Download or read book Precise Measurement of B mode Polarization Signal from the Cosmic Microwave Background with Polarbear and the Simons Array written by Praween Siritanasak and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history, human beings have always sought to answer the question "what was the origin of the universe?" The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is one of the most essential scientific tools that will help us better understand the universe. The temperature maps of the CMB have allowed us to study the nature of the early universe through the standard [Lambda]CDM model as well as to describe its evolution. Nevertheless, many questions remain. The next step in finding the answer lies in the measurement of the B-mode polarization of the CMB. These faint signals from the primordial universe are expected to be key pieces of evidence of the inflationary gravitational wave. Successful detection of this B-mode polarization would not only serve as direct evidence of the inflation theory but also lead to constraining of inflationary model and the energy scale of inflation. Moreover, the gravitational lensing of CMB E-mode polarization to B-mode polarization signal at small angular scales will allow us to trace back to the distribution of matter in our universe. This dissertation describes the details of the Polarbear instrument which is designed to detect CMB B-mode polarization. The results from the first and second observational season are also described. Furthermore, this dissertation discusses the development of the Simons Array instrument, which is the expansion of Polarbear with expanded capabilities and increased sensitivity. The Simons Array is scheduled to deploy in 2018.
Download or read book Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Science and Optical Design of the POLARBEAR and Simons Array Experiments written by Frederick Takayuki Matsuda and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation contains great amounts of information that allow for studying the physics of the early universe through constraining cosmological parameters in the standard [Lambda]CDM model. The CMB temperature signal has been measured to high precision, but measuring the CMB polarization signal is still in its early stages. The theoretically small primordial CMB polarization B-mode signal has not yet been measured, but has principle importance in that its existence would be strong evidence of inflation. This measurement allows one to probe the earliest state of the universe at energy scales of 10^16 GeV thought to be near the Grand Unified Theory scale. The B-mode signal arising from weak gravitational lensing by large scale structures provides information about the matter composition of the universe and puts strong constraints on the sum of the neutrino masses. This dissertation discusses the optical design, instrumentation, data analysis, and first season science results of the POLARBEAR experiment, a CMB polarization telescope aimed to measure the B-mode signal. The results show the first evidence of non-zero lensing B-modes at sub-degree angular scales on the sky. The development and measurement results of the Fourier transform spectrometer calibration instrument used to characterize the spectral response of the POLARBEAR detectors are also described. The optical design development and systematic studies for the Simons Array, the next generation installment of the experiment, are described as well. The cross polarization effect of Mizuguchi-Dragone breaking due to a prime focus half-wave plate, and the optical redesign of the Simons Array re-imaging optics for increased optical performance at higher frequencies were studied in detail. The Simons Array is planned to fully deploy in 2018 to further study the CMB with enhanced sensitivity.
Download or read book Precise Astronomical Polarization Angle Calibration and Its Impact on Studying Lorentz and Parity Violation in the Cosmic Microwave Background written by Martin Frank Navaroli and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Precise measurements of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) provide a wealth of knowledge regarding fundamental physics and the origins of our universe. We are currently in an era where the CMB polarization B-mode power spectrum is being measured at both small and large angular scales, providing increasingly tighter constraints on both the effects of gravitational lensing and the amount of primordial gravitational waves generated during the epoch of inflation. As we look toward the next generation of ground-based CMB experiments such as the Simons Observatory and CMB-S4, we must further our understanding of the systematic uncertainties that currently limit constraining power on both the tensor-to-scalar ratio and searches for exotic new physics. Lorentz and parity violating physics such as cosmic birefringence have the effect of rotating the polarization of CMB photons as they traverse cosmological distances, generating B-mode polarization signal and non-zero correlations between the CMB temperature and B-mode power spectra as well as the CMB E-mode and B-mode power spectra, both of which are disallowed by the current standard model of cosmology. This cosmic polarization rotation (CPR) is degenerate with an overall detector misalignment of similar angle magnitude. The precision with which current state-of-the-art polarization calibrators are characterized is presently inadequate to allow for meaningful detections of non-zero CPR from physics that diverge from the standard model to be claimed. This dissertation provides an overview of the current CMB polarization calibration standards and methodology in the context of the POLARBEAR-1 and Simons Array experiments, as well as the design and characterization of a novel ground-based absolute polarization calibrator that will enable new searches for Lorentz and parity violating physics. The calibrator's repeatability between calibrations scans was proven to better than 0.1 degrees, and results from calibration performed on the POLARBEAR-1 telescope and the POLARBEAR-2b receiver are presented in this work.
Download or read book Precision Measurements of Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization to Study Cosmic Inflation and Large Scale Structure written by Darcy Riley Barron and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) are a powerful tool to study and understand our universe. Detailed characterizations of the temperature of the CMB played a key role in the development of the current standard cosmological model, Lambda CDM. Although this model, along with the standard model of particle physics, describes much of the observed large-scale structure of the universe and its evolution, there are still gaps in our understanding. The next step for answering many of these outstanding questions in cosmology and particle physics lies in the characterization of the CMB B-mode polarization pattern. This faint signal is expected to be imprinted at the formation of the CMB by inflationary gravitational waves in the early universe. Detection of this primordial B-mode signal would not only be the first direct evidence for inflation, but would also constrain inflationary models and determine the energy scale of inflation. Gravitational lensing of CMB E-mode polarization by intervening matter also produces a secondary B-mode polarization signal at smaller angular scales. This signal traces large scale structure in the universe, with information about the distribution and composition of matter. This dissertation describes research in instrumentation, observations, and data analysis for measurements of the CMB B-mode signal, including work on three generations of experiments in this rapidly evolving field. Analysis of the galactic plane and CMB multi-frequency data from the BICEP1 CMB polarization telescope helped further our understanding of polarized CMB foregrounds by studying polarized galactic emission and the structure of the galactic magnetic field. The deployment and first season of observations with the POLARBEAR-1 instrument, a CMB polarization telescope, are described. This instrument reached a milestone in sensitivity with our measurement of a non-zero B-mode polarization power spectrum. Finally, this thesis discusses the design and development of the POLARBEAR-2 instrument, a new receiver with expanded capabilities and sensitivity, scheduled to deploy alongside POLARBEAR-1 in 2016.
Download or read book Measuring the Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background with POLARBEAR 1 and Developing the Next Generation Experiment POLARBEAR 2 written by Tucker Elleflot and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Measurements of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have the potential to provide very strong evidence for cosmic inflation. However, the polarization signal that is expected to have been created by inflation is extremely small. This has motivated the construction of extremely sensitive instruments with thousands of cryogenic detectors. Simons Array is a CMB polarization experiment comprised of three telescopes located in northern Chile and each containing a cryogenic receiver. The Simons Array will observe in four frequency bands in order to measure the CMB signal as well as polarized foreground signals. The design of the detectors and readout system has been optimized to provide a low noise measurement and an experiment that can observe in varying weather conditions. Characterizing the detectors and readout system has been a crucial part of the development of the Simons Array receivers. This dissertation describes the development and deployment of the Simons Array experiment with a focus on characterization of the cryogenic detector and readout electronics.
Download or read book Sensitive Detection of CMB B Mode Polarization written by Stephanie Moyerman and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Numerous experiments in the last two decades have shown that the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a powerful cosmological probe. The temperature anisotropy of the CMB has now been mapped to exquisite precision by many experiments, yielding tight constraints on the standard LCDM cosmological model. Many current and upcoming experiments focus on measuring CMB polarization, in particular the B-mode polarization, which potentially encodes information from long before the epoch of matter-radiation decoupling. However, the magnitude of the inflationary B-mode signal is constrained by an upper limit of tens of nK, which represents a massive experimental challenge. Foreground contamination and systematic effects, among other factors, further increase the difficulty of detection. A measurement of this signal therefore requires the development of dedicated telescopes with exquisite control of systematics and large kilo-pixel arrays of background limited detectors. This thesis describes my work on Cosmic Microwave Background polarization studies. Specifically, it describes my data analysis efforts on two CMB polarization telescopes, BICEP and POLARBEAR, my contribution to hardware efforts on POLARBEAR, and my design and fabrication work on next generation detector arrays.
Download or read book Measurement of the Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background with the BICEP2 and Keck Array Telescopes written by Grant Paul Teply and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Precision polarimetry of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) has become a mainstay of observational cosmology. The Lambda-CDM model predicts a polarization of the CMB at the level of a few mu-K, with a characteristic E-mode pattern. On small angular scales, a B-mode pattern arises from the gravitational lensing of E-mode power by the large scale structure of the universe. Inflationary gravitational waves (IGW) may be a source of B-mode power on large angular scales, and their relative contribution to primordial fluctuations is parameterized by a tensor-to-scalar ratio r. BICEP2 and Keck Array are a pair of CMB polarimeters at the South Pole designed and built for optimal sensitivity to the primordial B-mode peak around multipole l ~ 100. The BICEP2/Keck Array program intends to achieve a sensitivity to r [greater than or equal to] 0.02. Auxiliary science goals include the study of gravitational lensing of E-mode into B-mode signal at medium angular scales and a high precision survey of Galactic polarization. These goals require low noise and tight control of systematics. We describe the design and calibration of the instrument. We also describe the analysis of the first three years of science data. BICEP2 observes a significant B-mode signal at 150 GHz in excess of the level predicted by the lensed-Lambda-CDM model, and Keck Array confirms the excess signal at greater than 5-sigma. We combine the maps from the two experiments to produce 150 GHz Q and U maps which have a depth of 57 nK deg (3.4 mu-K arcmin) over an effective area of 400 deg2 for an equivalent survey weight of 248000 mu-K2. We also show preliminary Keck Array 95 GHz maps. A joint analysis with the Planck collaboration reveals that much of BICEP2/Keck Array's observed 150 GHz signal at low l is more likely a Galactic dust foreground than a measurement of r. Marginalizing over dust and r, lensing B-modes are detected at 7.0-sigma significance.
Download or read book Characterization and Deployment of the POLARBEAR 2b Receiver to Measure the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization written by Jennifer Chiemi Ito and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Simons Array, located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, is a project designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Studying the CMB in this capacity provides insight into the history of our Universe and contributes to the understanding of its current evolution. The POLARBEAR-2b receiver is the second cryogenic receiver designed and built for the Simons Array. This instrument houses over 7,000 transition-edge sensor bolometers cooled to a base temperature of 250 millikelvin that are read out with a digital frequency multiplexing scheme that minimizes the internal wiring. The signals are amplified using superconducting quantum interference devices that are cooled to 4 Kelvin. The optical components of this receiver include a ultra-high molecular weight polyethelyne window, a cryogenic, continuously rotating half-wave plate, an infrared-blocking filter, and three reimaging alumina lenses with a lyot aperture. Careful assembly methods of all the elements mentioned to build the receiver are necessary to ensure successful operation of the instrument during in-lab testing and in the field. POLARBEAR-2b was integrated at UC San Diego before it began its deployment in January 2020 and was hoisted onto the Paul Simons telescope in July of 2022. This dissertation focuses on the final in-lab integration testing and results as well as the receiver assembly methods and modifications that enabled a successful field deployment of the POLARBEAR-2b receiver.
Download or read book The POLARBEAR 2 Cryogenic Receiver for Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Science written by Logan Howe and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have proved pivotal over the last few decades in the development of [Lambda]CDM, the standard model of cosmology. Coupled with the standard model of particle physics, these two theories describe a majority of our observations of the Universe’s structure, dynamics, and evolution. Beyond discovering the specifics of how our Universe was formed, remaining open questions regarding our Universe include the masses of neutrino species, the exact nature of dark matter, and the equation of state of dark energy--to name a few. The CMB is imprinted with information that can help answer all these questions, making measurements of the temperature and polarization field of the CMB at high precision an effective path to increasing our understanding of fundamental physics. The polarization field especially, composed of parity even E-mode and parity odd B-mode patterns, possesses untapped constraining power, at both very large and very small angular scales. This dissertation describes the design and characterization of cryogenic receivers for the Simons Array CMB polarization experiment. The Simons Array is located at 5200 m elevation in the Atacama desert, Chile and consists of three off-axis Gregorian-Dragone telescopes, each coupled to a POLARBEAR-2 cryogenic receiver. Each receiver’s focal plane is comprised of 7,588 transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers cooled to 250 mK and read out using 4 K superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) using digital frequency division multiplexing (DfMUX). The POLARBEAR-2 receiver cryostat consists of an optics tube and backend cryostat, which are built and tested separately, then integrated for final testing before deployment to the Chilean site. Here we describe fabrication and cryogenic validation of two POLARBEAR-2 backends, and of the complete second POLARBEAR-2 receiver: POLARBEAR-2b. Additionally, we discuss readout and detector integration, including detailed SQUID characterization and TES array measurements, and demonstration of deployment readiness of all selected devices and subcomponents. Finally, we describe efforts and progress towards final lab validation of the POLARBEAR-2b receiver and final demonstrations of deployment readiness.
Download or read book The POLARBEAR Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Experiment and Anti Reflection Coatings for Millimeter Wave Observations written by Erin Quealy and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New technology has rapidly advanced the field of observational cosmology over the last 30 years. This trend will continue with the development of technologies to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization. The B-mode component of the polarization map will place limits on the energy scale of inflation and the sum of the neutrino masses. This thesis describes the \pb instrument which will measure the CMB polarization anisotropy to unprecedented sensitivity. POLARBEAR-I is currently observing, and an upgraded version, POLARBEAR-II, is planned for the future. The first version of the experiment, POLARBEAR-I, is fielding several new technologies for the first time. POLARBEAR-I has high sensitivity due to its detector count. It employs a 1274 detector Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer array. The bolometers are coupled to a planar array of polarization sensitive antennas. These antennas are lithographed on the same substrate as the TES detectors, allowing on-chip band defining filters between the antenna and detector. The focal plane is composed of seven hexagonal detector modules. This modular scheme can be extended to create larger focal plane arrays in the future. POLARBEAR-I is observing at a single band near 150 GHz, the peak in the CMB blackbody curve. The lenslet antenna coupled detector technology, fielding for the first time in POLARBEAR-I, is naturally scalable to larger arrays with multi-chroic pixels. This broadband technology will have higher sensitivity and better capability for astronomical foreground contaminant removal. The antenna geometry can be changed to receive a wider frequency bandwidth. This bandwidth can be broken into multiple frequency bands with the on-chip band defining filters. Each band will be read out by one TES detector. A dual band instrument, \pbtwo, is in development with bands at 90 and 150 GHz. One challenge for all CMB polarization measurements is minimization of systematic errors. One source of error is polarized reflections off of the refractive optics inside the receiver. Specifically, the antenna-coupled detector scheme relies on a high dielectric lenslet for each pixel on the focal plane. A large portion of this thesis discusses development of anti-reflection (AR) coatings for the high curvature lenslet surface. The AR coating technologies discussed are also applicable to other optical elements, such as reimaging lenses and half-wave plates. A single layer coating is used on the \pbone lenslet array, and a two layer coating is presented for use in \pbtwo. The two layer coating method can be extended to wider bandwidth AR coatings.
Download or read book Measurement of the B mode Power Spectrum with POLARBEAR written by Bryan Steinbach and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We present the \pb experiment and its measurement of the B-mode power spectrum. \pb is a millimeter wave telescope that is measuring the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization, using large format arrays of photon noise limited Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers. The instrument observes from the Atacama Desert at 5.2km in elevation with a 2.5m primary aperture telescope. This telescope has sufficient angular resolution (3.5' FWHM) to resolve the gravitational lensing features of the CMB, a new channel for obtaining information on fundamental physics such as the sum of the mass of neutrinos. This dissertation describes the design, integration and results of the first season of \pb observations. The receiver observed for 1 year with a noise-equivalent temperature (NET) of $22.8\mu K \sqrt{s}$ and mapped a 30 square degree area of the CMB, obtaining evidence for gravitational lensing in the BB power spectrum at a significance of $2\sigma$.
Download or read book Measurement of the Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background with BICEP3 and the Keck Array Telescopes written by Jae Hwan Kang and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) shows the afterglow image of the Big Bang, providing a window to probe the very early Universe. The CMB encodes the information in the temperature and polarization fluctuations. BICEP3 and the Keck Array telescopes are small aperture refracting telescopes at the South Pole to measure the B-mode polarization of the CMB at the degree angular scales, which holds a key to probe inflation theory. This dissertation presents the progress of the BICEP/Keck Array telescopes on measuring the B modes and the recent test of low elevation observation with BICEP3 to expand its sky coverage at the South Pole. The BICEP/Keck Array telescopes produced the tightest constraint to the power of primordial B-modes, parameterized by the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, to be less than 0.07 at 95% confidence with the one sigma uncertainty in r about 0.02, using polarization data up to 2015 observing season. BICEP3 was fully deployed for 2016 observing season and has been operating since. Together with the Keck Array telescopes operating at higher frequencies, we expect to achieve the one sigma uncertainty in r about 0.01 from data up to 2018 observing season. During the austral summer of 2018-19, we tested the feasibility of using BICEP3 to observe the CMB at a low elevation at the South Pole. Due to operational constraints, we had to use a flat mirror to direct the beams to the low elevation range. We obtained additional data at the end of the 2019 winter observing season. We present the temperature and polarization maps from this data set, which clearly shows the detection of the E mode polarization. This potentially opens an opportunity to cover an extended patch of the sky at the South Pole. If the primordial B-mode is detected at the main observing field, probing larger areas will reduce sample variance. Larger observing field is also important to study the non-Gaussianity and decorrelation of the foregrounds. An interesting patch in this extended region is the CMB Cold Spot, whose origin is still in question. The possibility of testing polarization anomaly deviating from the standard Gaussian fluctuation around the Cold Spot is discussed.
Download or read book CMB Polarization Workshop written by Scott Dodelson and published by American Institute of Physics. This book was released on 2009-06-24 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The workshop brought together experts in astronomy and particle physics to make the science case for a satellite mission to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Detailed maps of the CMB polarization will potentially reveal clues about the origin of the universe. An early epoch of inflation typically produces a spectrum of gravitational waves and these leave a distinctive imprint on the CMB polarization field. The workshop addressed all theoretical aspects of this science: which inflationary models predict an amplitude that will be detected and which do not? What do alternatives to inflation predict? Apart from the gravitational wave signal, what other science can be gleaned from these measurements? High resolution maps should have traces of gravitational lensing which in turn is affected by dark energy and massive neutrinos. How well will a satellite mission be able to measure these effects? CMB polarization also speaks to the end of the Dark Ages; the constraints on reionzation are discussed in the context of all other probes. Finally, several articles – based on many talks and follow-up work – probe the science of and removal of Galactic foregrounds.
Download or read book Measuring the Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background with the Keck Array and Bicep2 written by Sarah Kernasovskiy and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inflation, the theory that the early universe underwent a brief period of exponential expansion, extends the standard model of cosmology to resolve the isotropy, flatness, entropy, and monopole problems. Quantum fluctuations in the inflationary field set the initial seeds of matter which became the temperature anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and later formed the large scale structures of the universe. Quantum fluctuations of the gravitational field during inflation are predicted to produce a stochastic background of gravitational waves which would leave an imprint in the B-mode (curl) component of the polarization of the CMB, with an amplitude dependent on the energy scale of inflation. Bicep2 and the Keck Array are telescopes designed specifically to measure the B-mode polarization at degree-angular scales. They are a set of cryogenically cooled telescopes with refracting, on-axis optics with an aperture of 26.4 cm. The Keck Array has a combined imaging array of 2500 antenna-coupled TES bolometers read with a SQUID-based time-domain multiplexing system. All five of the Keck Array telescopes observed a 400 square degree patch from the South Pole at 150 GHz in 2012-2013, with an achieved sensitivity of 9 micro-K/rt(s) for the 2013 season. This thesis will focus on the optimization and characterization of the Keck Array, as well as the combined cosmology results from the Keck Array with Bicep2. The Keck Array data are consistent with the Bicep2 detection of B-mode polarization at degree-angular scales and increases the sensitivity of the measurement by a factor of 2.
Download or read book High Fidelity Maps of the CMB Polarization from the First Two Campaigns of the POLARBEAR Experiment and Their Statistical Exploitation written by Davide Poletti and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis concerns the cosmic microwave background (CMB) map-making problem in the presence of filtering. The observations of the CMB kept refining our understanding of the universe over the past decades. The characterisation of its curl-like polarisation pattern - the so-called B-modes - is expected to convey invaluable information on both the primordial and the late universe as well as on fundamental physics.In order to extract these unique constraints from the faint B-mode signal, the quality and the size of CMB datasets have been constantly increasing, posing serious challenges for data analysis. The reconstruction of the map of the observed sky compresses by many orders of magnitude the data volume, white striving for preserving ail the cosmological information. In this process, the raw data are typically filtered in order to remove unwanted signais of instrumental or astrophysical origins. This thesis illustrates the formalism for performing general filtering operations and for incorporating them in the map-making procedure. The realistic circumstances under which this unbiased estimation of the sky signal can succeed are also investigated, both in general and in the specific context of ground-based experiments. This new formalism has been innplemented in a massively parallel map-making code, capable of producing high fidelity renditions of the sky as well as their detailed statistical characterisation. The methodology and the tool are then applied to the analysis of the first and second season data POLARBEAR, one of the leading experiments in the B-modes quest.
Download or read book Illuminating the Background written by Nathan James Miller and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cosmic microwave background provides a wealth of information about the origin and history of the universe. The statistics of the anisotropy and the polarization of the cosmic microwave background, among other things, can tell us about the distribution of matter, the redshift of reionization, and the nature of the primordial fluctuations. From the lensing of cosmic microwave background due to intervening matter, we can extract information about neutrinos and the equation of state of dark energy. A measurement of the large angular scale B-mode polarization has been called the "smoking gun'' of inflation, a theory that describes a possible early rapid expansion of the universe. The focus of current experiments is to measure this B-mode polarization, while several experiments, such as POLARBEAR, are also looking to measure the lensing of the cosmic microwave background. This dissertation will discuss several different topics in cosmic microwave background polarization research. I will make predictions for future experiments and I will also show analysis for two current experiments, POLARBEAR and BICEP. I will show how beam systematics affect the measurement of cosmological parameters and how well we must limit these systematics in order to get unbiased constraints on cosmological parameters for future experiments. I will discuss a novel way of using the temperature-polarization cross-correlation to constrain the amount of inflationary gravitational waves. Through Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, I will determine how well future experiments will be able to constrain the neutrino masses and their degeneracy parameters. I will show results from current data analysis and calibration being done on the Cedar Flat deployment for the POLARBEAR experiment which is currently being constructed in the Atacama desert in Chile. Finally, I will analyze the claim of detection of cosmological birefringence in the BICEP data and show that there is reason to believe it is due to systematic effects in the data.
Download or read book Detection of Degree scale B mode Polarization and Studying Cosmic Polarization Rotation with the BICEP1 and BICEP2 Telescopes written by Jonathan Philip Kaufman and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The BICEP1 and BICEP2 telescopes studied the temperature and polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from 2006 - 2008 and 2010 - 2012, respectively, producing the deepest maps of polarization created to date. From BICEP2 three-year data, we detect B-mode polarization at the degree-scale above the expectation from lensed-[Lambda]CDM to greater than 5[sigma] significance, consistent with that expected from gravitational waves created during Inflation. Instrumental systematic effects have been characterized and ruled out, and galactic foreground contamination is disfavored by the data. Additionally, correlations between temperature and B-mode polarization and between E-mode and B-mode polarization show evidence of polarization rotation of -1° to 5[sigma] significance; however, adding systematic uncertainty reduces this significance to ~2[sigma]. These measurements, combined with other CMB and astrophysical measurements, point to possible parity violating physics like cosmic birefringence, but more precise calibration techniques are required to break the degeneracy between cosmic polarization rotation and systematic effects. Improved calibration is possible with current generation technology and may be achieved within the next few years. In this work, I present experimental and analysis techniques employed for BICEP1 and BICEP2 to measure B-mode polarization and temperature and polarization correlations, as well as the scientific motivation, results, and a path forward for future measurements.
