QUBIC Project

Good news for QUBIC in 2024

The tower for the installation of the QUBIC calibration source was completed in November 2024 in Alto Chorrillos; in the first quarter of 2025 the source will be installed and the instrument ready to scan the southern sky.

Three views from and of the new 50-meter-high tower in Alto Chorrillos

2023 Achievements

In 2023, the QUBIC Collaboration was present in several international events, in which some of the referents of the project had the opportunity to share the last advances in this great Observatory.

As part of the tasks of communication of the work about Cosmology, with different audiences, and as a closing remark of the year, QUBIC collaboration is sharing the 2023 contributions.

 


April, 2023

2nd. NASE course in San Antonio de los Cobres

With great success and the sponsorship of CONICET, the Secretary of Science and Technology of the Province of Salta and the QUBIC Collaboration, the second NASE (Network for Astronomy School Education) course was developed in San Antonio de los Cobres (the first was in 2018). This proposal from the International Astronomical Union trains primary and secondary level teachers in astronomy didactics. On this occasion, the trainers were members of the QUBIC Collaboration!

Teachers reproducing Bunsen’s experiment: the oil stain photometer.


March, 2023

1st Hands-on Workshop on QUBIC Data: Simulations and Analysis

With the goal of introducing the QUBIC Project to students and young scientists, the First Theoretical-Practical Workshop on QUBIC Data will be held. The workshop will cover the details of the instrument, its scientific objectives, and the software used for simulations and data analysis.

The workshop will take place on March 16th, 21st, and 23rd, 2023, and will be held in a hybrid manner (participants in Salta will attend the headquarters of CNEA RNO). The event will feature presentations by doctors Jean-Christophe Hamilton (Project Principal Investigator), Claudia Scóccola (Head of the Data Analysis Group), and Steve Torchinsky (Instrument Operation Manager). Additionally, members of the International QUBIC Collaboration, including Elenia Manzan, Mathias Regnier, Nahuel Mirón-Granese, and Belén Costanza, will collaborate on practical simulation and analysis tasks.

This workshop is organized by the QUBIC Collaboration, ITeDA, CNEA Regional Northwest, CCT Jujuy and Salta, UNSalta, and UNLP.

Contact email: claudiascoccola@gmail.com


February 11, 2023

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

The  QUBIC Collaboration opens a new space to present the women scientists, engineers, designers that are part of the Project.

((From top left)   Claudia Scóccola, Elenia Manzan, Beatriz García, Louise Mousset, Belén Costanza,  Creidhe O’Sullivan,  Inés Torino, Silvia Masi, Aoife Flood, Silvina Pérez.

Beyond the names, these women  play a fundamental role in the success of this Observatory. 
A day to recognize their work, a lifetime to engage more women and girls in scientific adventure and STEM activities.


 

NOVEMBER 23, 2022 – INAUGURATION OF THE QUBIC INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATORY OF COSMOLOGY

With the presence of national (MINCYT), provincial (Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology of Salta), municipal authorities, the presidents of the CNEA and CONICET, members of the community of San Antonio de los Cobres and the International Collaboration at QUBIC, the QUBIC Observatory was inaugurated with great success. November 23 was a day of great emotion for all those present

QUBIC Observatory: Aerial view during the inauguration (Credit: MINCyT)

Galery of  images:
Galery 1 (Credits: MINCyT)
Galery 2 (Credits: Alexis Mancilla)

Video MINCyT
Video CONICET


QUBIC INSTALLED AND IN OPERATION

October 26th, 2022

After an intense week of work to integrate and test the instrument and its subsystems in Alto Chorrillos, QUBIC was installed on the observation mount, inside its shelter.

A day of work in Alto Chorrillos, San Antonio de los Cobres

QUBIC ARRIVED IN ALTO CHORRILLOS

On October 16, 2022, after a trip in which all precautions were taken and the recommendations for transporting the equipment to Alto Chorrillos were followed, the instrument arrived at its final destination. As of October 17, the integration of the mount and the instrument in its shelter will begin.


QUBIC is ready for the installation in Alto Chorrillos

The tests of the instrument performance in the Laboratory of Integration in CNEA-RNO,  Salta,  between July and August 2022 were very successful

In the video, QUBIC on the testing mount, observing the sky

The first astronomical object observed by QUBIC was the Moon. A predicted FWHM of 1 degree was confirmed, as can be seen in the image. A great achievement for the Collaboration!

 

After several months of hard work, the shelter and dome for QUBIC are ready to  receive the instrument in Alto Chorrillos

The inauguration of QUBIC Observatory will be
in November 23, 2022 (Agenda)

 

QUBIC (Q-U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology) is an international project of experimental cosmology that aims to measure the B-mode in the polarization of microwave background radiation (CMB, for Cosmic Microwave Background), in order to discover what happened in the first moments after the birth of the Universe. Mode B of polarization would be related to primordial gravitational waves, predicted by the Inflationary Theory, a modification of the Big Bang Theory, which predicts an exponential expansion in the first moments of life of the Universe.

The project is carried out by an international collaboration that involves institutions from France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States and the Argentine Republic. Our country was chosen as the site of the first instrument, which will be located in the Alto Chorrillos area, Salta Province, at 4,900 meters above sea level – a site that will also house the Argentine-Brazilian radio telescope LLAMA (Large Latin American Millimiter Array) -. In this way, the Argentine Northwest will become a center of scientific attraction at a national, regional and global level.

Q-U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology