Speaker
Description
The Simons Observatory (SO) is a cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment situated on the Chajnantor Plateau in Chile's Atacama Desert. The observatory comprises seven mm-wave telescopes operating across six frequency bands (30-280 GHz). Six 60cm Small Aperture Telescopes (SATs) focus on detecting primordial B-mode polarization signatures of cosmic inflation in two deep, low-galactic-foreground sky patches. Complementing these, a 6m Large Aperture Telescope (LAT) targets precision measurements of neutrino properties, galaxy cluster physics via the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, dark matter distribution through gravitational lensing, and transient mm-wave phenomena. This presentation will provide an overview of the observatory and its science goals, updates on construction progress, commissioning activities, and preliminary data analysis and a look forward to SO's planned expansions and scientific synergies with other next-generation optical and infrared survey instruments.
