Leitch E M, Kovac J M, Pryke C, Carlstrom J E, Halverson N W, Holzapfel W L, Dragovan M, Reddall B, Sandberg E S
Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Nature. 2002;420(6917):763-71. doi: 10.1038/nature01271.
Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation can reveal with remarkable precision the conditions of the Universe when it was approximately 400,000 years old. The three most fundamental properties of the CMB are its frequency spectrum (which determines the temperature), and the fluctuations in both the temperature and polarization across a range of angular scales. The frequency spectrum has been well determined, and considerable progress has been made in measuring the power spectrum of the temperature fluctuations. But despite many efforts to measure the polarization, detection of this property of the CMB has hitherto been beyond the reach of even the most sensitive observations. Here we describe the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI), an array of radio telescopes, which for the past two years has conducted polarization-sensitive observations of the CMB from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole research station.
对宇宙微波背景（CMB）辐射的测量能够以极高的精度揭示宇宙在大约40万岁时的状况。CMB的三个最基本特性是其频谱（决定温度）以及在一系列角尺度上温度和偏振的涨落。频谱已得到很好的确定，并且在测量温度涨落的功率谱方面已经取得了相当大的进展。但是，尽管人们为测量偏振付出了诸多努力，但即便最灵敏的观测也尚未能够探测到CMB的这一特性。在此，我们描述度角尺度干涉仪（DASI），这是一个射电望远镜阵列，在过去两年里它在阿蒙森-斯科特南极科考站对CMB进行了偏振敏感观测。
