Absolute polarization angle calibration using polarized diffuse Galactic emission observed by BICEP

Tomotake Matsumura, Peter Ade, Denis Barkats, Darcy Barron, John O. Battle, Evan M. Bierman, James J. Bock, H. Cynthia Chiang, Brendan P. Crill, C. Darren Dowell, Lionel Duband, Eric F. Hivon, William L. Holzapfel, Viktor V. Hristov, William C. Jones, Brian G. Keating, John M. Kovac, Chao Lin Kuo, Andrew E. Lange, Erik M. LeitchPeter V. Mason, Hien T. Nguyen, Nicolas Ponthieu, Clem Pryke, Steffen Richter, Graca M. Rocha, Yuki D. Takahashi, Ki Won Yoon

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a method of cross-calibrating the polarization angle of a polarimeter using Bicep Galactic observations. Bicep was a ground based experiment using an array of 49 pairs of polarization sensitive bolometers observing from the geographic South Pole at 100 and 150 GHz. The Bicep polarimeter is calibrated to ±0.01 in cross-polarization and less than ±0.7° in absolute polarization orientation. Bicep observed the temperature and polarization of the Galactic plane (R.A = 100° ~ 270° and Dec. = -67° ~ -48°). We show that the statistical error in the 100 GHz Bicep Galaxy map can constrain the polarization angle offset of Wmap W band to 0.6° ± 1.4°. The expected 1σ errors on the polarization angle cross-calibration for Planck or EPIC are 1.3° and 0.3° at 100 and 150 GHz, respectively. We also discuss the expected improvement of the Bicep Galactic field observations with forthcoming Bicep2 and Keck observations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
EventMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V - San Diego, CA, United States
Duration: Jun 29 2010Jul 2 2010

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume7741
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Conference

ConferenceMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego, CA
Period6/29/107/2/10

Keywords

  • calibration source
  • cosmic microwave background polarization
  • millimeter wave
  • polarization calibration
  • polarized galactic emission

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