Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Mapping the Primordial Universe and Large Scale Structure with ACTPol

Jeff McMahon

University of Michigan

Recent measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have improved our understanding of the conditions during the earliest moments of our universe and refined our knowledge of its contents including neutrinos and dark energy. This progress has been driven by rapid improvements in instrumental capability that have enabled precise measurements of the CMB temperature and the detection of new signals including the polarization and the gravitational lensing of the CMB. The current generation of experiments are transforming these new signals from the first detection to the significance needed to make precision measurements of cosmological parameters. In this talk I give an overview of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarization Experiment (ACTPol). This instrument consists of a new polarization sensitive camera which was deployed to the 6-m ACT telescope in Chile in mid 2013. I review the science goals which include improving our understanding of inflation, neutrino properties, and other cosmological parameters; give an overview of the instrument and the status of observations; and conclude with our plans for the future.