22 research outputs found
MAXIPOL: Cosmic Microwave Background Polarimetry Using a Rotating Half-Wave Plate
We discuss MAXIPOL, a bolometric balloon-borne experiment designed to measure
the E-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB).
MAXIPOL is the first bolometric CMB experiment to observe the sky using rapid
polarization modulation. To build MAXIPOL, the CMB temperature anisotropy
experiment MAXIMA was retrofitted with a rotating half-wave plate and a
stationary analyzer. We describe the instrument, the observations, the
calibration and the reduction of data collected with twelve polarimeters
operating at 140 GHz and with a FWHM beam size of 10 arcmin. We present maps of
the Q and U Stokes parameters of an 8 deg^2 region of the sky near the star
Beta Ursae Minoris. The power spectra computed from these maps give weak
evidence for an EE signal. The maximum-likelihood amplitude of
l(l+1)C^{EE}_{l}/(2 pi) is 55_{-45}^{+51} uK^2 (68%), and the likelihood
function is asymmetric and skewed positive such that with a uniform prior the
probability that the amplitude is positive is 96%. This result is consistent
with the expected concordance LCDM amplitude of 14 uK^2. The maximum likelihood
amplitudes for l(l+1)C^{BB}_{l}/(2 pi) and are
-31_{-19}^{+31} and 18_{-34}^{+27} uK^2 (68%), respectively, which are
consistent with zero. All of the results are for one bin in the range 151 < l <
693. Tests revealed no residual systematic errors in the time or map domain. A
comprehensive discussion of the analysis of the data is presented in a
companion paper.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Ap
The MAXIMA Experiment: Latest Results and Consistency Tests
The MAXIMA cosmic microwave background anisotropy experiment had a
significant impact on cosmology. Results from the program have played a
significant role in determining the geometry of the universe, given strong
supporting evidence to inflation, and, in combination with other astrophysical
data, showed that the universe is filled with dark matter and energy. We
present a subset of the internal consistency checks that were carried out on
the MAXIMA-1 data prior to their release, which demonstrate that systematics
errors were much smaller than statistical errors. We also discuss the MAXIMA-2
flight and data, compare the maps of MAXIMA-1 and -2 in areas where they
overlap and show that the two independent experiments confirm each other. All
of these results demonstrate that MAXIMA mapped the cosmic microwave background
anisotropy with high accuracyComment: to be published in C.R. Physique, 2003, (Academie des Science), 14
pages, figures embedded, a version with high quality figures is available
from http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/maxima/comp_publications.htm
Frequentist Estimation of Cosmological Parameters from the MAXIMA-1 Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Data
We use a frequentist statistical approach to set confidence intervals on the
values of cosmological parameters using the MAXIMA-1 and COBE measurements of
the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background. We define a
statistic, simulate the measurements of MAXIMA-1 and COBE,
determine the probability distribution of the statistic, and use it and the
data to set confidence intervals on several cosmological parameters. We compare
the frequentist confidence intervals to Bayesian credible regions. The
frequentist and Bayesian approaches give best estimates for the parameters that
agree within 15%, and confidence interval-widths that agree within 30%. The
results also suggest that a frequentist analysis gives slightly broader
confidence intervals than a Bayesian analysis. The frequentist analysis gives
values of \Omega=0.89{+0.26\atop -0.19}, \Omega_{\rm B}h^2=0.026{+0.020\atop
-0.011} and n=1.02{+0.31\atop -0.10}, and the Bayesian analysis gives values of
\Omega=0.98{+0.14\atop -0.19}, \Omega_{\rm B}h^2=0.0.029{+0.015\atop-0.010},
and , all at the 95% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages, 9 Postscript figures, changes made to reflect published
versio
Cosmological implications of the MAXIMA-I high resolution Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropy measurement
We discuss the cosmological implications of the new constraints on the power spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy derived from a new high resolution analysis of the MAXIMA-1 measurement (Lee et al. 2001). The power spectrum shows excess power at over the average level of power at This excess is statistically significant on the 95% confidence level. Such a feature is consistent with the presence of a third acoustic peak, which is a generic prediction of inflation-based models. The height and the position of the excess power match the predictions of a family of inflationary models with cosmological parameters that are fixed to fit the CMB data previously provided by BOOMERANG-LDB and MAXIMA-1 experiments (e.g., Jaffe et al.2001). Our results, therefore, lend support for inflationary models and more generally for the dominance of coherent perturbations in the structure formation of the Universe. At the same time, they seem to disfavor a large variety of the non-standard (but still inflation-based) models that have been proposed to improve the quality of fits to the CMB data and consistency with other cosmological observables. Within standard inflationary models, our results combined with the COBE-DMR data give best fit values and 95% confidence limits for the baryon density, , and the total density, . The primordial spectrum slope () and the optical depth to the last scattering surface () are found to be degenerate and to obey the relation , for (all 95% c.l.)
MAXIPOL: Data Analysis and Results
We present results from and the analysis of data from MAXIPOL, a
balloon-borne experiment designed to measure the polarization in the Cosmic
Microwave Background (CMB). MAXIPOL is the first CMB experiment to obtain
results using a rotating half-wave plate as a rapid polarization modulator. We
report results from observations of a sky area of 8 deg^2 with 10-arcmin
resolution, providing information up to l~700. We use a maximum-likelihood
method to estimate maps of the Q and U Stokes parameters from the demodulated
time streams, and then both Bayesian and frequentist approaches to compute the
EE, EB, and BB power spectra. Detailed formalisms of the analyses are given. A
variety of tests show no evidence for systematic errors. The Bayesian analysis
gives weak evidence for an EE signal. The EE power is 55^{+51}_{-45} \mu K^2 at
the 68% confidence level for l=151-693. Its likelihood function is asymmetric
and skewed positive such that with a uniform prior the probability of a
positive EE power is 96%. The powers of EB and BB signals at the 68% confidence
level are 18^{+27}_{-34} \mu K^2 and -31^{+31}_{-19} \mu K^2 respectively and
thus consistent with zero. The upper limit of the BB-mode at the 95% confidence
level is 9.5 \mu K. Results from the frequentist approach are in agreement
within statistical errors. These results are consistent with the current
concordance LCDM model.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables; ApJ publishe
Temperature and polarization angular power spectra of Galactic dust radiation at 353 GHz as measured by Archeops
We present the first measurement of temperature and polarization angular
power spectra of the diffuse emission of Galactic dust at 353 GHz as seen by
Archeops on 20% of the sky. The temperature angular power spectrum is
compatible with that provided by the extrapolation to 353 GHz of IRAS and DIRBE
maps using \cite{fds} model number 8. For Galactic latitudes deg
we report a 4 sigma detection of large scale ()
temperature-polarization cross-correlation and set upper limits to the and modes at . For Galactic latitudes deg, on the same
angular scales, we report a 2 sigma detection of temperature-polarization
cross-correlation . These
results are then extrapolated to 100 GHz to estimate the contamination in CMB
measurements by polarized diffuse Galactic dust emission. The signal is
then and for and 10 deg.
respectively. The upper limit on and becomes . If polarized dust emission at higher Galactic latitude cuts is
similar to the one we report here, then dust polarized radiation will be a
major foreground for determining the polarization power spectra of the CMB at
high frequencies above 100 GHz.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, submitted to A
Instrument, Method, Brightness and Polarization Maps from the 2003 flight of BOOMERanG
We present the BOOMERanG-03 experiment and maps of the Stokes parameters I,
Q, U of the microwave sky obtained during a 14 day balloon flight in 2003.
Three regions of the southern sky were surveyed: a deep survey (~ 90 square
degrees) and a shallow survey (~ 750 square degrees) at high Galactic latitudes
(both centered at RA ~ 5.5 h, dec ~ -45 deg) and a survey of ~ 300 square
degrees across the Galactic plane at RA ~ 9.1 h, dec ~ -47 deg. All three
surveys were carried out in three wide frequency bands centered at 145, 245 and
345 GHz, with an angular resolution of ~ 10'. The 145 GHz maps of Stokes I are
dominated by Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy, which is
mapped with high signal to noise ratio. The measured anisotropy pattern is
consistent with the pattern measured in the same region by BOOMERanG-98 and by
WMAP. The 145 GHz maps of Stokes Q and U provide a robust statistical detection
of polarization of the CMB when subjected to a power spectrum analysis. This
amplitude of the polarization is consistent with that of the CMB in the
CDM cosmological scenario. At 145 GHz, in the CMB surveys, the
intensity and polarization of the astrophysical foregrounds are found to be
negligible with respect to the cosmological signal. At 245 and 345 GHz we
detect ISD emission correlated to the 3000 GHz IRAS/DIRBE maps, and give upper
limits for any other non-CMB component. We also present intensity maps of the
surveyed section of the Galactic plane. These are compared to monitors of
different interstellar components, showing that a variety of emission
mechanisms is present in that region.Comment: see http://oberon.roma1.infn.it/boomerang/b2k and
http://cmb.phys.cwru.edu/boomerang/ for a high resolution versio
Updated Nucleosynthesis Constraints on Unstable Relic Particles
We revisit the upper limits on the abundance of unstable massive relic
particles provided by the success of Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis calculations. We
use the cosmic microwave background data to constrain the baryon-to-photon
ratio, and incorporate an extensively updated compilation of cross sections
into a new calculation of the network of reactions induced by electromagnetic
showers that create and destroy the light elements deuterium, he3, he4, li6 and
li7. We derive analytic approximations that complement and check the full
numerical calculations. Considerations of the abundances of he4 and li6 exclude
exceptional regions of parameter space that would otherwise have been permitted
by deuterium alone. We illustrate our results by applying them to massive
gravitinos. If they weigh ~100 GeV, their primordial abundance should have been
below about 10^{-13} of the total entropy. This would imply an upper limit on
the reheating temperature of a few times 10^7 GeV, which could be a potential
difficulty for some models of inflation. We discuss possible ways of evading
this problem.Comment: 40 pages LaTeX, 18 eps figure