Anthony C. Readhead: Probing the Very Early Universe With the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) has allowed the precise measurement of many fundamental cosmological parameters, including the geometry, age, and size scale of the universe. Our view of the universe changed dramatically with the demonstration that matter comprises only 4 percent of the universe's energy, with 22 percent in the form of unexplained dark matter, and 74 percent more mysterious dark energy. The next great challenge to CMBR observers is demonstrating conclusively that the universe underwent an epoch of inflation less than one second after the Big Bang. This talk will discuss the new generation of instruments now attempting to push the cosmic clock back to this very early epoch.

Anthony C. Readhead is the Barbara and Stanley R. Rawn, Jr., Professor of Astronomy at Caltech; Director of the Chajnantor Observatory; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist; and Director of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory.