Personal information

Matt Dobbs

Canada Research Chair in Radio Cosmology and Instrumentation

McGill Space Institute 3550 University Street Montreal, QC,   H3A 2A7 Room 103 Phone: 514-398-6500 Fax: 514-398-8434 Email: Matt.Dobbs@McGill.ca Web: http://mcgillcosmology.ca/

Research field: Observational cosmology; instrumentation; cosmic microwave background radiation.

Description of the research project:
Matt Dobbs' research aims to improve our understanding of the fundamental constituents of the universe - including its origin, history, and fate - as well as providing new insight into the early universe, where the laws of particle physics and cosmology intersect. His group is building novel instrumentation and experiments to explore the early universe with mm-wavelength observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation and radio frequency observations of hydrogen emission. The CMB polarization is one of the few tools we know of to probe physics at inflationary energy scales, where grand unified theories may manifest themselves. At McGill, Matt Dobbs and his group are building the readout system for new experiments that measure the CMB and may unveil the signature of inflationary gravity waves using the CMB polarization. Another fundamental unknown is the nature of Dark Energy, which presently accounts for about 70% of the energy density in the universe. Matt Dobbs is involved with the conception, design, construction and science return of the CHIME telescope, which will measure large scale structure through 21cm emission from redshift 0.8 to 2.5. CHIME will contribute a better understanding of the expansion history of the universe and gain new information about Dark Energy.

List of graduate students:
Arnab Chakraborty (Postdoc), Ian Hendricksen (Ph.D.), Zarif Kader (Ph.D.), Sammons Mawson (Postdoc), Joshua Montgomery (Postdoc), Maclean Rouble (Ph.D.)

Prix et distinctions:

• 2014-04 : Herzberg Medal, Canadian Association of Physicists
• 2014-04 : Dunlap Award for Innovation in Astronomical Research Tools, CASCA
• 2013-06 : Senior Fellow in the Cosmology and Gravity Group, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
• 2011-01 à 2015-12 : Chaire de recherche du Canada en physique expérimentale des astroparticules
• 2010-09 à 2012-08 : Sloan Fellowship, Sloan Foundation
• 2010-09 à 2013-08 : Tomlinson Science Award, McGill research excellence fellowship
• 2008-01 à 2013-06 : Scholar in the Cosmology and Gravity Group, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
• 2002-06 à 2005-12 : Owen Chamberlain Fellowship, US Department of Energy