Introductory Remarks to Cosmic Background Parallel Sessions

Abstract

These are promising times for the study of cosmic microwave background and foregrounds. While, at the date of this meeting, WMAP is close to release its final maps and products, Planck early and intermediate results have been presented with the first release of the compact source catalog, and the presentation of the first cosmological products is approaching. This parallel session is focussed on the astrophysical sky as seen by Planck and other observatories, and on their scientific exploitation, regarding diffuse emissions, sources, galaxy clusters, cosmic infrared background, as well as on critical issues coming from systematic effects and data analysis, in the view of fundamental physics and cosmology perspectives. At the same time, a new generation of CMB anisotropy and polarization experiments is currently operated using large arrays of detectors, boosting the sensitivity and resolution of the surveys to unprecedented levels. Mainstream projects are observations of the polarization of the CMB, looking for the inflationary B-modes at large and intermediate angular scales, fine-scale measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies, and the precise measure of CMB spectrum. <P />