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In this paper we use the current and future cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments to test the Charge-Parity-Time Reversal (CPT) symmetry. We consider a CPT-violating interaction in the photon sector $mathcal{L}_{rm cs}sim p_mu A_ u tilde{F}^{mu u}$ which gives rise to a rotation of the polarization vectors of the propagating CMB photons. By combining the nine-year WMAP, BOOMERanG 2003 and BICEP1 observations, we obtain the current constraint on the isotropic rotation angle $bar{alpha} = -2.12 pm 1.14$ ($1sigma$), indicating an about $2sigma$ significance of the CPT violation. Here, we particularly take the systematic errors of CMB measurements into account. Then, we study the effects of the anisotropies of the rotation angle [$Delta{alpha}({bf hat{n}})$] on the CMB polarization power spectra in detail. Due to the small effects, the current CMB polarization data can not constrain the related parameters very well. We obtain the 95% C.L. upper limit of the variance of the anisotropies of the rotation angle $C^alpha(0) < 0.035$ from all the CMB datasets. More interestingly, including the anisotropies of rotation angle could lower the best fit value of $r$ and relax the tension on the constraints of $r$ between BICEP2 and Planck. Finally, we investigate the capabilities of future Planck polarization measurements on $bar{alpha}$ and $Delta{alpha}({bf hat{n}})$. Benefited from the high precision of Planck data, the constraints of the rotation angle can be significantly improved.
Dark Matter (DM) annihilation and decay during the Dark Ages can affect the cosmic ionization history and leave imprints in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy spectra. CMB polarization anisotropy can be sensitive to such energy injection at higher redshifts and help reducing degeneracy with primordial spectral parameters in $Lambda$CDM and astrophysical ionization processes during reionization. In light of a number of upcoming CMB polarization experiments, such as AdvACTPol, AliCPT, CLASS, Simons Observatory, Simons Array, SPT-3G, we estimate their prospective sensitivity in probing dark matter annihilation and decay signals. We find that future missions have 95% C.L. projected limits on DM decay and annihilation rates to orders of $Gamma_chi (tau_{chi}^{-1}) sim 10^{-27}{rm{s}}^{-1}$ and $left<sigma v right>/m_{chi} sim 10^{-29}{rm{cm^3s^{-1}GeV^{-1}}}$ respectively, significantly improving the sensitivity to DM from current experimental bounds.
We study the problem of searching for cosmic string signal patterns in the present high resolution and high sensitivity observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This article discusses a technique capable of recognizing Kaiser-Stebbins effect signatures in total intensity anisotropy maps, and shows that the biggest factor that produces confusion is represented by the acoustic oscillation features of the scale comparable to the size of horizon at recombination. Simulations show that the distribution of null signals for pure Gaussian maps converges to a $chi^2$ distribution, with detectability threshold corresponding to a string induced step signal with an amplitude of about 100 $muK$ which corresponds to a limit of roughly $Gmu < 1.5times 10^{-6}$. We study the statistics of spurious detections caused by extra-Galactic and Galactic foregrounds. For diffuse Galactic foregrounds, which represents the dominant source of contamination, we derive sky masks outlining the available region of the sky where the Galactic confusion is sub-dominant, specializing our analysis to the case represented by the frequency coverage and nominal sensitivity and resolution of the Planck experiment.
Cosmological CPT violation will rotate the polarized direction of CMB photons, convert partial CMB E mode into B mode and vice versa. It will generate non-zero EB, TB spectra and change the EE, BB, TE spectra. This phenomenon gives us a way to detect the CPT-violation signature from CMB observations, and also provides a new mechanism to produce B mode polarization. In this paper, we perform a global analysis on tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and polarization rotation angles based on current CMB datasets with both low $ell$ (Planck, BICEP2/Keck Array) and high $ell$ (POLARBEAR, SPTpol, ACTPol). Benefited from the high precision of CMB data, we obtain the isotropic rotation angle $bar{alpha} = -0.01^circ pm 0.37^circ $ at 68% C.L., the variance of the anisotropic rotation angles $C^{alpha}(0)<0.0032,mathrm{rad}^2$, the scale invariant power spectrum $D^{alphaalpha}_{ell in [2, 350]}<4.71times 10^{-5} ,mathrm{rad}^2$ and $r<0.057$ at 95% C.L.. Our result shows that with the polarization rotation effect, the 95% upper limit on $r$ gets tightened by 17%.
A tremendous international effort is currently dedicated to observing the so-called $B$-modes of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarisation. At the unprecedented sensitivity level that the new generation of CMB experiments aims to reach, every uncontrolled instrumental systematic effect will potentially result in an analysis bias that is larger than the much sought-after CMB $B$-mode signal. The absolute calibration of the polarisation angle is particularly important in this sense, as any associated error will end up in a leakage from the much larger $E$ modes into $B$ modes. The Crab nebula (Tau A), with its bright microwave synchrotron emission, is one of the few objects in the sky that can be used as absolute polarisation calibrators. In this paper we review the best current constraints on its polarisation angle from 23 to 353 GHz, at typical angular scales for CMB observations, from WMAP, XPOL, Planck and NIKA data. These polarisation angle measurements are compatible with a constant angle of $-88.19,^circpm0.33,^circ$. We study the uncertainty on this mean angle, making different considerations on how to combine the individual measurement errors. For each of the cases, we study the potential impact on the CMB $B$-mode spectrum and on the recovered $r$ parameter, through a likelihood analysis. We find that current constraints on the Crab polarisation angle, assuming it is constant through microwave frequencies, allow to calibrate experiments with an accuracy enabling the measurement of $rsim0.01$. On the other hand, even under the most optimistic assumptions, current constraints will lead to an important limitation for the detection of $rsim10^{-3}$. New realistic measurement of the Crab nebula can change this situation, by strengthening the assumption of the consistency across microwave frequencies and reducing the combined error.
Characterizing the physical properties of the stochastic gravitational waves background (SGWB) is a key step towards identifying the nature of its possible origin. We focus our analysis on SGWB anisotropies. The existence of a non-trivial primordial scalar-tensor-tensor (STT) correlation in the squeezed configuration may be inferred from the effect that a long wavelength scalar mode has on the gravitational wave power spectrum: an anisotropic contribution. Crucially, such contribution is correlated with temperature anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We show that, for inflationary models that generate suitably large STT non-Gaussianities, cross-correlating the CMB with the stochastic background of gravitational waves is a very effective probe of early universe physics. The resulting signal can be a smoking-gun for primordial SGWB anisotropies.