Surprises in the small scale Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)

Information about the late-time Universe is imprinted on the small scale CMB as photons travel to us from the surface of last scattering. Several processes are at play and small scale fluctuations are very rich and non-Gaussian in nature.  I will review some of the most important effects and I will focus on the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect and gravitational lensing. I will discuss how a combination of measurements can probe velocity fields at cosmological distances, inform us on cluster energetics and feedback processes, and detect the properties of patchy reionization. If time allows, I will describe new approaches to CMB lensing reconstruction on small scales.

Speaker: Simone Ferraro, UC Berkeley