Detecting Primordial $B$-Modes after Planck

Abstract

We update the forecasts for the measurement of the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ for various ground-based experiments (AdvACT, CLASS, Keck/BICEP3, Simons Array, SPT-3G), balloons (EBEX 10k and Spider) and satellites (CMBPol, COrE and LiteBIRD), taking into account the recent Planck data on polarized dust and using a component separation method. The forecasts do not change significantly with respect to previous estimates when at least three frequencies are available, provided foregrounds can be accurately described by few parameters. We argue that a theoretically motivated goal for future experiments is $r\sim 2\times 10^{-3}$, and that this is achievable if the noise is reduced to $\sim 1\mu$K-arcmin and lensing is reduced to $10\%$ in power. We study the constraints experiments will be able to put on the frequency and $\ell$-dependence of the tensor signal as a check of its primordial origin. Futuristic ground-based and balloon experiments can have good constraints on these parameters, even for $r\sim 2\times 10^{-3}$. For the same value of $r$, satellites will marginally be able to detect the presence of the recombination bump, the most distinctive feature of the primordial signal.

21 pages, 3 figures. Published version

References in corpus (11)

• Three Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Polarization Analysis
• A Joint Analysis of BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck Data
• Higgs inflation: consistency and generalisations
• CMBPol Mission Concept Study: Probing Inflation with CMB Polarization
• Toward an Understanding of Foreground Emission in the BICEP2 Region
• Three-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Foreground Polarization
• Precision Epoch of Reionization studies with next-generation CMB experiments
• A general solution to the E-B mixing problem
• Implications of the scalar tilt for the tensor-to-scalar ratio
• Maximum likelihood, parametric component separation and CMB B-mode detection in suborbital experiments
• Statistical diagnostics to identify Galactic foregrounds in B-mode maps

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Transplanckian axions !?
• Planck intermediate results. L. Evidence for spatial variation of the polarized thermal dust spectral energy distribution and implications for CMB $B$-mode analysis
• Dynamics of Peccei-Quinn Breaking Field after Inflation and Axion Isocurvature Perturbations
• Solving the Standard Model Problems in Softened Gravity
• Kinetically Modified Palatini Inflation Meets ACT Data
• Kinetically Modified Non-Minimal Chaotic Inflation
• An anisotropic universe due to dimension-changing vacuum decay
• Effective models of inflation from a non-local framework
• Primordial perturbations from dilaton-induced gauge fields
• Kinetically Modified Non-Minimal Higgs Inflation in Supergravity
• Tensor Modes in Pure Natural Inflation
• Effective Planck Mass and the Scale of Inflation
• Kinetically Modified Non-Minimal Inflation With Exponential Frame Function
• Observable Gravitational Waves From Kinetically Modified Non-Minimal Inflation