Testing cosmological models with large-scale power modulation using microwave background polarization observations

Abstract

We examine the degree to which observations of large-scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization can shed light on the puzzling large-scale power modulation in maps of CMB anisotropy. We consider a phenomenological model in which the observed anomaly is caused by modulation of large-scale primordial curvature perturbations, and calculate Fisher information and error forecasts for future polarization data, constrained by the existing CMB anisotropy data. Because a significant fraction of the available information is contained in correlations with the anomalous temperature data, it is essential to account for these constraints. We also present a systematic approach to finding a set of normal modes that maximize the available information, generalizing the well-known Karhunen-Loeve transformation to take account of the constraints from the temperature data. A polarization map covering at least $\sim 60\%$ of the sky should be able to provide a $3\sigma$ detection of modulation at the level favored by the temperature data. A significant fraction of the information in such a data set is contained in the single mode that optimally encapsulates the signal due to temperature-polarization correlation.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. Minor changes from v1 to match accepted version

References in corpus (43)

• HEALPix -- a Framework for High Resolution Discretization, and Fast Analysis of Data Distributed on the Sphere
• Nine-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Final Maps and Results
• Asymmetries in the CMB anisotropy field
• The significance of the largest scale CMB fluctuations in WMAP
• Seven-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Are There Cosmic Microwave Background Anomalies?
• Planck 2013 results. XXIII. Isotropy and statistics of the CMB
• Is the low-l microwave background cosmic?
• Planck 2015 results. XVI. Isotropy and statistics of the CMB
• CMB Anomalies after Planck
• Multipole Vectors--a new representation of the CMB sky and evidence for statistical anisotropy or non-Gaussianity at 2<=l<=8
• Hemispherical power asymmetry in the three-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe sky maps
• On the large-angle anomalies of the microwave sky
• Increasing evidence for hemispherical power asymmetry in the five-year WMAP data
• Estimators for CMB Statistical Anisotropy
• A Hemispherical Power Asymmetry from Inflation
• Power Asymmetry in Cosmic Microwave Background Fluctuations from Full Sky to Sub-degree Scales: Is the Universe Isotropic?
• Eigenmode Analysis of Galaxy Redshift Surveys I. Theory and Methods
• Power asymmetry in WMAP and Planck temperature sky maps as measured by a local variance estimator
• Superhorizon Perturbations and the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Signal-to-Noise Eigenmode Analysis of the Two-Year COBE Maps
• Constraints on cosmic hemispherical power anomalies from quasars
• The Statistical Significance of the Low CMB Mulitipoles
• The Pesky Power Asymmetry
• Large-scale alignments from WMAP and Planck
• A Scale-Dependent Power Asymmetry from Isocurvature Perturbations
• Wiener Reconstruction of Galaxy Surveys in Spherical Harmonics
• Testable polarization predictions for models of CMB isotropy anomalies
• Broken Isotropy from a Linear Modulation of the Primordial Perturbations
• Cosmological-Constant Cold Dark Matter Models and the COBE Two-Year Sky maps
• The Multipole Vectors of WMAP, and their frames and invariants
• The COBE Normalization for Standard CDM
• Wiener Filtering of the COBE DMR Data
• Microwave Background Correlations from Dipole Anisotropy Modulation
• Power Asymmetries in the Cosmic Microwave Background Temperature and Polarization patterns
• Tilted Physics: A Cosmologically Dipole-Modulated Sky
• The Wiener-Filtered COBE DMR Data and Predictions for the Tenerife Experiment
• Large-Angle CMB Suppression and Polarization Predictions
• Local variance asymmetries in Planck temperature anisotropy maps
• Hemispherical power asymmetries in the WMAP 7-year low-resolution temperature and polarization maps
• Physics of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy
• Microwave Background Polarization as a Probe of Large-Angle Correlations
• Implications of the CMB power asymmetry for the early universe
• CMB-S4 and the Hemispherical Variance Anomaly

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Towards testing CMB anomalies using the kinetic and polarized Sunyaev Zel'dovich effects
• Testing physical models for dipolar asymmetry with CMB polarization