Tuesday, July 23, 2013

1307.5830 (D. Hanson et al.)

Detection of B-mode Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background with Data from the South Pole Telescope    [PDF]

D. Hanson, S. Hoover, A. Crites, P. A. R. Ade, K. A. Aird, J. E. Austermann, J. A. Beall, A. N. Bender, B. A. Benson, L. E. Bleem, J. J. Bock, J. E. Carlstrom, C. L. Chang, H. C. Chiang, H-M. Cho, A. Conley, T. M. Crawford, T. de Haan, M. A. Dobbs, W. Everett, J. Gallicchio, J. Gao, E. M. George, N. W. Halverson, N. Harrington, J. W. Henning, G. C. Hilton, G. P. Holder, W. L. Holzapfel, J. D. Hrubes, N. Huang, J. Hubmayr, K. D. Irwin, R. Keisler, L. Knox, A. T. Lee, E. Leitch, D. Li, C. Liang, D. Luong-Van, G. Marsden, J. J. McMahon, J. Mehl, S. S. Meyer, L. Mocanu, T. E. Montroy, T. Natoli, J. P. Nibarger, V. Novosad, S. Padin, C. Pryke, C. L. Reichardt, J. E. Ruhl, B. R. Saliwanchik, J. T. Sayre, K. K. Schaffer, B. Schulz, G. Smecher, A. A. Stark, K. Story, C. Tucker, K. Vanderlinde, J. D. Vieira, M. P. Viero, G. Wang, V. Yefremenko, O. Zahn, M. Zemcov
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 contaminant 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.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.5830

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