Free Talk: Exploring the Universe from Antarctica (Randall Museum)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Keith Vanderlinde

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Clara Verges, staff scientist in the Physics Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. She is an observational cosmologist, focusing on instrument modeling, systematic studies and data analysis for Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarisation experiments.

Located in one of  the most remote environments on Earth, on the high Antarctic plateau, the South Pole Observatory peers into the vastness of the Universe to address one of its most compelling questions: what happened immediately after the Big Bang? Exploiting uniquely favorable observing conditions, its instruments measure the cosmic microwave background with exceptional precision, placing stringent constraints on early-Universe physics. Yet the task is far from straightforward, as astrophysical foregrounds and instrumental systematics can obscure the signal. Disentangling these effects is both the challenge and the path toward uncovering our cosmic origins.

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