Progress report on the Large Scale Polarization Explorer

Abstract

The Large Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE) is a cosmology program for the measurement of large scale curl-like features (B-modes) in the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background. Its goal is to constrain the background of inflationary gravity waves traveling through the universe at the time of matter-radiation decoupling. The two instruments of LSPE are meant to synergically operate by covering a large portion of the northern microwave sky. LSPE/STRIP is a coherent array of receivers planned to be operated from the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, for the control and characterization of the low-frequency polarized signals of galactic origin; LSPE/SWIPE is a balloon-borne bolometric polarimeter based on 330 large throughput multi-moded detectors, designed to measure the CMB polarization at 150 GHz and to monitor the polarized emission by galactic dust above 200 GHz. The combined performance and the expected level of systematics mitigation will allow LSPE to constrain primordial B-modes down to a tensor/scalar ratio of $10^{-2}$. We here report the status of the STRIP pre-commissioning phase and the progress in the characterization of the key subsystems of the SWIPE payload (namely the cryogenic polarization modulation unit and the multi-moded TES pixels) prior to receiver integration.

8 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in Journal of Low Temperature Physics

References in corpus (5)

• A Joint Analysis of BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck Data
• SWIPE: a bolometric polarimeter for the Large-Scale Polarization Explorer
• A Large-Diameter Hollow-Shaft Cryogenic Motor Based on a Superconducting Magnetic Bearing for Millimeter-Wave Polarimetry
• Multi-mode TES bolometer optimization for the LSPE-SWIPE instrument
• The short wavelength instrument for the polarization explorer balloon-borne experiment: Polarization modulation issues

Cited by in corpus (9)

• The large scale polarization explorer (LSPE) for CMB measurements: performance forecast
• Transition Edge Sensors: Physics and Applications
• QUIJOTE scientific results -- VIII. Diffuse polarized foregrounds from component separation with QUIJOTE-MFI
• QUBIC V: Cryogenic system design and performance
• QUBIC VI: cryogenic half wave plate rotator, design and performances
• Frequency Shift Algorithm: Application to a Frequency-Domain Multiplexing Readout of X-ray Transition-Edge Sensor Microcalorimeters
• Overview of the Medium and High Frequency Telescopes of the LiteBIRD satellite mission
• Total power horn-coupled 150 GHz LEKID array for space applications
• Response of a Cold-Electron Bolometer in a coplanar antenna system