Polarized Synchrotron Foreground Assessment for CMB Experiments

Abstract

Polarized Galactic synchrotron emission is an undesirable foreground for cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments observing at frequencies $<150$ GHz. We perform a combined analysis of observational data at 1.4, 2.3, 23, 30 and 33 GHz to quantify the spatial variation of the polarized synchrotron spectral index, ${\beta }^{pol}$, on $\sim 3.5^{\circ }$ scales. We compare results from different data combinations to address limitations and inconsistencies present in these public data, and form a composite map of ${\beta }^{pol}$. Data quality masking leaves 44% sky coverage (73% for $|b|>45^{\circ }$). Generally $-3.2<{\beta }^{pol}\lesssim -3$ in the inner Galactic plane and spurs, but the Fan Region in the outer Galaxy has a flatter index. We find a clear spectral index steepening with increasing latitude south of the Galactic plane with $\Delta {\beta }^{pol}=0.4$, and a smaller steepening of $0.25$ in the north. Near the south Galactic pole the polarized synchrotron spectral index is ${\beta }^{pol}\approx -3.4$. Longitudinal spectral index variations of $\Delta {\beta }^{pol}\sim 0.1$ about the latitudinal mean are also detected. Within the BICEP2/Keck survey footprint, we find consistency with a constant value, ${\beta }^{pol}=-3.25\pm 0.04$ (statistical) $\pm 0.02$ (systematic). We compute a map of the frequency at which synchrotron and thermal dust emission contribute equally to the total polarized foreground. The limitations and inconsistencies among datasets encountered in this work make clear the value of additional independent surveys at multiple frequencies, especially between $10-20$ GHz, provided these surveys have sufficient sensitivity and control of instrumental systematic errors.

21 pages, 18 figures, accepted by ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• QUIJOTE scientific results -- IV. A northern sky survey in intensity and polarization at 10-20GHz with the Multi-Frequency Instrument
• The Second Radio Synchrotron Background Workshop: Conference Summary and Report
• Dust polarization spectral dependence from Planck HFI data. Turning point on CMB polarization foregrounds modelling
• QUIJOTE scientific results -- VIII. Diffuse polarized foregrounds from component separation with QUIJOTE-MFI
• Cosmoglobe DR1. III. First full-sky model of polarized synchrotron emission from all WMAP and Planck LFI data
• Theoretical Radio Signals from Radio-Band Gravitational Waves Converted from the Neutron Star Magnetic Field
• Nearly Full-Sky Low-Multipole Cosmic Microwave Temperature Anisotropy: I. Foreground Cleaned Maps