Speaker
Description
We present a proposal for a pathfinder experiment towards an ultra-precision time resolved intensity interferometry (TRII) system that will enhance the sensitivity of the current best telescopes. TRII measurements rely on the ability to time correlate the detection of photons from the same stellar source at two remote locations to better than 10 ps precision. Such unprecedented precision has not been accessible until the recent advent of ultrafast superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) technology. Such a TRII system, equipped with these novel photon detectors, will enable HEP science measurements currently out of reach and help us understand the drivers for cosmic evolution. Enabled by the state-of-the-art SNSPD with tenths of picosecond-level timing resolution, the proposed TRII system will serve as a pathfinder towards the detection of gravitational waves from primordial black holes (PBHs) that can account for the observed dark matter in our Universe. The proposed approach has the potential to detect gravitational waves with lower frequencies compared to the existing LIGO and Virgo experiments and enables the observation of merger events in supermassive binary systems. The proposed pathfinder experiment is aimed to be deployed in Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) with an easily accessible baseline of 10 km.
