University of Pennsylvania Astrophysics Group Seminar

The E and B Experiment (EBEX) is a NASA-funded balloon-borne microwave telescope designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. EBEX will probe the first fraction of a second of the universe by either detecting or placing a tighter constraint on the primordial B-mode signal resulting from gravitational waves predicted by inflation. EBEX is also sensitive to the lensing B-mode signal that is expected to be generated at late times due to the shearing of primordial E-mode polarization by foreground matter. EBEX's sensitivity to a wide range of scales and frequencies will also allow it to make unprecedented measurements of galactic polarized dust. I will provide an overview of the EBEX science and instrument and a preliminary report from the EBEX North American flight in June 2009.