arXiv subjects

A. N. Bender

Publications and source records attributed to A. N. Bender.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Characterization and performance of the second-year SPT-3G focal plane

The third-generation instrument for the 10-meter South Pole Telescope, SPT-3G, was first installed in January 2017. In addition to completely new cryostats, secondary telescope optics, and readout electronics, the number of detectors in the focal plane has increased by an order of magnitude from previous instruments to ~16,000. The SPT-3G focal plane consists of ten detector modules, each with an array of 269 trichroic, polarization-sensitive pixels on a six-inch silicon wafer. Within each pixel is a broadband, dual-polarization sinuous antenna; the signal from each orthogonal linear polarization is divided into three frequency bands centered at 95, 150, and 220 GHz by in-line lumped element filters and transmitted via superconducting microstrip to Ti/Au transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers. Properties of the TES film, microstrip filters, and bolometer island must be tightly controlled to achieve optimal performance. For the second year of SPT-3G operation, we have replaced all ten wafers in the focal plane with new detector arrays tuned to increase mapping speed and improve overall performance. Here we discuss the TES superconducting transition temperature and normal resistance, detector saturation power, bandpasses, optical efficiency, and full array yield for the 2018 focal plane.

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arXiv2018

Design and characterization of the SPT-3G receiver

The SPT-3G receiver was commissioned in early 2017 on the 10-meter South Pole Telescope (SPT) to map anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). New optics, detector, and readout technologies have yielded a multichroic, high-resolution, low-noise camera with impressive throughput and sensitivity, offering the potential to improve our understanding of inflationary physics, astroparticle physics, and growth of structure. We highlight several key features and design principles of the new receiver, and summarize its performance to date.

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arXiv2018

Broadband anti-reflective coatings for cosmic microwave background experiments

The desire for higher sensitivity has driven ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments to employ ever larger focal planes, which in turn require larger reimaging optics. Practical limits to the maximum size of these optics motivates the development of quasi-optically-coupled (lenslet-coupled), multi-chroic detectors. These detectors can be sensitive across a broader bandwidth compared to waveguide-coupled detectors. However, the increase in bandwidth comes at a cost: the lenses (up to $\sim$700 mm diameter) and lenslets ($\sim$5 mm diameter, hemispherical lenses on the focal plane) used in these systems are made from high-refractive-index materials (such as silicon or amorphous aluminum oxide) that reflect nearly a third of the incident radiation. In order to maximize the faint CMB signal that reaches the detectors, the lenses and lenslets must be coated with an anti-reflective (AR) material. The AR coating must maximize radiation transmission in scientifically interesting bands and be cryogenically stable. Such a coating was developed for the third generation camera, SPT-3G, of the South Pole Telescope (SPT) experiment, but the materials and techniques used in the development are general to AR coatings for mm-wave optics. The three-layer polytetrafluoroethylene-based AR coating is broadband, inexpensive, and can be manufactured with simple tools. The coating is field tested; AR coated focal plane elements were deployed in the 2016-2017 austral summer and AR coated reimaging optics were deployed in 2017-2018.

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arXiv2018

Measurements of the Temperature and E-Mode Polarization of the CMB from 500 Square Degrees of SPTpol Data

We present measurements of the $E$-mode polarization angular auto-power spectrum ($EE$) and temperature-$E$-mode cross-power spectrum ($TE$) of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using 150 GHz data from three seasons of SPTpol observations. We report the power spectra over the spherical harmonic multipole range $50 < \ell \leq 8000$, and detect nine acoustic peaks in the $EE$ spectrum with high signal-to-noise ratio. These measurements are the most sensitive to date of the $EE$ and $TE$ power spectra at $\ell > 1050$ and $\ell > 1475$, respectively. The observations cover 500 deg$^2$, a fivefold increase in area compared to previous SPTpol analyses, which increases our sensitivity to the photon diffusion damping tail of the CMB power spectra enabling tighter constraints on \LCDM model extensions. After masking all sources with unpolarized flux $>50$ mJy we place a 95% confidence upper limit on residual polarized point-source power of $D_\ell = \ell(\ell+1)C_\ell/2π<0.107\,μ{\rm K}^2$ at $\ell=3000$, suggesting that the $EE$ damping tail dominates foregrounds to at least $\ell = 4050$ with modest source masking. We find that the SPTpol dataset is in mild tension with the $ΛCDM$ model ($2.1\,σ$), and different data splits prefer parameter values that differ at the $\sim 1\,σ$ level. When fitting SPTpol data at $\ell < 1000$ we find cosmological parameter constraints consistent with those for $Planck$ temperature. Including SPTpol data at $\ell > 1000$ results in a preference for a higher value of the expansion rate ($H_0 = 71.3 \pm 2.1\,\mbox{km}\,s^{-1}\mbox{Mpc}^{-1}$ ) and a lower value for present-day density fluctuations ($σ_8 = 0.77 \pm 0.02$).

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arXiv2018

Weak-lensing mass calibration of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect using APEX-SZ galaxy clusters

The use of galaxy clusters as precision cosmological probes relies on an accurate determination of their masses. However, inferring the relationship between cluster mass and observables from direct observations is difficult and prone to sample selection biases. In this work, we use weak lensing as the best possible proxy for cluster mass to calibrate the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect measurements from the APEX-SZ experiment. For a well-defined (ROSAT) X-ray complete cluster sample, we calibrate the integrated Comptonization parameter, $Y_{\rm SZ}$, to the weak-lensing derived total cluster mass, $M_{500}$. We employ a novel Bayesian approach to account for the selection effects by jointly fitting both the SZ Comptonization, $Y_{\rm SZ}\text{--}M_{500}$, and the X-ray luminosity, $L_{\rm x}\text{--}M_{500}$, scaling relations. We also account for a possible correlation between the intrinsic (log-normal) scatter of $L_{\rm x}$ and $Y_{\rm SZ}$ at fixed mass. We find the corresponding correlation coefficient to be $r= 0.47_{-0.35}^{+0.24}$, and at the current precision level our constraints on the scaling relations are consistent with previous works. For our APEX-SZ sample, we find that ignoring the covariance between the SZ and X-ray observables biases the normalization of the $Y_{\rm SZ}\text{--}M_{500}$ scaling high by $1\text{--}2σ$ and the slope low by $\sim 1σ$, even when the SZ effect plays no role in the sample selection. We conclude that for higher-precision data and larger cluster samples, as anticipated from on-going and near-future cluster cosmology experiments, similar biases (due to intrinsic covariances of cluster observables) in the scaling relations will dominate the cosmological error budget if not accounted for correctly.

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arXiv2017

CMB Polarization B-mode Delensing with SPTpol and Herschel

We present a demonstration of delensing the observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode polarization anisotropy. This process of reducing the gravitational-lensing generated B-mode component will become increasingly important for improving searches for the B modes produced by primordial gravitational waves. In this work, we delens B-mode maps constructed from multi-frequency SPTpol observations of a 90 deg$^2$ patch of sky by subtracting a B-mode template constructed from two inputs: SPTpol E-mode maps and a lensing potential map estimated from the $\textit{Herschel}$ $500\,μm$ map of the CIB. We find that our delensing procedure reduces the measured B-mode power spectrum by 28% in the multipole range $300 < \ell < 2300$; this is shown to be consistent with expectations from theory and simulations and to be robust against systematics. The null hypothesis of no delensing is rejected at $6.9 σ$. Furthermore, we build and use a suite of realistic simulations to study the general properties of the delensing process and find that the delensing efficiency achieved in this work is limited primarily by the noise in the lensing potential map. We demonstrate the importance of including realistic experimental non-idealities in the delensing forecasts used to inform instrument and survey-strategy planning of upcoming lower-noise experiments, such as CMB-S4.

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arXiv2016

ICE: a scalable, low-cost FPGA-based telescope signal processing and networking system

We present an overview of the 'ICE' hardware and software framework that implements large arrays of interconnected FPGA-based data acquisition, signal processing and networking nodes economically. The system was conceived for application to radio, millimeter and sub-millimeter telescope readout systems that have requirements beyond typical off-the-shelf processing systems, such as careful control of interference signals produced by the digital electronics, and clocking of all elements in the system from a single precise observatory-derived oscillator. A new generation of telescopes operating at these frequency bands and designed with a vastly increased emphasis on digital signal processing to support their detector multiplexing technology or high-bandwidth correlators---data rates exceeding a terabyte per second---are becoming common. The ICE system is built around a custom FPGA motherboard that makes use of an Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA and ARM-based co-processor. The system is specialized for specific applications through software, firmware, and custom mezzanine daughter boards that interface to the FPGA through the industry-standard FMC specifications. For high density applications, the motherboards are packaged in 16-slot crates with ICE backplanes that implement a low-cost passive full-mesh network between the motherboards in a crate, allow high bandwidth interconnection between crates, and enable data offload to a computer cluster. A Python-based control software library automatically detects and operates the hardware in the array. Examples of specific telescope applications of the ICE framework are presented, namely the frequency-multiplexed bolometer readout systems used for the SPT and Simons Array and the digitizer, F-engine, and networking engine for the CHIME and HIRAX radio interferometers.

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arXiv2016

Millimeter Transient Point Sources in the SPTpol 100 Square Degree Survey

The millimeter transient sky is largely unexplored, with measurements limited to follow-up of objects detected at other wavelengths. High-angular-resolution telescopes designed for measurement of the cosmic microwave background offer the possibility to discover new, unknown transient sources in this band, particularly the afterglows of unobserved gamma-ray bursts. Here we use the 10-meter millimeter-wave South Pole Telescope, designed for the primary purpose of observing the cosmic microwave background at arcminute and larger angular scales, to conduct a search for such objects. During the 2012-2013 season, the telescope was used to continuously observe a 100 square degree patch of sky centered at RA 23h30m and declination -55 degrees using the polarization-sensitive SPTpol camera in two bands centered at 95 and 150 GHz. These 6000 hours of observations provided continuous monitoring for day- to month-scale millimeter-wave transient sources at the 10 mJy level. One candidate object was observed with properties broadly consistent with a gamma-ray burst afterglow, but at a statistical significance too low (p=0.01) to confirm detection.

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arXiv2015

Development of readout electronics for POLARBEAR-2 Cosmic Microwave Background experiment

The readout of transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers with a large multiplexing factor is key for the next generation Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiment, Polarbear-2, having 7,588 TES bolometers. To enable the large arrays, we have been developing a readout system with a multiplexing factor of 40 in the frequency domain. Extending that architecture to 40 bolometers requires an increase in the bandwidth of the SQUID electronics above 4 MHz. This paper focuses on cryogenic readout and shows how it affects cross talk and the responsivity of the TES bolometers. A series resistance, such as equivalent series resistance (ESR) of capacitors for LC filters, leads to non-linear response of the bolometers. A wiring inductance modulates a voltage across the bolometers and causes cross talk. They should be controlled well to reduce systematic errors in CMB observations. We have been developing a cryogenic readout with a low series impedance and have tuned bolometers in the middle of their transition at a high frequency (> 3 MHz).

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arXiv2015

A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Gravitational Lensing Potential from 100 Square Degrees of SPTpol Data

We present a measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) gravitational lensing potential using data from the first two seasons of observations with SPTpol, the polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed on the South Pole Telescope (SPT). The observations used in this work cover 100 deg$^2$ of sky with arcminute resolution at 150 GHz. Using a quadratic estimator, we make maps of the CMB lensing potential from combinations of CMB temperature and polarization maps. We combine these lensing potential maps to form a minimum-variance (MV) map. The lensing potential is measured with a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than one for angular multipoles between $100< L <250$. This is the highest signal-to-noise mass map made from the CMB to date and will be powerful in cross-correlation with other tracers of large-scale structure. We calculate the power spectrum of the lensing potential for each estimator, and we report the value of the MV power spectrum between $100< L <2000$ as our primary result. We constrain the ratio of the spectrum to a fiducial $Λ$CDM model to be $A_{\rm MV}=0.92 \pm 0.14 {\rm\, (Stat.)} \pm 0.08 {\rm\, (Sys.)}$. Restricting ourselves to polarized data only, we find $A_{\rm POL}=0.92 \pm 0.24 {\rm\, (Stat.)} \pm 0.11 {\rm\, (Sys.)}$. This measurement rejects the hypothesis of no lensing at $5.9 σ$ using polarization data alone, and at $14 σ$ using both temperature and polarization data.

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arXiv2015

Galaxy cluster scaling relations measured with APEX-SZ

We present thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) measurements for 42 galaxy clusters observed at 150 GHz with the APEX-SZ experiment. For each cluster, we model the pressure profile and calculate the integrated Comptonization $Y$ to estimate the total thermal energy of the intracluster medium (ICM). We compare the measured $Y$ values to X-ray observables of the ICM from the literature (cluster gas mass $M_{\rm{gas}}$, temperature $T_X$, and $Y_X =M_{\rm{gas}}T_X$) that relate to total cluster mass. We measure power law scaling relations, including an intrinsic scatter, between the SZE and X-ray observables for three subsamples within the set of 42 clusters that have uniform X-ray analysis in the literature. We observe that differences between these X-ray analyses introduce significant variability into the measured scaling relations, particularly affecting the normalization. For all three subsamples, we find results consistent with a self-similar model of cluster evolution dominated by gravitational effects. Comparing to predictions from numerical simulations, these scaling relations prefer models that include cooling and feedback in the ICM. Lastly, we measure an intrinsic scatter of $\sim28$ per cent in the $Y-Y_X\,$ scaling relation for all three subsamples.

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arXiv2015

Measurements of Sub-degree B-mode Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background from 100 Square Degrees of SPTpol Data

We present a measurement of the $B$-mode polarization power spectrum (the $BB$ spectrum) from 100 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ of sky observed with SPTpol, a polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed on the South Pole Telescope. The observations used in this work were taken during 2012 and early 2013 and include data in spectral bands centered at 95 and 150 GHz. We report the $BB$ spectrum in five bins in multipole space, spanning the range $300 \le \ell \le 2300$, and for three spectral combinations: 95 GHz $\times$ 95 GHz, 95 GHz $\times$ 150 GHz, and 150 GHz $\times$ 150 GHz. We subtract small ($< 0.5 σ$ in units of statistical uncertainty) biases from these spectra and account for the uncertainty in those biases. The resulting power spectra are inconsistent with zero power but consistent with predictions for the $BB$ spectrum arising from the gravitational lensing of $E$-mode polarization. If we assume no other source of $BB$ power besides lensed $B$ modes, we determine a preference for lensed $B$ modes of $4.9 σ$. After marginalizing over tensor power and foregrounds, namely polarized emission from galactic dust and extragalactic sources, this significance is $4.3 σ$. Fitting for a single parameter, $A_\mathrm{lens}$, that multiplies the predicted lensed $B$-mode spectrum, and marginalizing over tensor power and foregrounds, we find $A_\mathrm{lens} = 1.08 \pm 0.26$, indicating that our measured spectra are consistent with the signal expected from gravitational lensing. The data presented here provide the best measurement to date of the $B$-mode power spectrum on these angular scales.

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arXiv2014

Measurements of E-Mode Polarization and Temperature-E-Mode Correlation in the Cosmic Microwave Background from 100 Square Degrees of SPTpol Data

We present measurements of $E$-mode polarization and temperature-$E$-mode correlation in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using data from the first season of observations with SPTpol, the polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed on the South Pole Telescope (SPT). The observations used in this work cover 100~\sqdeg\ of sky with arcminute resolution at $150\,$GHz. We report the $E$-mode angular auto-power spectrum ($EE$) and the temperature-$E$-mode angular cross-power spectrum ($TE$) over the multipole range $500 < \ell \leq5000$. These power spectra improve on previous measurements in the high-$\ell$ (small-scale) regime. We fit the combination of the SPTpol power spectra, data from \planck\, and previous SPT measurements with a six-parameter \LCDM cosmological model. We find that the best-fit parameters are consistent with previous results. The improvement in high-$\ell$ sensitivity over previous measurements leads to a significant improvement in the limit on polarized point-source power: after masking sources brighter than 50\,mJy in unpolarized flux at 150\,GHz, we find a 95\% confidence upper limit on unclustered point-source power in the $EE$ spectrum of $D_\ell = \ell (\ell+1) C_\ell / 2 π< 0.40 \ μ{\mbox{K}}^2$ at $\ell=3000$, indicating that future $EE$ measurements will not be limited by power from unclustered point sources in the multipole range $\ell < 3600$, and possibly much higher in $\ell.$

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arXiv2014

SPT-3G: A Next-Generation Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Experiment on the South Pole Telescope

We describe the design of a new polarization sensitive receiver, SPT-3G, for the 10-meter South Pole Telescope (SPT). The SPT-3G receiver will deliver a factor of ~20 improvement in mapping speed over the current receiver, SPTpol. The sensitivity of the SPT-3G receiver will enable the advance from statistical detection of B-mode polarization anisotropy power to high signal-to-noise measurements of the individual modes, i.e., maps. This will lead to precise (~0.06 eV) constraints on the sum of neutrino masses with the potential to directly address the neutrino mass hierarchy. It will allow a separation of the lensing and inflationary B-mode power spectra, improving constraints on the amplitude and shape of the primordial signal, either through SPT-3G data alone or in combination with BICEP-2/KECK, which is observing the same area of sky. The measurement of small-scale temperature anisotropy will provide new constraints on the epoch of reionization. Additional science from the SPT-3G survey will be significantly enhanced by the synergy with the ongoing optical Dark Energy Survey (DES), including: a 1% constraint on the bias of optical tracers of large-scale structure, a measurement of the differential Doppler signal from pairs of galaxy clusters that will test General Relativity on ~200 Mpc scales, and improved cosmological constraints from the abundance of clusters of galaxies.

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arXiv2013

Detection of B-mode Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background with Data from the South Pole Telescope

Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background generates a curl pattern in the observed polarization. This "B-mode" signal provides a measure of the projected mass distribution over the entire observable Universe and also acts as a contaminant for the measurement of primordial gravity-wave signals. In this Letter we present the first detection of gravitational lensing B modes, using first-season data from the polarization-sensitive receiver on the South Pole Telescope (SPTpol). We construct a template for the lensing B-mode signal by combining E-mode polarization measured by SPTpol with estimates of the lensing potential from a Herschel-SPIRE map of the cosmic infrared background. We compare this template to the B modes measured directly by SPTpol, finding a non-zero correlation at 7.7 sigma significance. The correlation has an amplitude and scale-dependence consistent with theoretical expectations, is robust with respect to analysis choices, and constitutes the first measurement of a powerful cosmological observable.

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arXiv2012

South Pole Telescope Software Systems: Control, Monitoring, and Data Acquisition

We present the software system used to control and operate the South Pole Telescope. The South Pole Telescope is a 10-meter millimeter-wavelength telescope designed to measure anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at arcminute angular resolution. In the austral summer of 2011/12, the SPT was equipped with a new polarization-sensitive camera, which consists of 1536 transition-edge sensor bolometers. The bolometers are read out using 36 independent digital frequency multiplexing (\dfmux) readout boards, each with its own embedded processors. These autonomous boards control and read out data from the focal plane with on-board software and firmware. An overall control software system running on a separate control computer controls the \dfmux boards, the cryostat and all other aspects of telescope operation. This control software collects and monitors data in real-time, and stores the data to disk for transfer to the United States for analysis.

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arXiv2012

Frequency Multiplexed SQUID Readout of Large Bolometer Arrays for Cosmic Microwave Background Measurements

A technological milestone for experiments employing Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers operating at sub-kelvin temperature is the deployment of detector arrays with 100s--1000s of bolometers. One key technology for such arrays is readout multiplexing: the ability to read out many sensors simultaneously on the same set of wires. This paper describes a frequency-domain multiplexed readout system which has been developed for and deployed on the APEX-SZ and South Pole Telescope millimeter wavelength receivers. In this system, the detector array is divided into modules of seven detectors, and each bolometer within the module is biased with a unique ~MHz sinusoidal carrier such that the individual bolometer signals are well separated in frequency space. The currents from all bolometers in a module are summed together and pre-amplified with Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) operating at 4 K. Room-temperature electronics demodulate the carriers to recover the bolometer signals, which are digitized separately and stored to disk. This readout system contributes little noise relative to the detectors themselves, is remarkably insensitive to unwanted microphonic excitations, and provides a technology pathway to multiplexing larger numbers of sensors.

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arXiv2010

Non-parametric modeling of the intra-cluster gas using APEX-SZ bolometer imaging data

We demonstrate the usability of mm-wavelength imaging data obtained from the APEX-SZ bolometer array to derive the radial temperature profile of the hot intra-cluster gas out to radius r_500 and beyond. The goal is to study the physical properties of the intra-cluster gas by using a non-parametric de-projection method that is, aside from the assumption of spherical symmetry, free from modeling bias. We use publicly available X-ray imaging data from the XMM-Newton observatory and our Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE) imaging data from the APEX-SZ experiment at 150 GHz to de-project the density and temperature profiles for the relaxed cluster Abell 2204. We derive the gas density, temperature and entropy profiles assuming spherical symmetry, and obtain the total mass profile under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. For comparison with X-ray spectroscopic temperature models, a re-analysis of the recent Chandra observation is done with the latest calibration updates. Using the non-parametric modeling we demonstrate a decrease of gas temperature in the cluster outskirts, and also measure the gas entropy profile. These results are obtained for the first time independently of X-ray spectroscopy, using SZE and X-ray imaging data. The contribution of the SZE systematic uncertainties in measuring T_e at large radii is shown to be small compared to the Chandra systematic spectroscopic errors. The upper limit on M_200 derived from the non-parametric method is consistent with the NFW model prediction from weak lensing analysis.

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