No Arabic abstract
We have developed a correlation radiometer at 33 GHz devoted to the search for residual polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The two instruments`s outputs are linear combination of two Stokes Parameters (Q and U or U and V). The instrument is therefore directly sensitive to the polarized component of the radiation (respectively linear and circular). The radiometer has a beam-width oif 7 or 14 deg, but it can be coupled to a telescope increasing the resolution. The expected CMB polarization is at most a part per milion. The polarimeter has been designed to be sensitive to this faint signal, and it has been optimized to improve its long term stability, observing from the ground. In this contribution the performances of the instrument are presented, together with the preliminary test and observations.
We describe the QUaD experiment, a millimeter-wavelength polarimeter designed to observe the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from a site at the South Pole. The experiment comprises a 2.64 m Cassegrain telescope equipped with a cryogenically cooled receiver containing an array of 62 polarization-sensitive bolometers. The focal plane contains pixels at two different frequency bands, 100 GHz and 150 GHz, with angular resolutions of 5 arcmin and 3.5 arcmin, respectively. The high angular resolution allows observation of CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies over a wide range of scales. The instrument commenced operation in early 2005 and collected science data during three successive Austral winter seasons of observation.
Measurements of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation are expected to significantly increase our understanding of the early universe. We present a design for a CMB polarimeter in which a cryogenically cooled half wave plate rotates by means of a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) bearing. The design is optimized for implementation in MAXIPOL, a balloon-borne CMB polarimeter. A prototype bearing, consisting of commercially available ring-shaped permanent magnet and an array of YBCO bulk HTS material, has been constructed. We measured the coefficient of friction as a function of several parameters including temperature between 15 and 80 K, rotation frequency between 0.3 and 3.5 Hz, levitation distance between 6 and 10 mm, and ambient pressure between 10^{-7} and 1 torr. The low rotational drag of the HTS bearing allows rotations for long periods of time with minimal input power and negligible wear and tear thus making this technology suitable for a future satellite mission.
3D printing presents an attractive alternative to visual representation of physical datasets such as astronomical images that can be used for research, outreach or teaching purposes, and is especially relevant to people with a visual disability. We here report the use of 3D printing technology to produce a representation of the all-sky Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) intensity anisotropy maps produced by the Planck mission. The success of this work in representing key features of the CMB is discussed as is the potential of this approach for representing other astrophysical data sets. 3D printing such datasets represents a highly complementary approach to the usual 2D projections used in teaching and outreach work, and can also form the basis of undergraduate projects. The CAD files used to produce the models discussed in this paper are made available.
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.
We present results obtained with the PRONAOS balloon-borne experiment on interstellar dust. In particular, the submillimeter / millimeter spectral index is found to vary between roughly 1 and 2.5 on small scales (3.5 resolution). This could have implications for component separation in Cosmic Microwave Background maps.