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arXiv · 1509.05392

BFORE: The B-mode Foreground Experiment

Michael D. Niemack·Peter Ade·Francesco de Bernardis·Francois Boulanger·Sean Bryan·Mark Devlin·Joanna Dunkley·Steve Eales·Haley Gomez·Chris Groppi·Shawn Henderson·Seth Hillbrand·Johannes Hubmayr·Philip Mauskopf·Jeff McMahon·Marc-Antoine Miville-Deschênes·Enzo Pascale·Giampaolo Pisano·Giles Novak·Douglas Scott·Juan Soler·Carole Tucker
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Abstract

The B-mode Foreground Experiment (BFORE) is a proposed NASA balloon project designed to make optimal use of the sub-orbital platform by concentrating on three dust foreground bands (270, 350, and 600 GHz) that complement ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) programs. BFORE will survey ~1/4 of the sky with 1.7 - 3.7 arcminute resolution, enabling precise characterization of the Galactic dust that now limits constraints on inflation from CMB B-mode polarization measurements. In addition, BFORE's combination of frequency coverage, large survey area, and angular resolution enables science far beyond the critical goal of measuring foregrounds. BFORE will constrain the velocities of thousands of galaxy clusters, provide a new window on the cosmic infrared background, and probe magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. We review the BFORE science case, timeline, and instrument design, which is based on a compact off-axis telescope coupled to >10,000 superconducting detectors.

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Michael D. Niemack, Peter Ade, Francesco de Bernardis, Francois Boulanger, Sean Bryan, Mark Devlin, Joanna Dunkley, Steve Eales, Haley Gomez, Chris Groppi, Shawn Henderson, Seth Hillbrand, Johannes Hubmayr, Philip Mauskopf, Jeff McMahon, Marc-Antoine Miville-Deschênes, Enzo Pascale, Giampaolo Pisano, Giles Novak, Douglas Scott, Juan Soler, Carole Tucker. 2015-09-17. BFORE: The B-mode Foreground Experiment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-015-1395-6

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