Imaging the Big Bang through gravitational waves with LiteBIRD

The detection of primordial gravitational waves created during the Big Bang ranks among the greatest potential discoveries in science. The most direct path to such a discovery is through accurate measurements of the polarized large-scale cosmic microwave background, the CMB. LiteBIRD is a satellite experiment led by JAXA, the Japanese space agency, planned to be launched in 2032. It will operate for three years, and the data will transform this field through exquisite sensitivity and instrument stability. The goal of this NRC project is to secure funding for Norwegian participation and specifically to organize a LiteBIRD data analysis center at the University of Oslo. The primary focus will be on Bayesian end-to-end data analysis for LiteBIRD, where we model instrumental effects, separate out components of other astrophysical origins, and estimate cosmological parameters, all in one pipeline called Commander. This application will cover the period from 2025 to 2033, at which point the first year of LiteBIRD data will be available, and the proposed data center will therefore be among the first in the world to process these ground-breaking measurements. This work will be performed under the community-wide Open Science Cosmoglobe umbrella.

The detection of primordial gravitational waves created during the Big Bang ranks among the greatest potential discoveries in science. The most direct path to such a discovery is through accurate measurements of large-scale CMB polarization. LiteBIRD is a JAXA-led satellite experiment planned to be launched in 2032 that will transform this field through exquisite sensitivity and instrument stability. ESA is currently preparing to join LiteBIRD in 2024 through a Mission of Opportunity partnership under CNES leadership, and the main operational goal of the current application is to secure funding for Norwegian participation in this pan-European effort. Specifically, we propose in this project to organize a LiteBIRD data analysis center at the University of Oslo with a primary focus on Bayesian end-to-end data analysis for LiteBIRD. This application will cover the period from 2025 to 2033, at which point the first year of LiteBIRD data will be available, and the proposed data center will therefore be among the first in the world to process these ground-breaking measurements. This work will be performed under the community-wide Open Science Cosmoglobe umbrella; all codes will be released under an Open Source license; and we will co-host summer schools to expose the next generation of young scientists to these methods.