in combination with BICEP2/KECK, which is observing the same area of sky. The measurement of small-scale temperature anisotropy will provide new constraints on the epoch of reionization. Additional science from the SPT-3G survey will be significantly enhanced by the synergy with the ongoing optical Dark Energy Survey (DES), including: a 1% constraint on the bias of optical tracers of large-scale structure, a measurement of the differential Doppler signal from pairs of galaxy clusters that will test General Relativity on ~200Mpc scales, and improved cosmological constraints from the abundance of clusters of galaxies.