Measurement of Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Power Spectra From Two Years of Bicep Data
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (B icep ) is a bolometric polarimeter designed to measure the inflationary B -mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at degree angular scales. During three seasons of observing at the South Pole (2006 through 2008), Bicep mapped ∼2% of the sky chosen to be uniquely clean of polarized foreground emission. Here, we present initial results derived from a subset of the data acquired during the first two years. We present maps of temperature, Stokes Q and U , E and B modes, and associated angular power spectra. We demonstrate that the polarization data are self-consistent by performing a series of jackknife tests. We study potential systematic errors in detail and show that they are sub-dominant to the statistical errors. We measure the E -mode angular power spectrum with high precision at 21 ⩽ ℓ ⩽ 335, detecting for the first time the peak expected at ℓ ∼ 140. The measured E -mode spectrum is consistent with expectations from a ΛCDM model, and the B -mode spectrum is consistent with zero. The tensor-to-scalar ratio derived from the B -mode spectrum is r = 0.02 +0.31 −0.26 , or r < 0.72 at 95% confidence, the first meaningful constraint on the inflationary gravitational wave background to come directly from CMB B -mode polarization.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: H. C. Chiang, P. A. R. Ade, D. Barkats, J. O. Battle, E. M. Bierman, J. J. Bock, C. D. Dowell, L. Duband, E. F. Hivon, W. L. Holzapfel, V. V. Hristov, W. C. Jones, B. G. Keating, J. M. Kovac, C. L. Kuo, A. E. Lange, E. M. Leitch, P. V. Mason, T. Matsumura, H. T. Nguyen, N. Ponthieu, C. Pryke, S. Richter, G. Rocha, C. Sheehy, Y. D. Takahashi, J. E. Tolan, K. W. Yoon
Institutions: California Institute of Technology, Princeton University, University of Wales, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of California San Diego, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, University of California, Berkeley, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, University of Chicago, Université Paris-Sud, Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G2371548206, G262532246, G303061748, G4235786860, G5570207115, G628751139, CAREER: The Birth Pangs of the Big Bang: Detecting Primordial Gravitational Waves with Microwave Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (BICEP), Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (BICEP): An Experimental Probe of Inflation, G969889393
OpenAlex ID: W2019228047