Planck 2015 results:II. Low Frequency Instrument data processings

We present an updated description of the Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) data processing pipeline, associated with the 2015 data release. We point out the places where our results and methods have remained unchanged since the 2013 paper and we highlight the changes made for the 2015 release, describing the products (especially timelines) and the ways in which they were obtained. We demonstrate that the pipeline is self-consistent (principally based on simulations) and report all null tests. For the first time, we present LFI maps in Stokes Q and U polarization. We refer to other related papers where more detailed descriptions of the LFI data processing pipeline may be found if needed

The effect of a scanning flat fold mirror on a CMB B-mode experiment

We investigate the possibility of using a flat-fold beam steering mirror for a CMB B-mode experiment. An aluminium flat-fold mirror is found to add $\sim$0.075% polarization, which varies in a scan synchronous way. Time-domain simulations of a realistic scanning pattern are performed, and the effect on the power-spectrum illustrated and a possible method of correction applied.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Rev Sci Ins

Experimental realization of an achromatic magnetic mirror based on metamaterials

Our work relates to the use of metamaterials engineered to realize a meta-surface approaching the exotic properties of an ideal object not observed in nature, a ‘magnetic mirror’. Previous realizations were based on resonant structures which implied narrow bandwidths and large losses. The working principle of our device is ideally frequency-independent, it does not involve resonances and it does not rely on a specific technology. The performance of our prototype, working at millimetre wavelengths, has never been achieved before and it is superior to any other device reported in the literature, both in the microwave and optical regions. The device inherently has large bandwidth (144%), low losses (<1 %) and is almost independent of incidence-angle and polarization-state and thus approaches the behaviour of an ideal magnetic mirror. Applications of magnetic mirrors range from low-profile antennas, absorbers to optoelectronic devices. Our device can be realised using different technologies to operate in other spectral regions

Planck 2015 results:X. Diffuse component separation: Foreground maps

Planck has mapped the microwave sky in temperature over nine frequency bands between 30 and 857 GHz and in polarization over seven frequency bands between 30 and 353 GHz in polarization. In this paper we consider the problem of diffuse astrophysical component separation, and process these maps within a Bayesian framework to derive an internally consistent set of full-sky astrophysical component maps. Component separation dedicated to cosmic microwave background (CMB) reconstruction is described in a companion paper. For the temperature analysis, we combine the Planck observations with the 9-yr Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) sky maps and the Haslam et al. 408 MHz map, to derive a joint model of CMB, synchrotron, free-free, spinning dust, CO, line emission in the 94 and 100 GHz channels, and thermal dust emission. Full-sky maps are provided for each component, with an angular resolution varying between 7.́5 and 1deg. Global parameters (monopoles, dipoles, relative calibration, and bandpass errors) are fitted jointly with the sky model, and best-fit values are tabulated. For polarization, the model includes CMB, synchrotron, and thermal dust emission. These models provide excellent fits to the observed data, with rms temperature residuals smaller than 4μK over 93% of the sky for all Planck frequencies up to 353 GHz, and fractional errors smaller than 1% in the remaining 7% of the sky. The main limitations of the temperature model at the lower frequencies are internal degeneracies among the spinning dust, free-free, and synchrotron components; additional observations from external low-frequency experiments will be essential to break these degeneracies. The main limitations of the temperature model at the higher frequencies are uncertainties in the 545 and 857 GHz calibration and zero-points. For polarization, the main outstanding issues are instrumental systematics in the 100–353 GHz bands on large angular scales in the form of temperature-to-polarization leakage, uncertainties in the analogue-to-digital conversion, and corrections for the very long time constant of the bolometer detectors, all of which are expected to improve in the near future