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OATS-DAUT SEMINAR
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Speaker: Carlo Baccigalupi (SISSA - Trieste)

Title: Cosmic Microwave Background and Planck: science and challenges

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Abstract: We review the current knowledge of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the implications for cosmology and particle physics; we describe the CMB pattern is still hidden to the observations, in total intensity and polarization. We briefly discuss the ongoing CMB observation projects and their scientific expectations, focusing on the Planck satellite. We describe the Planck launch and data analysis schedule, the overall structure of the project and the Data Processing Centers (DPCs) in Paris-Cambridge (IaP and IoA) and Trieste (OAT and SISSA). We review the data flow and reduction from the spinning satellite to the sky maps, outlining the challenges which need to be faced in order to achieve a full scientific exploitation of the data.
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