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Special software designed, built, and tested at Yale is crucial to the success of the new Simons Observatory in Chile.

By Jim Shelton

July 22, 2024

Whether she’s shuttling between meetings at Yale’s Wright Lab or conferring with colleagues around the world, Laura Newburgh’s thoughts of late rarely stray far from the Simons Observatory in northern Chile.

The new $110 million observatory — funded by the nonprofit Simons Foundation and the National Science Foundation — will test whether the universe experienced a massive growth spurt in the instant after the Big Bang. The observatory features four telescopes with more than 30,000 individual detection devices and offers an unprecedented scientific opportunity to probe the primordial light known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

But it won’t be able to do its work without software designed, built, and tested by Newburgh and her team at Yale.

“It’s an incredibly ambitious experiment,” said Newburgh, an assistant professor of physics in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and member of the observatory’s technical community. “We’ll make the most precise measurements of the infant universe and might even capture the physics of an elusive period when the universe was less than a second old.”

Yale News caught up with Newburgh recently to talk about her work at the observatory and the fundamental questions that may be answered there. The interview has been edited and condensed.

Let’s start with what this project is exploring. What is it, and what do we know about it?

Newburgh: Essentially, it is microwave light that is present across the entire sky and represents the first light produced by the universe when it was about 400,000 years old. This was long before stars and galaxies existed; so it is primordial plasma of interacting particles.

Measurements of CMB have been around since the 1960s. They’ve told us about our universe — including its shape, age, and what is in it — by providing evidence for dark energy's existence dark matter. Those experiments were often done by small teams coming together building instruments in their own labs. The scale of experiments has gotten bigger as our ambitions have grown which has led to what we’re doing at Simons Observatory.

What is Simons Observatory's science mission?

Newburgh: We have two main goals. The first is to study when it was much less than one second old.

We think expanded much faster than speed during a period we call ‘inflation.’ This theorized exist but hasn’t proven. So new going look signal from this ‘inflation’ embedded CMB.

The second goal search additional early particles Around time formed incredibly energetic period being produced copious amounts These are called “light relativistic particles.” Ground-based particle accelerators other experiments can’t look these particles but think can.

Lastly better job measuring some things via already know such how expanding today.

What technology using answer these questions?

Newburgh: built four telescopes will adding more ahead

What deployed site now three small aperture whose field view degrees size moons diameter There detectors across measure earliest

They’ll specific signal within indicate stretching contracting space occurred process

also large mirrors aren’t yet That searching additional

I should reiterate looking plasma not stars galaxies beautiful colors regular telescope measuring density basically looks like static

What role all this?

Newburgh: We built architecture control systems acquire data detectors factor four any previous!

take times more data previous entirely new scale operation field addition detector comes many auxiliary components interact observe sky move track scan calibration equipment must seamlessly chilled degrees Kelvin above absolute zero fancy helium refrigerator acquiring cases making commands subsystems last count over sensors read includes visualization alarms had build system scratch

addition scale truly revolutionary thing easy enough use collaborators easily add components snippet readily available code ended fields

How does your fit into overall body research?

Newburgh: My thesis experiment based seven miles away now Atacama Desert same signature inflation graduate focused case postdoc spent meter literally same site

What drew initially?

Newburgh: On some level interested where came made fascinating questions address

doing cosmology long found fun marriage experiment theory groundbreaking address biggest core group people staring trying good job measuring properties

When next trip Chile?

Newburgh: Hopefully soon! signed going three times year aiming August