Exploring the Universe with Paperclips and a Supercomputer

Thirteen billion years ago (just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang), the first stars and galaxies began lighting up.   Finding the "Cosmic Dawn" of our universe is one of the top goals of astronomy in this decade, and one of the most powerful techniques available takes us back to the origins of radio astronomy eighty years ago.  Now, using cutting-edge digital supercomputers, we are revisiting the earliest chapters of radio astronomy.  Parsons is leading an effort to build a low-frequency radio telescope in the Karoo desert of South Africa capable of seeing thirteen billion light-years away into the early history of our universe.  The Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) are part of an exciting program underway at the UC Berkeley Radio Astronomy Laboratory that is combining the latest technology with radio astronomy's ancient lore to answer fundamental questions about our universe.

Speaker: Aaron Parsons, UC Berkeley

Stargazing will begin after the lecture at 8:30 on the rooftop of Campbell Hall