Science

LiteBIRD is a satellite that will search for primordial gravitational waves emitted during the cosmic inflation era (around 10^–38 sec after the beginning of the Universe). It goal is to test representative inflationary models (single-field slow-role models with large field variation) by performing an all-sky CMB polarization survey.

Primordial gravitational waves are expected to be imprinted in the CMB polarization map as special patterns, called the “B-mode”. If we succeed to detect them, it will provide entirely new and profound knowledge on how our Universe began.

From the viewpoint of high-energy physics or elementary particle physics, the observation of the CMB B-mode is very important because it will allow us to search for physics in ultra high-energy scales, which are not accessible with man-made accelerators. Measurements of CMB polarization will open a new era of testing theoretical predictions of quantum gravity, including those by the superstring theory.