COSMO (COSmic Monopole Observer) is a ground based differential Fourier transform spectrometer, to be operated at Dome-C, Antarctica, which aims at measuring the isotropic y-distortion of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).
The current upper-limit on $y$ is dated back to 1990 by COBE-FIRAS to $|y|<1.5 \cdot 10^{-5}$.
COSMO will measure the absolute brightness of the sky in the 120-280GHz...
The COsmic Monopole Observer (COSMO) is a pathfinder, ground-based experiment, designed for the detection of the isotropic $y$-distortion of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Deviations from a pure blackbody are expected as an evidence of all the interactions that CMB photons undergo along the thermal history of the Universe. Their observation provides an insight into processes involving...
Spider is a CMB polarimeter designed for the Antarctic Long Duration Balloon platform. Spider has completed one flight of the two-flight program. In the first flight, Spider has mapped the astrophysical linear polarization over about 10% of the full sky, with significantly greater sensitivity than Planck HFI in the same region. We report limits to the cosmological B-mode polarization that...
Measurement of the polarized Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) over the past few decades has enabled precision probes of the evolutionary history, composition, and dynamics of the primordial Universe. Next-generation CMB experiments will extend this scientific reach, allowing for tests of the inflationary theory of the early Universe, driven through constraints on the tensor-scalar ratio “r”...
In this work I present the design and forecasted performance of the multimoded feed-horns system of the COSmic Monopole Observer (COSMO). COSMO is a pathfinder experiment that aims at measuring the isotropic y-type spectral distortion of the Cosmic Microwave Background from Dome-C, Antarctica. The current upper limit on the y-distortion is $<10^{-5}$ (COBE-FIRAS and TRIS).
COSMO exploits a...
The study of the sky characteristics plays a fundamental role for many astrophysical experiments and on-ground observations. In the field of solar physics, in particular for the observation of the solar corona, it is required to have a very low sky brightness value.
Currently the only place on Earth with the sky characteristics that allow a continuous coronagraphic measurements is at the...
We have developed a mobile neutron monitor (“Changvan”) with three neutron counters to investigate cosmic ray spectral variations via ship-borne latitude surveys. Because Earth’s magnetic field excludes cosmic rays below the local geomagnetic cutoff rigidity, which depends on magnetic latitude, the count rate due to atmospheric neutrons from cosmic ray showers vs. cutoff rigidity (i.e., the...
The flux of extraterrestrial material on Earth is dominated by sub-millimeter particles, however the mass distribution and absolute value of this cosmic dust flux at the Earth surface is still uncertain due to the difficulty to monitor both the collection efficiency and the exposure parameter (i.e. the area-time product in m$^2$.yr). Thanks to the exceptional conditions encountered in...
Ice cores yield information about astronomical phenomena as well as information about climate changes of the past. We applied time-series analyses to variations in nitrate ion concentrations in one segment of an ice core drilled at the Dome Fuji station in East Antarctica, corresponding to the historical period from AD 1600 to 1900. Our analyses revealed clear evidence of periodicities of ~ 11...
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is the largest neutrino telescope in the world and uses clear Antarctic ice to detect neutrinos and cosmic rays over an incredibly wide range of energies. The multifaceted experiment runs with over 99% uptime and has been taking high-quality data for over a decade. In my talk I will give a brief overview of IceCube science including real-time efforts...
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole is the leading facility
worldwide for scientific exploration in the field of neutrino astrophysics.
A more densely instrumented infill array, IceCube DeepCore, was added during
construction to lower IceCube's energy threshold where it could exploit the
massive volume of exceptionally clear ice at the bottom of IceCube to...
IceCube-Gen2 is a planned extension of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the geographic South Pole. Gen2 is optimized to search for sources of astrophysical neutrinos from TeV to EeV energies. IceCube-Gen2 builds on a successful decade of scientific observations with IceCube. The observatory will utilize optical sensor modules integrated into the deep ultra-clear Antarctic ice for the...
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a Cherenkov light detector located deep in the Antarctic ice. A cosmic-ray detector at the surface, named IceTop, composed of Ice-Cherenkov tanks complements the in-ice detector. A Surface Array Enhancement for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is planned to be deployed in the near future at the South Pole. It will consist of 32 hybrid stations positioned...
Neutron monitors (NMs) are ground-based detectors of the secondary particles produced in atmospheric cascades from primary cosmic rays. Using neutron time-delay data from neutron monitors (NMs), we can extract the leader fraction, L, of neutron counts that do not follow a previous neutron count in the same counter tube due to the cosmic ray shower. L is the inverse of the neutron...
Increasing space debris has seriously threatened the safety of spacecraft of various countries. The Pole regions are the most densely distributed regions of Low-Earth orbit space debris, and are ideal sites for observing LEO space debris. Investigating Antarctica as a window to the skies for satellite traffic management has been identified as an important goal for Antarctic Astronomy in the...
Following the installation of two DIMMs at Kunlun Station, Dome A in early 2019, we were able to directly measure astronomical seeing through the winter for the first time. At a height of just 8 meters, the seeing was detected as good as 0.13 arcsec. For 31% time, it was free of boundary layer turbulence, and consequently was the free-atmosphere seeing only, with a median of 0.31 arcsec. ...
At any infrared/THz wavelength longer than about 2.3 microns, China's Kunlun Station in Antarctica has very possibly the darkest sky and best conditions - seeing, cloud coverage, atmospheric stability, transparency - of any site on Earth. This directly translates into dramatic improvements in survey speed and depth. In the near-infrared, the Kdark region just longward of 2.3 microns is...
Astronomy work has been carried out at Dome A for more than ten years. The efforts have greatly advanced our knowledge in understanding the site conditions for astronomical observations, the instrumentation under extreme Antarctica conditions, and the research in time-domain astronomy. A complete review is available in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics (Shang 2020, RAA, 20, 168). We...
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite was launched in 2018 to search the sky for planetary candidates. Of the 870+ southern planetary candidates from TESS currently awaiting confirmation, roughly 10% have transit durations longer than five hours; a further third of these have orbital periods longer than 20 days. Systems like these could fall into the sparsely populated parameter space of...
Following the ANGISS 2.5m off-axis telescope project, presented at the AAA-2015 conference, we propose to build a 1m prototype for 2.5m PLT. Such an optical design is based on a common 2.5m off-axis primary mirror delivering two science cases modes: (1) two mirror corrector optimized to a wide FOV (1Deg) for IR survey and (2) one mirror corrector optimized for a narrow FOV for direct exoplanet...
Although operations at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) nearby Eureka on Ellesmere Island (80 degrees North) have lately been paused, there is renewed interest in the site for astrophysical observations. I will briefly review known PEARL site conditions, and describe the status of a planned compact instrument for characterization of seeing near the ground, of...
I will report the progress and the status of the Greenland Telescope in Thule, Greenland. The telescope was commissioned in the spring of 2018, and it had since participated in the global VLBI observation campaign in millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The GLT has been a partner station in the Even Horizon Telescope since 2018 for the 230 GHz VLBI observation. In 2021, we have also...
At the University of New South Wales we are designing a wind turbine for the conditions found at China's Kunlun Station at Dome A in Antarctica. While Dome A is the least windy place on Earth, renewable energy from the wind is still possible and has many advantages over the diesel engines that are typically used: for example, wind energy reduces the need to transport and store fuel while...
A neutron monitor is a large ground-based detector responding to the flux of cosmic ray particles in space by measuring atmospheric secondary neutrons. Any ground-based detector is sensitive to cosmic rays from a certain range of directions in space. In particular, a particle arriving from a specific sky direction with a specific rigidity (momentum per unit charge) was necessarily moving in a...
