SPIDER: Probing the Early Universe with a Suborbital Polarimeter
2013
We evaluate the ability of
SPIDER, a balloon-borne
polarimeter, to detect a divergence-free polarization pattern ("B-modes") in the
Cosmic Microwave Background(CMB). In the inflationary scenario, the amplitude of this signal is proportional to that of the primordial scalar perturbations through the tensor-to-scalar ratio r. We show that the expected level of systematic error in the
SPIDERinstrument is significantly below the amplitude of an interesting cosmological signal with r=0.03. We present a scanning strategy that enables us to minimize uncertainty in the reconstruction of the
Stokes parametersused to characterize the CMB, while accessing a relatively wide range of angular scales. Evaluating the amplitude of the polarized Galactic emission in the
SPIDERfield, we conclude that the polarized emission from interstellar dust is as bright or brighter than the cosmological signal at all
SPIDERfrequencies (90 GHz, 150 GHz, and 280 GHz), a situation similar to that found in the "Southern Hole." We show that two ~20-day flights of the
SPIDERinstrument can constrain the amplitude of the B-mode signal to r<0.03 (99% CL) even when foreground contamination is taken into account. In the absence of foregrounds, the same limit can be reached after one 20-day flight.
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