Polarization of the Microwave Background: theoretical framework

Abstract

We present a brief review of the polarization properties of the cosmic microwave background in dark matter models for structure formation. Quite independently of the model parameters, the polarization level is expected to be $\sim 10$ of the anisotropy signal at angular scales $\le 1^o$. Detections of polarization at larger angular scales would provide a strong evidence in favour of an early reionization of the intergalactic medium.

22 Pages, 7 Figures. To appear in the proceedings of NATO Advanced Study Institute 1996 on the "Cosmic Background Radiation"

References in corpus (4)

• 4-Year COBE DMR Cosmic Microwave Background Observations: Maps and Basic Results
• A Measurement of the Angular Power Spectrum of the Anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Measurements of Anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation at 0\fdg5 Scales near the Stars HR5127 and Phi Herculis
• CMB anisotropy at degree angular scales and the thermal history of the Universe

Cited by in corpus (3)

• A Constraint on Planck-scale Modifications to Electrodynamics with CMB polarization data
• Far infrared polarimeter with very low instrumental polarization
• Statistics of the CMB polarised anisotropies