Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background generates a curl pattern in the observed polarization. This B-mode signal provides a measure of the projected mass distribution over the entire observable Universe and also acts as a contaminan
t for the measurement of primordial gravity-wave signals. In this Letter we present the first detection of gravitational lensing B modes, using first-season data from the polarization-sensitive receiver on the South Pole Telescope (SPTpol). We construct a template for the lensing B-mode signal by combining E-mode polarization measured by SPTpol with estimates of the lensing potential from a Herschel-SPIRE map of the cosmic infrared background. We compare this template to the B modes measured directly by SPTpol, finding a non-zero correlation at 7.7 sigma significance. The correlation has an amplitude and scale-dependence consistent with theoretical expectations, is robust with respect to analysis choices, and constitutes the first measurement of a powerful cosmological observable.
On the arcminute angular scales probed by Planck, the CMB anisotropies are gently perturbed by gravitational lensing. Here we present a detailed study of this effect, detecting lensing independently in the 100, 143, and 217GHz frequency bands with an
overall significance of greater than 25sigma. We use the temperature-gradient correlations induced by lensing to reconstruct a (noisy) map of the CMB lensing potential, which provides an integrated measure of the mass distribution back to the CMB last-scattering surface. Our lensing potential map is significantly correlated with other tracers of mass, a fact which we demonstrate using several representative tracers of large-scale structure. We estimate the power spectrum of the lensing potential, finding generally good agreement with expectations from the best-fitting LCDM model for the Planck temperature power spectrum, showing that this measurement at z=1100 correctly predicts the properties of the lower-redshift, later-time structures which source the lensing potential. When combined with the temperature power spectrum, our measurement provides degeneracy-breaking power for parameter constraints; it improves CMB-alone constraints on curvature by a factor of two and also partly breaks the degeneracy between the amplitude of the primordial perturbation power spectrum and the optical depth to reionization, allowing a measurement of the optical depth to reionization which is independent of large-scale polarization data. Discarding scale information, our measurement corresponds to a 4% constraint on the amplitude of the lensing potential power spectrum, or a 2% constraint on the RMS amplitude of matter fluctuations at z~2.
The performance of the Planck instruments in space is enabled by their low operating temperatures, 20K for LFI and 0.1K for HFI, achieved through a combination of passive radiative cooling and three active mechanical coolers. The scientific requireme
nt for very broad frequency coverage led to two detector technologies with widely different temperature and cooling needs. Active coolers could satisfy these needs; a helium cryostat, as used by previous cryogenic space missions (IRAS, COBE, ISO, Spitzer, AKARI), could not. Radiative cooling is provided by three V-groove radiators and a large telescope baffle. The active coolers are a hydrogen sorption cooler (<20K), a 4He Joule-Thomson cooler (4.7K), and a 3He-4He dilution cooler (1.4K and 0.1K). The flight system was at ambient temperature at launch and cooled in space to operating conditions. The HFI bolometer plate reached 93mK on 3 July 2009, 50 days after launch. The solar panel always faces the Sun, shadowing the rest of Planck, andoperates at a mean temperature of 384K. At the other end of the spacecraft, the telescope baffle operates at 42.3K and the telescope primary mirror operates at 35.9K. The temperatures of key parts of the instruments are stabilized by both active and passive methods. Temperature fluctuations are driven by changes in the distance from the Sun, sorption cooler cycling and fluctuations in gas-liquid flow, and fluctuations in cosmic ray flux on the dilution and bolometer plates. These fluctuations do not compromise the science data.
Beam asymmetries result in statistically-anisotropic cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps. Typically, they are studied for their effects on the CMB power spectrum, however they more closely mimic anisotropic effects such as gravitational lensing an
d primordial power asymmetry. We discuss tools for studying the effects of beam asymmetry on general quadratic estimators of anisotropy, analytically for full-sky observations as well as in the analysis of realistic data. We demonstrate this methodology in application to a recently-detected 9 sigma quadrupolar modulation effect in the WMAP data, showing that beams provide a complete and sufficient explanation for the anomaly.
We discuss the effects of inhomogeneous sky-coverage on CMB lens reconstruction, focusing on application to the recently launched Planck satellite. We discuss the mean-field which is induced by noise inhomogeneities, as well as three approaches to le
ns reconstruction in this context: an optimal maximum-likelihood approach which is computationally expensive to evaluate, and two suboptimal approaches which are less intensive. The first of these is only sub-optimal at the five per-cent level for Planck, and the second prevents biasing due to uncertainties in the noise model.
