SPIDER optimization. II. Optical, magnetic, and foreground effects

O'Dea, D. T., Ade, Peter A. R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5127-0401, Amiri, M., Benton, S. J., Bock, J. J., Bond, J. R., Bonetti, J. A., Bryan, S., Burger, B., Chiang, H. C., Clark, C. N., Contaldi, C. R., Crill, B. P., Davis, G., Doré, O., Farhang, M., Filippini, J. P., Fissel, L. M., Fraisse, A. A., Gandilo, N. N., Golwala, S., Gudmundsson, J. E., Hasselfield, M., Hilton, G., Holmes, W., Hristov, V. V., Irwin, K., Jones, W. C., Kuo, C. L., MacTavish, C. J., Mason, P. V., Montroy, T. E., Morford, T. A., Netterfield, C. B., Rahlin, A. S., Reintsema, C., Ruhl, J. E., Runyan, M. C., Schenker, M. A., Shariff, J. A., Soler, J. D., Trangsrud, A., Tucker, Carole Elizabeth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1851-3918, Tucker, R. S., Turner, A. D. and Wiebe, D. 2011. SPIDER optimization. II. Optical, magnetic, and foreground effects. Astrophysical Journal 738 (1) , p. 63. 10.1088/0004-637X/738/1/63

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Abstract

SPIDER is a balloon-borne instrument designed to map the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with degree-scale resolution over a large fraction of the sky. SPIDER's main goal is to measure the amplitude of primordial gravitational waves through their imprint on the polarization of the CMB if the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, is greater than 0.03. To achieve this goal, instrumental systematic errors must be controlled with unprecedented accuracy. Here, we build on previous work to use simulations of SPIDER observations to examine the impact of several systematic effects that have been characterized through testing and modeling of various instrument components. In particular, we investigate the impact of the non-ideal spectral response of the half-wave plates, coupling between focal-plane components and Earth's magnetic field, and beam mismatches and asymmetries. We also present a model of diffuse polarized foreground emission based on a three-dimensional model of the Galactic magnetic field and dust, and study the interaction of this foreground emission with our observation strategy and instrumental effects. We find that the expected level of foreground and systematic contamination is sufficiently low for SPIDER to achieve its science goals.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cosmic background radiation; cosmology: observations; gravitational waves; methods: analytical; methods: data analysis; polarization
Publisher:	Institute of Physics
ISSN:	0004-637X
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2022 08:49
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/29762

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