QUIJOTE-CMB experiment: a technical overview

The QUIJOTE-CMB experiment (Q-U-I JOint TEnerife CMB experiment) is an ambitious project to obtain polarization measurements of the sky microwave emission in the 10 to 47 GHz range. With this aim, a pair of 2,5m telescopes and three instruments are being sited at the Teide Observatory, in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). The first telescope and the first instrument (the MFI: Multi Frequency Instrument) are both already operating in the band from 10 to 20 GHz, since November 2012. The second telescope and the second instrument (TGI: Thirty GHz instrument) is planned to be in commissioning by the end of summer 2014, covering the range of 26 to 36 GHz. After that, a third instrument named FGI (Forty GHz instrument) will be designed and manufactured to complete the sky survey in the frequency range from 37 to 47 GHz. In this paper we present an overview of the whole project current status, from the technical point of view

The QUIJOTE TGI

The QUIJOTE TGI instrument is currently being assembled and tested at the IAC in Spain. The TGI is a 31 pixel 26-36 GHz polarimeter array designed to be mounted at the focus of the second QUIJOTE telescope. This follows a first telescope and multi-frequency instrument that have now been observing almost 2 years. The polarimeter design is based on the QUIET polarimeter scheme but with the addition of an extra 90º phase switch which allows for quasiinstantaneous complete QUI measurements through each detector. The advantage of this is a reduction in the systematics associated with differencing two independent radiometer channels. The polarimeters are split into a cold front end and a warm back end. The back end is a highly integrated design by engineers at DICOM. It is also sufficiently modular for testing purposes. In this presentation the high quality wide band components used in the optical design (also designed in DICOM) are presented as well as the novel cryogenic modular design. Each polarimeter chain is accessible individually and can be removed from the cryostat and replaced without having to move the remaining pixels. The optical components work over the complete Ka band showing excellent performance. Results from the sub unit measurements are presented and also a description of the novel calibration technique that allows for bandpass measurement and polar alignment. Terrestrial Calibration for this instrument is very important and will be carried out at three points in the commissioning phase: in the laboratory, at the telescope site and finally a reduce set of calibrations will be carried out on the telescope before measurements of extraterrestrial sources begin. The telescope pointing model is known to be more precise than the expected calibration precision so no further significant error will be added through the telescope optics. The integrated back-end components are presented showing the overall arrangement for mounting on the cryostat. Many of the microwave circuits are in-house designs with performances that go beyond commercially available products. Individual component performance is be presented showing for each of the sub modules

The QUIJOTE experiment: project overview and first results

QUIJOTE (Q-U-I JOint TEnerife) is a new polarimeter aimed to characterize the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background and other Galactic and extragalactic signals at medium and large angular scales in the frequency range 10-40 GHz. The multi-frequency (10-20~GHz) instrument, mounted on the first QUIJOTE telescope, saw first light on November 2012 from the Teide Observatory (2400~m a.s.l). During 2014 the second telescope has been installed at this observatory. A second instrument at 30~GHz will be ready for commissioning at this telescope during summer 2015, and a third additional instrument at 40~GHz is now being developed. These instruments will have nominal sensitivities to detect the B-mode polarization due to the primordial gravitational-wave component if the tensor-to-scalar ratio is larger than r=0.05.Comment: To appear in "Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics VIII", Proceedings of the XI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society, Teruel, Spain (2014

Beryllium abundances in stars hosting giant planets

We have derived beryllium abundances in a wide sample of stars hosting planets, with spectral types in the range F7V-K0V, aimed at studying in detail the effects of the presence of planets on the structure and evolution of the associated stars. Predictions from current models are compared with the derived abundances and suggestions are provided to explain the observed inconsistencies. We show that while still not clear, the results suggest that theoretical models may have to be revised for stars with Teff<5500K. On the other hand, a comparison between planet host and non-planet host stars shows no clear difference between both populations. Although preliminary, this result favors a ``primordial'' origin for the metallicity ``excess'' observed for the planetary host stars. Under this assumption, i.e. that there would be no differences between stars with and without giant planets, the light element depletion pattern of our sample of stars may also be used to further investigate and constraint Li and Be depletion mechanisms.Comment: A&A in press -- accepted on the 22/02/2002 (11 pages, 6 figures included

QUIJOTE Experiment: status of telescopes and instrumentation

The QUIJOTE Experiment (Q-U-I JOint TEnerife) is a combined operation of two telescopes and three instruments working in the microwave band to measure the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the northern hemisphere, at medium and large angular scales. The experiment is located at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, one of the seven Canary Islands (Spain). The project is a consortium maintained by several institutions: the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), the Instituto de Física de Cantabria (IFCA), the Communications Engineering Department (DICOM) at Universidad de Cantabria, and the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge. The consortium is led by the IAC

The European Solar Telescope

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project aimed at studying the magnetic connectivity of the solar atmosphere, from the deep photosphere to the upper chromosphere. Its design combines the knowledge and expertise gathered by the European solar physics community during the construction and operation of state-of-the-art solar telescopes operating in visible and near-infrared wavelengths: the Swedish 1m Solar Telescope, the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and GREGOR, the French Télescope Héliographique pour l'Étude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires, and the Dutch Open Telescope. With its 4.2 m primary mirror and an open configuration, EST will become the most powerful European ground-based facility to study the Sun in the coming decades in the visible and near-infrared bands. EST uses the most innovative technological advances: the first adaptive secondary mirror ever used in a solar telescope, a complex multi-conjugate adaptive optics with deformable mirrors that form part of the optical design in a natural way, a polarimetrically compensated telescope design that eliminates the complex temporal variation and wavelength dependence of the telescope Mueller matrix, and an instrument suite containing several (etalon-based) tunable imaging spectropolarimeters and several integral field unit spectropolarimeters. This publication summarises some fundamental science questions that can be addressed with the telescope, together with a complete description of its major subsystems

The European Solar Telescope

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project aimed at studying the magnetic connectivity of the solar atmosphere, from the deep photosphere to the upper chromosphere. Its design combines the knowledge and expertise gathered by the European solar physics community during the construction and operation of state-of-the-art solar telescopes operating in visible and near-infrared wavelengths: the Swedish 1m Solar Telescope, the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and GREGOR, the French Télescope Héliographique pour l’Étude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires, and the Dutch Open Telescope. With its 4.2 m primary mirror and an open configuration, EST will become the most powerful European ground-based facility to study the Sun in the coming decades in the visible and near-infrared bands. EST uses the most innovative technological advances: the first adaptive secondary mirror ever used in a solar telescope, a complex multi-conjugate adaptive optics with deformable mirrors that form part of the optical design in a natural way, a polarimetrically compensated telescope design that eliminates the complex temporal variation and wavelength dependence of the telescope Mueller matrix, and an instrument suite containing several (etalon-based) tunable imaging spectropolarimeters and several integral field unit spectropolarimeters. This publication summarises some fundamental science questions that can be addressed with the telescope, together with a complete description of its major subsystems

KISS: a spectrometric imager for millimetre cosmology

International audienceClusters of galaxies are used to map the large-scale structures in the universe and as probe of universe evolution. They can be observed through the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) effect. In this respect the spectro-imaging at low resolution frequency is an important tool, today, for the study of cluster of galaxies. We have developed KISS (KIDs Interferometer Spectrum Survey), a spectrometric imager dedicated to the secondary anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The multi-frequency approach permits to improve the component separation with respect to predecessor experiments. In this paper, firstly, we provide a description of the scientific context and the state of the art of SZ observations. Secondly, we describe the KISS instrument. Finally, we show preliminary results of the ongoing commissioning campaign

KISS: a spectrometric imager for millimetre cosmology

Clusters of galaxies are used to map the large-scale structures in the universe and as probe of universe evolution. They can be observed through the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) effect. In this respect the spectro-imaging at low resolution frequency is an important tool, today, for the study of cluster of galaxies. We have developed KISS (KIDs Interferometer Spectrum Survey), a spectrometric imager dedicated to the secondary anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The multi-frequency approach permits to improve the component separation with respect to predecessor experiments. In this paper, firstly, we provide a description of the scientific context and the state of the art of SZ observations. Secondly, we describe the KISS instrument. Finally, we show preliminary results of the ongoing commissioning campaign