Objective Much of the foundational evidence for our current model of cosmology, describing the origins and evolution of the Universe, has come from observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This is relic light that has been travelling for almost 14 billion years since the Big Bang, carrying a picture of the Universe in its infancy. So far it has told us what the Universe is made of today, as well as its average density and its age. We find that it is only 5% normal matter, with the remainder composed of unknown components: 72% Dark Energy and 23% Dark Matter. We do not yet know their nature. We have also seen signatures that support the idea that structure in the Universe was seeded by tiny ripples in the otherwise smooth space, created during a rapid expansion of the Universe in the first trillionth of a second, called inflation'.In Oxford I now propose to target additional information encoded in the CMB, by looking at measurements with higher resolution and sensitivity than ever before. The main goals of this proposal are to uncover convincing evidence for the inflationary scenario, and to better determine the nature of the Dark Energy component, particularly at early cosmic times. My team will be using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, a 6m telescope in Chile, and from ESA's Planck Satellite mission, which is observing the CMB over the whole sky and launched in 2009. We will have to deal with contamination both from our own Galaxy and from many other distant galaxies in order to convincingly extract the underlying signals from the high energy Universe. Fields of science engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technologynatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyphysical cosmologybig bangnatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyastrophysicsdark matter Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-PE9 - ERC Starting Grant - Universe sciences Call for proposal ERC-2010-StG_20091028 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Host institution THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD EU contribution € 1 500 000,00 Address WELLINGTON SQUARE UNIVERSITY OFFICES OX1 2JD Oxford United Kingdom See on map Region South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Oxfordshire Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Joanna Dunkley (Dr.) Administrative Contact Gill Wells (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD United Kingdom EU contribution € 1 500 000,00 Address WELLINGTON SQUARE UNIVERSITY OFFICES OX1 2JD Oxford See on map Region South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Oxfordshire Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Joanna Dunkley (Dr.) Administrative Contact Gill Wells (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data