Cosmic microwave background polarization analysis
نویسنده
چکیده
With polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) now detected, and confirmed by several independent experiments, the next goal is to characterise accurately its statistical properties. In these lecture notes we review the physical motivation for pursuing CMB polarization, and the basic statistical properties of the polarization fields. We then discuss some of the key aspects of the analysis of CMB polarization data, focusing on the additional complications that arise compared to temperature data due to the tensor character of the polarization field.
منابع مشابه
The Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background
We summarize the physical mechanism by which the cosmic microwave background acquires a small degree of polarization. We discuss the imprint left by gravitational waves and the use of polarization as a test of the inflationary paradigm. We discuss some physical processes that affect the cosmic microwave background polarization after recombination, such as gravitational lensing and the reionizat...
متن کاملDasi Three-year Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Results
We present the analysis of the complete 3-year data set obtained with the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI) polarization experiment, operating from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole research station. Additional data obtained at the end of the 2002 Austral winter and throughout the 2003 season were added to the data from which the first detection of polarization of the cosmic microwave back...
متن کاملImproved simulation of non–Gaussian temperature and polarization CMB maps
We describe an algorithm to generate temperature and polarization maps of the cosmic microwave background radiation containing non–Gaussianity of arbitrary local type. We apply an optimized quadrature scheme that allows us to predict and control integration accuracy, speed up the calculations, and reduce memory consumption by an order of magnitude. We generate 1000 non– Gaussian CMB temperature...
متن کاملConstraining Fundamental Physics with the Cosmic Microwave Background
The temperature anisotropies and polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation provide a window back to the physics of the early universe. They encode the nature of the initial fluctuations and so can reveal much about the physical mechanism that led to their generation. In this contribution we review what we have learnt so far about early-universe physics from CMB observation...
متن کاملLarge Angular Scale Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation and the Feasibility of Its Detection Brian
In addition to its spectrum and temperature anisotropy, the 2.7 K cosmic microwave background (CMB) is also expected to exhibit a low level of polarization. The spatial power spectrum of the polarization can provide details about the formation of structure in the universe as well as its ionization history. Here we calculate the magnitude of the CMB polarization in various cosmological scenarios...
متن کامل