How to De-Rotate the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization

Abstract

If the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is rotated in a frequency-independent manner as it propagates from the surface of last scatter, it may introduce a B-mode polarization. Here I show that measurement of higher-order TE, EE, EB, and TB correlations induced by this rotation can be used to reconstruct the rotation angle as a function of position on the sky. This technique can be used to distinguish primordial B modes from those induced by rotation. The effects of rotation can be distinguished geometrically from similar effects due to cosmic shear.

4 pages, this version to appear in PRL

References in corpus (4)

• Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
• Correlation of CMB with large-scale structure: II. Weak lensing
• Testing CPT Symmetry with CMB Measurements
• Testing Lorentz Invariance Violation with WMAP Five Year Data

Cited by in corpus (5)

• De-Rotation of the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization: Full-Sky Formalism
• Faraday Rotation Limits on a Primordial Magnetic Field from WMAP Five-Year Data
• CMB Polarization Systematics, Cosmological Birefringence and the Gravitational Waves Background
• Constraining a spatially dependent rotation of the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization
• CMB Polarization Systematics Due to Beam Asymmetry: Impact on Cosmological Birefringence