SFU Physics' Andrei Frolov received exciting news last week when the
2018 Gruber Prize in Cosmology was awarded to the Planck Team for their
achievements in mapping the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) of the
universe. Frolov, an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at
SFU is a member of the collaboration.
Using a satellite known as the ESA Planck Spacecraft, the team was
able to measure the temperature and polarization of Cosmic Microwave
Background radiation, observable relic radiation remaining from the Big
Bang. The results of the study produced an unprecedented level of detail
in understanding the universe's 13.8-billion-year history.
While Frolov has been a member of the Planck Team since 2013, he
notes that the initial proposals for the large collaboration were
developed 25 years ago. His contributions to the project were related to
the reconstruction of inflationary history, analysis of isotropy and
statistics of the primordial cosmological fluctuations, characterization
of the interstellar dust polarization, and delivery of some data
products for the collaboration.
"I am proud to work with the many people who have worked hard on many
fronts and for many years to make Planck mission a success," comments
Frolov. He notes that he was one of several Canadian faculty members who
are being recognized for their contributions to the international
collaboration, which includes, or has included, researchers from the
University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser
University and the University of Toronto.
The collaboration’s principal investigators, Nazzareno Mandolesi and
Jean-Loup Puget, will be presented with a gold medal when the Prize is
awarded to the team at the General Assembly of the International
Astronomical Union, in Vienna, Austria on August 20th.
The citation accompanying the award recognizes that “Planck measured,
with unprecedented precision, the matter content and geometry of the
universe, the imprint on the CMB of hot gas in galaxy clusters and of
gravitational lensing by large-scale structure, constrained a
hypothetical `inflationary' phase, pinned down when the first stars
formed, and provided unique information about interstellar dust and
magnetic fields in our Galaxy.”
