Benjamin Racine
Born in Paris, France.
Did my undergraduate studies at Université Paris Diderot and PhD Astroparticules and Cosmology lab (APC).
After a PhD in 2014, went to University of Oslo for three years as a postdoctoral researcher.
Moved in 2017 to Harvard University , at the Center for Astrophysics as a postdoctoral researcher.
Moved in 2020 to Marseille as a permanent researcher at CNRS.
I am an observational cosmologist, analysing data from several telescopes to understand the evolution of our Universe, from its origin to its current accelerated expansion.
I worked for 10 years on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).
I studied the very early Universe mainly using two probes:
- The measurement of the bispectrum of the temperature and polarisation data from the Planck satellite to study models beyond standard inflation [1,2]
- The search for B-modes in the polarisation of the CMB, coming from primordial gravitational waves (PGW). We used data from Bicep/Keck, Planck and WMAP to put the strongest constraints to date on many models of inflation [3]. I was also involved in the design of the CMB-S4 experiment [4].
In 2020, I moved to the Marseille Particle Physics Center (CPPM) as a permanent CNRS researcher.
I am now using type-1a Supernovae as distance indicators to probe the expansion and evolution of the Universe.
I am working on the photometric calibration of the data from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) to provide the largest homogeneous low redshift sample of SN1a [5].
I am also a member of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC), in particular interested in the detection of new transients in the images.
Beyond the cosmic expansion, in my team in Marseille we are working on the use of distance indicators to probe the velocity fields in the nearby Universe. We can study the gravitational force through its effect on the growth rate of cosmic structures [6].
At Yale, I am interested in using DESI data to extend these studies. I am also interested in studying the imprint of velocity fields in the CMB data, for instance using Simons Observatory data.
- Bucher M., Racine B., van Tent B. : http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.08107, JCAP, 05-055, September 2016.
- Planck Collaboration (incl. Racine,B.): http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.01592, A&A, 594, A17, October 2016.
- Keck Array, BICEP2 Collaborations (incl. Racine,B.): https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.05216, PRL 121, 221301, November 2018.
- CMB-S4 Collaboration (incl. Racine,B.): https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.12619, ApJ, 926, 54, August 2020.
- ZTF SN Ia DR2 release paper, Rigault et al. (incl. Racine,B.): https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.04346, A&A (ZTF DR2 Special Issue)
- Carreres B. et al (incl. Racine,B.): https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.01198, A\&A, 674, A197, March 2023.
More publications here: https://arxiv.org/search/astro-ph?searchtype=author&query=Racine,+B