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arXiv · 1808.05131

Designs for next generation CMB survey strategies from Chile

Jason R. Stevens·Neil Goeckner-Wald·Reijo Keskitalo·Nialh McCallum·Aamir Ali·Julian Borrill·Michael L. Brown·Yuji Chinone·Patricio A. Gallardo·Akito Kusaka·Adrian T. Lee·Jeff McMahon·Michael D. Niemack·Lyman Page·Giuseppe Puglisi·Maria Salatino·Suet Ying D. Mak·Grant Teply·Daniel B. Thomas·Eve M. Vavagiakis·Edward J. Wollack·Zhilei Xu·Ningfeng Zhu
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Abstract

New telescopes are being built to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with unprecedented sensitivity, including Simons Observatory (SO), CCAT-prime, the BICEP Array, SPT-3G, and CMB Stage-4. We present observing strategies for telescopes located in Chile that are informed by the tools used to develop recent Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and Polarbear surveys. As with ACT and Polarbear, these strategies are composed of scans that sweep in azimuth at constant elevation. We explore observing strategies for both small (0.42 m) aperture telescopes (SAT) and a large (6 m) aperture telescope (LAT). We study strategies focused on small sky areas to search for inflationary gravitational waves as well as strategies spanning roughly half the low-foreground sky to constrain the effective number of relativistic species and measure the sum of neutrino masses via the gravitational lensing signal due to large scale structure. We present these strategies specifically considering the telescope hardware and science goals of the SO, located at 23 degrees South latitude, 67.8 degrees West longitude. Observations close to the Sun and the Moon can introduce additional systematics by applying additional power to the instrument through telescope sidelobes. Significant side lobe contamination in the data can occur even at tens of degrees or more from bright sources. Therefore, we present several strategies that implement Sun and Moon avoidance constraints into the telescope scheduling. Strategies for resolving conflicts between simultaneously visible fields are discussed. We focus on maximizing telescope time spent on science observations. It will also be necessary to schedule calibration measurements, however that is beyond the scope of this work. The outputs of this study are algorithms that can generate specific schedule commands for the Simons Observatory instruments.

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Jason R. Stevens, Neil Goeckner-Wald, Reijo Keskitalo, Nialh McCallum, Aamir Ali, Julian Borrill, Michael L. Brown, Yuji Chinone, Patricio A. Gallardo, Akito Kusaka, Adrian T. Lee, Jeff McMahon, Michael D. Niemack, Lyman Page, Giuseppe Puglisi, Maria Salatino, Suet Ying D. Mak, Grant Teply, Daniel B. Thomas, Eve M. Vavagiakis, Edward J. Wollack, Zhilei Xu, Ningfeng Zhu. 2018-08-15. Designs for next generation CMB survey strategies from Chile. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313898

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