No Arabic abstract
MADmap is a software application used to produce maximum-likelihood images of the sky from time-ordered data which include correlated noise, such as those gathered by Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments. It works efficiently on platforms ranging from small workstations to the most massively parallel supercomputers. Map-making is a critical step in the analysis of all CMB data sets, and the maximum-likelihood approach is the most accurate and widely applicable algorithm; however, it is a computationally challenging task. This challenge will only increase with the next generation of ground-based, balloon-borne and satellite CMB polarization experiments. The faintness of the B-mode signal that these experiments seek to measure requires them to gather enormous data sets. MADmap is already being run on up to $O(10^{11})$ time samples, $O(10^8)$ pixels and $O(10^4)$ cores, with ongoing work to scale to the next generation of data sets and supercomputers. We describe MADmaps algorithm based around a preconditioned conjugate gradient solver, fast Fourier transforms and sparse matrix operations. We highlight MADmaps ability to address problems typically encountered in the analysis of realistic CMB data sets and describe its application to simulations of the Planck and EBEX experiments. The massively parallel and distributed implementation is detailed and scaling complexities are given for the resources required. MADmap is capable of analysing the largest data sets now being collected on computing resources currently available, and we argue that, given Moores Law, MADmap will be capable of reducing the most massive projected data sets.
We investigate the impact of instrumental systematic errors in interferometric measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization power spectra. We simulate interferometric CMB observations to generate mock visibilities and estimate power spectra using the statistically optimal maximum likelihood technique. We define a quadratic error measure to determine allowable levels of systematic error that do not induce power spectrum errors beyond a given tolerance. As an example, in this study we focus on differential pointing errors. The effects of other systematics can be simulated by this pipeline in a straightforward manner. We find that, in order to accurately recover the underlying B-modes for r=0.01 at 28<l<384, Gaussian-distributed pointing errors must be controlled to 0.7^circ rms for an interferometer with an antenna configuration similar to QUBIC, in agreement with analytical estimates. Only the statistical uncertainty for 28<l<88 would be changed at ~10% level. With the same instrumental configuration, we find the pointing errors would slightly bias the 2-sigma upper limit of the tensor-to-scalar ratio r by ~10%. We also show that the impact of pointing errors on the TB and EB measurements is negligibly small.
We aim to present a tutorial on the detection, parameter estimation and statistical analysis of compact sources (far galaxies, galaxy clusters and Galactic dense emission regions) in cosmic microwave background observations. The topic is of great relevance for current and future cosmic microwave background missions because the presence of compact sources in the data introduces very significant biases in the determination of the cosmological parameters that determine the energy contain, origin and evolution of the universe and because compact sources themselves provide us with important information about the large scale structure of the universe.
Given the recent advances in gravitational-wave detection technologies, the detection and characterisation of gravitational-wave backgrounds (GWBs) with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a real possibility. To assess the abilities of the LISA satellite network to reconstruct anisotropies of different angular scales and in different directions on the sky, we develop a map-maker based on an optimal quadratic estimator. The resulting maps are maximum likelihood representations of the GWB intensity on the sky integrated over a broad range of frequencies. We test the algorithm by reconstructing known input maps with different input distributions and over different frequency ranges. We find that, in an optimal scenario of well understood noise and high frequency, high SNR signals, the maximum scales LISA may probe are $ell_{rm max} lesssim 15$. The map-maker also allows to test the directional dependence of LISA noise, providing insight on the directional sky sensitivity we may expect.
We present the XFaster analysis package. XFaster is a fast, iterative angular power spectrum estimator based on a diagonal approximation to the quadratic Fisher matrix estimator. XFaster uses Monte Carlo simulations to compute noise biases and filter transfer functions and is thus a hybrid of both Monte Carlo and quadratic estimator methods. In contrast to conventional pseudo-$C_ell$ based methods, the algorithm described here requires a minimal number of simulations, and does not require them to be precisely representative of the data to estimate accurate covariance matrices for the bandpowers. The formalism works with polarization-sensitive observations and also data sets with identical, partially overlapping, or independent survey regions. The method was first implemented for the analysis of BOOMERanG data, and also used as part of the Planck analysis. Here, we describe the full, publicly available analysis package, written in Python, as developed for the analysis of data from the 2015 flight of the SPIDER instrument. The package includes extensions for self-consistently estimating null spectra and for estimating fits for Galactic foreground contributions. We show results from the extensive validation of XFaster using simulations, and its application to the SPIDER data set.
Delensing is an increasingly important technique to reverse the gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and thus reveal primordial signals the lensing may obscure. We present a first demonstration of delensing on Planck temperature maps using the cosmic infrared background (CIB). Reversing the lensing deflections in Planck CMB temperature maps using a linear combination of the 545 and 857GHz maps as a lensing tracer, we find that the lensing effects in the temperature power spectrum are reduced in a manner consistent with theoretical expectations. In particular, the characteristic sharpening of the acoustic peaks of the temperature power spectrum resulting from successful delensing is detected at a significance of 16$rm{sigma}$, with an amplitude of $A_{rm{delens}} = 1.12 pm 0.07$ relative to the expected value of unity. This first demonstration on data of CIB delensing, and of delensing techniques in general, is significant because lensing removal will soon be essential for achieving high-precision constraints on inflationary B-mode polarization.