Vol. 1, No. 4, September 2020 // pp. 47-65 / Vol. , No., Revised 20 September 2019 QUBIC: Observing the Polarized Microwave Sky QUBIC: observing the polarized microwave sky over the Puna over the Puna QUBIC Collaboration: Beatriz García Garc´ıa1,1 Diego, Diego Harari Harari2*, Claudia2*, Claudia Scóccola Scoccola´ 3, Peter3, PeterAde4, José Ade4 G., Jos Alberroe´ G.3 Alberro, Alejandro3, Alejandro Almela1, Giorgio Amico5, Horacio Arnaldi2, Didier Auguste6, Jonathan Aumont7, Susanna Azzoni8, Stefano Banfi9,10, Paola Battaglia11, Elia Battistelli 5,12, Alessandro Bau´ 9,10, Benoit Belier´ 13, David G. Bennett14, Laurent Berge´ 15, Jean-Philippe Bernard16, Marco Bersanelli17,18, Marie-Anne Bigot Sazy19, Nathan Bleurvacq19, Juan Bonaparte20, Julien Bonis6, Asdrubal´ Bottani3, Emory Bunn21, David Burke14, Daniele Buzi5, Alessandro Buzzelli22,23, Francesco Cavaliere17,18, Pierre Chanial19, Claude Chapron19, Romain Charlassier19, Fabio Columbro5,12, Gabriele Coppi24, Alessandro Coppolecchia5,12, Giuseppe D’Alessandro5,12, Paolo de Bernardis5,12, Giancarlo De Gasperis22,23, Stephane´ Dheilly19, Michele De Leo5,25, Marco De Petris5,12, Andres´ Di Donato20, Louis Dumoulin15, Alberto Etchegoyen1, Adrian´ Fasciszewski20, Luciano P. Ferreyro1, Diego Fracchia1, Cristian Franceschet17,18, Mart´ın Miguel Gamboa Lerena3, Kenneth Ganga19, Manuel E. Garc´ıa Redondo1, Michel Gaspard6, Amanda Gault26, Donnacha Gayer14, Massimo Gervasi 9,10, Martin Giard16, Valerio Gilles5, Yannick Giraud Heraud´ 19, Mariano Gomez´ Berisso2, Manuel Gonzalez´ 2, Marcin Gradziel14, Laurent Grandsire19, Jean-Christophe Hamilton19, Vic Haynes8, Sophie Henrot-Versille´ 6, Duc Thuong Hoang19,27, Federico Incardona17,18, Eric Jules6, Jean Kaplan19, Andrei Korotkov28, Christian Kristukat20,29, Luca Lamagna5,12, Sotiris Loucatos19, Thibaut Louis6, Raul´ Horacio Luterstein20, Bruno Maffei7, Stefanos Marnieros15, Silvia Masi,5,12, Angelo Mattei12, Andrew May8, Mark McCulloch8, Maria Clementina Medina30, Lorenzo Mele5, Simon J. Melhuish8, Aniello Mennella17,18, Ludovic Montier16, Louise Mousset19, Luis Mariano Mundo3, John Anthony Murphy14, James David Murphy14, Federico Nati9,10, Creidhe´ O’Sullivan14, Emiliano Olivieri15, Alessandro Paiella5,12, Franc¸ ois Pajot16, Andrea Passerini9,10, Hernan Pastoriza2, Alessandro Pelosi12, Camille Perbost19, Maurizio Perciballi12, Federico Pezzotta17,18, Francesco Piacentini5,12, Michel Piat19, Lucio Piccirillo8, Giampaolo Pisano4, Manuel Platino1, Gianluca Polenta31, Damien Preleˆ 19, Roberto Puddu32, Damien Rambaud16, Pablo Ringegni3, Gustavo E. Romero30, Maria Salatino33, Juan M. Salum1, Alessandro Schillaci34, Stephen P. Scully14,35, Sebastiano Spinelli9, Guillaume Stankowiak19, Michail Stolpovskiy19, Federico Suarez1, Andrea Tartari36, Jean Pierre Thermeau19, Peter Timbie26, Maurizio Tomasi17,18, Steve A. Torchinsky19, Matthieu Tristram6, Carole E. Tucker4, Gregory S. Tucker28, Sylvain Vanneste6, Daniele Vigano´ 17, Nicola Vittorio22,23, Fabrice Voisin19, Robert Watson8, Francois Wicek6, Mario Zannoni9,10 and Antonio Zullo12 1Instituto de Tecnolog´ıas en Deteccion´ y Astropart´ıculas (CNEA-CONICET-UNSAM), Buenos Aires B1650, Argentina 2Centro Atomico´ Bariloche and Instituto Balseiro, CNEA, San Carlos de Bariloche R8402AGP, Argentina 3Universidad Nacional de la Plata, La Plata B1900FWA, Argentina 4School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK 5Department of Physics, Universita` di Roma La Sapienza, 00185 Roma, Italy 6Laboratoire de l’Accel´ erateur´ Lineaire´ (CNRS-IN2P3), 91898 Orsay, France 7Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (CNRS-INSU), 91405 Orsay 8School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK 9Department of Physics, Universita` di Milano Bicocca, 20126 Milano, Italy 47 // Vol. 1, No. 4, September 2020 QUBIC: Observing the Polarized Microwave Sky over the Puna 10Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Milano Bicocca Section, 20126 Milano, Italy 11Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica/OAS Bologna, 40129 Bologna, Italy 12Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Roma 1 Section, 00185 Roma, Italy 13Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies, 91120 Palaiseau, France 14Department of Experimental Physics, National University of Ireland, Mariavilla, Maynooth 99MX+QH, Ireland 15Centre de Spectrometrie´ Nucleaire´ et de Spectrometrie´ de Masse (CNRS-IN2P3), 91405 Orsay, France 16Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie´ (CNRS-INSU), 31028 Toulouse, France 17Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita` degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy 18Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Milano 1 Section, 20133 Milano, Italy 19AstroParticule et Cosmologie (CNRS-IN2P3), 75013 Paris, France 20Comision´ Nacional De Energia Atomica,´ C1429BNP Buenos Aires, Argentina 21Department of Physics, Richmond University, Richmond, VA 23173, USA 22Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita` di Roma Tor Vergata, 00133 Roma, Italy 23Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Roma Tor Vergata section, 00133 Roma, Italy 24 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104, USA 25Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK 26Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA 27 University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH), Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), Hanoi 10000, Vietnam 28Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA 29 Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnolog´ıa, Universidad Nacional de San Mart´ın, San Martin 1650, Argentina 30Instituto Argentino de Radioastronom´ıa, Berazategui 1880, Argentina 31Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, 00133 Rome, Italy 32 Instituto de Astrof´ısica and Centro de Astro-Ingenier´ıa, Pontificia Universidad Catolica´ de Chile, Santiago 782046, Chile 33Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and Physics Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 USA 34 Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA 35Institute of Technology Carlow, Ireland 36Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa Section, 56127 Pisa, Italy *Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract QUBIC (Q&U(Q&U Bolometric Bolometric Interferometer Interferometer for Cosmology)for Cosmology) is an experi-is an experimentment designed designed to measure to measure the polarization the polarization of the cosmic of the microwave cosmic microwavebackground background (CMB), the relic(CMB), radiation the relic from radiation the Big-Bang. from Detailedthe Big- Bang.measurements Detailed ofmeasurements tiny temperature of tiny anisotropies temperature in the anisotropies CMB shaped in theour CMB understanding shaped our of understanding the early Universe. of theAccurate early Universe. measurements Accurate measurementsof its polarization of its may polarization reveal even may earlier reveal features, even earlier in particular features, inthe particular presence the of gravitationalpresence of wavesgravitational with primordial waves with origin. primordial Such origin.measurements Such measurements can probe inflationary can probe cosmological inflationary models, cosmological which models,postulate which that quantumpostulate effectsthat quantum during aneffects accelerated during an expansion accelerated at expansionthe earliest stagesat the afterearliest the Big-Bangstages after produced the Big-Bang gravitational produced waves gravitationalalong with the waves density along fluctuations with the that density later seededfluctuations galaxy that forma- later seededtion. QUBIC galaxy will formation. join other QUBIC international will join efforts other international currently pursuing efforts currentlythis goal usingpursuing a novel this goal approach, using a which novel combinesapproach, thewhich sensitivity combines of thebolometric sensitivity detectors of bolometric with the detectors control of with systematic the control effects of systematic provided effects provided by interferometry. After its current calibration phase by interferometry. After its current calibration phase is completed a is completed a technological demonstrator already constructed in technological demonstrator already constructed in European labo- European laboratories will be deployed in Alto Chorrillos, a site in ratories will be deployed in Alto Chorrillos, a site in the Puna near the Puna near San Antonio de los Cobres, Salta, Argentina. The San Antonio de los Cobres, Salta, Argentina. The complete first complete first module of the instrument is planned to be installed module of the instrument is planned to be installed during 2020. We during 2020. We review the scientific goals of the project, the review the scientific goals of the project, the instrument design and instrument design and its expected performance. its expected performance. Keywords: Keywords bolometric interferometry, cosmic microwave background, Bolometric Interferometry, Cosmic Microwave Background, Cosmol- cosmology, gravitational waves, polarization, transition-edge ogy, Gravitational Waves, Polarization, Transition-Edge Sensors sensors 48 QUBIC:// Science Observing Reviews. the Vol.Polarized , No., Microwave Sky over the PunaQUBIC: observing the polarized// Vol. microwave 1, No. 4, September sky over the 2020 Puna 10Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Milano Bicocca Section, 20126 Milano, Italy Introduction 11Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica/OAS Bologna, 40129 Bologna, Italy 12 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Roma 1 Section, 00185 Roma, Italy 1 The oldest light in the Universe is the Cosmic