2015/02/28 by Ely D. Kovetz, Marc Kamionkowski
Physics and Astronomy · #Amplitude #Astronomy #Astrophysics #COSMIC cancer database #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Detector #Electronic engineering #Gravitational wave #Inflation (cosmology) #Optics #Physics #Planck #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Sensitivity (control systems) #Sky #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.IM
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.91.081303
published as Phys. Rev. D 91, 081303 (2015) · 6 pages, 1 figure; clarifications added; version accepted as rapid communication in PRD
openalex publication_date 2015/04/14 · arxiv created 2015/04/22 · arxiv updated 2015/04/23 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The Planck satellite has identified several patches of sky with low polarized dust emission, obvious targets for searches for the cosmic microwave background B-mode signal from inflationary gravitational waves. Still, given the Planck measurement uncertainties, the polarized dust foregrounds in these different candidate patches may differ by an order of magnitude or more. Here we show that a brief initial experiment to map these candidate patches more deeply at a single high frequency can efficiently zero in on the cleanest patch(es) and thus improve significantly the sensitivity of subsequent B-mode searches. A ground-based experiment with current detector technology operating at \ensuremath\gtrsim220 GHz for three months can efficiently identify a low-dust-amplitude patch and thus improve by up to a factor 2 or 3 on the sensitivity to cosmic B modes of the subsequent lower-frequency deep integration. A balloon experiment with current detector sensitivities covering the set of patches and operating at \ensuremath∼350 GHz can reach a similar result in less than two weeks. This strategy may prove crucial in accessing the smallest gravitational-wave signals possible in large-field inflation. The high-frequency data from this exploratory experiment should also provide valuable foreground templates to subsequent experiments that integrate on any of the candidate patches explored.