The Millimeter-wave Bolometric Interferometer and the Einstein Polarization Interferometer for Cosmology: Systematics

The Millimeter-wave Bolometric Interferometer (MBI) is a prototype instrument developed in part as a pathfinder for a future space-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization measurement, the Einstein Polarization Interferometer for Cosmology (EPIC). MBI uses adding interferometry to measure CMB polarization; this is a distinctly different and possibly more advantageous approach than directly imaging the sky. The adding interferometer has sensitivity comparable to that of an imaging experiment, but the adding inteferometer has different systematic effects than an imaging experiment. We explore and compare some of those effects here.