FAQ

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Question

What does the banner at the top of the page represent?

Answer

The banner represents the range of research topics that Ben and his research group are studying, from the early universe to the emergence of structure in the Universe capable of supporting intelligent civilizations. From left to right, the banner shows

• A reconstructed map of the CMB which was created as a result one of the group's papers.
• A simulation of 21cm wavelength radiation from the early universe. More information.
• An SDSS picture of a cluster of galaxies.
• A picture of two galaxies which are currently merging with each other.

Question

What is the Cosmic Microwave Background and why am I studying it?

Answer

The Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB, is essentially the "afterglow" of the Big Bang, the event which marks the beginning of the known universe. Discovered in the late 1960's by Penzias and Wilson (for which they won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006), the CMB is a faint glow comprised of microwaves which appears uniformly bright across sky in every direction. This radiation, which was emitted when the entire Universe was merely 380,000 years old, provides a glimpse of the universe during its infancy, far before our Milky Way galaxy existed.

Although the CMB appears to be exactly the same everywhere we look, in the early 1990's the COBE satellite discovered small fluctuations in the intensity of the CMB radiation. These fluctuations are commonly referred to as the CMB anisotropy. Recently, anisotropies in the polarization of the CMB were also detected. Together, the CMB anisotropies hold valuable information which allows us insights into the structure of the early Universe, such as its density, geometry, and composition.

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QUESTIONS

What does the banner at the top of the page represent?

What is the Cosmic Microwave Background and why am I studying it?