arXiv subjects

Brian Keating

Publications and source records attributed to Brian Keating.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Lensing Power Spectrum from Two Years of POLARBEAR Data

We present a measurement of the gravitational lensing deflection power spectrum reconstructed with two seasons cosmic microwave background polarization data from the POLARBEAR experiment. Observations were taken at 150 GHz from 2012 to 2014 which survey three patches of sky totaling 30 square degrees. We test the consistency of the lensing spectrum with a Cold Dark Matter (CDM) cosmology and reject the no-lensing hypothesis at a confidence of 10.9 sigma including statistical and systematic uncertainties. We observe a value of A_L = 1.33 +/- 0.32 (statistical) +/- 0.02 (systematic) +/- 0.07 (foreground) using all polarization lensing estimators, which corresponds to a 24% accurate measurement of the lensing amplitude. Compared to the analysis of the first year data, we have improved the breadth of both the suite of null tests and the error terms included in the estimation of systematic contamination.

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arXiv2020

The POLARBEAR Fourier Transform Spectrometer Calibrator and Spectroscopic Characterization of the POLARBEAR Instrument

We describe the Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) used for in-field testing of the POLARBEAR receiver, an experiment located in the Atacama Desert of Chile which measures the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. The POLARBEAR-FTS (PB-FTS) is a Martin-Puplett interferometer designed to couple to the Huan Tran Telescope (HTT) on which the POLARBEAR receiver is installed. The PB-FTS measured the spectral response of the POLARBEAR receiver with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) $>20$ for $\sim$69% of the focal plane detectors due to three features: a high throughput of 15.1 steradian cm$^{2}$, optimized optical coupling to the POLARBEAR optics using a custom designed output parabolic mirror, and a continuously modulated output polarizer. The PB-FTS parabolic mirror is designed to mimic the shape of the 2.5 m-diameter HTT primary reflector which allows for optimum optical coupling to the POLARBEAR receiver, reducing aberrations and systematics. One polarizing grid is placed at the output of the PB-FTS, and modulated via continuous rotation. This modulation allows for decomposition of the signal into different harmonics that can be used to probe potentially pernicious sources of systematic error in a polarization-sensitive instrument. The high throughput and continuous output polarizer modulation features are unique compared to other FTS calibrators used in the CMB field. In-field characterization of the POLARBEAR receiver was accomplished using the PB-FTS in April 2014. We discuss the design, construction, and operation of the PB-FTS and present the spectral characterization of the POLARBEAR receiver. We introduce future applications for the PB-FTS in the next-generation CMB experiment, the Simons Array.

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arXiv2020

Small Aperture Telescopes for the Simons Observatory

The Simons Observatory (SO) is an upcoming cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment located on Cerro Toco, Chile, that will map the microwave sky in temperature and polarization in six frequency bands spanning 27 to 285 GHz. SO will consist of one 6-meter Large Aperture Telescope (LAT) fielding $\sim$30,000 detectors and an array of three 0.42-meter Small Aperture Telescopes (SATs) fielding an additional 30,000 detectors. This synergy will allow for the extremely sensitive characterization of the CMB over angular scales ranging from an arcmin to tens of degrees, enabling a wide range of scientific output. Here we focus on the SATs targeting degree angular scales with successive dichroic instruments observing at Mid-Frequency (MF: 93/145 GHz), Ultra-High-Frequency (UHF: 225/285 GHz), and Low-Frequency (LF: 27/39 GHz). The three SATs will be able to map $\sim$10% of the sky to a noise level of 2 $μ$K-arcmin when combining 93 and 145 GHz. The multiple frequency bands will allow the CMB to be separated from galactic foregrounds (primarily synchrotron and dust), with the primary science goal of characterizing the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$, at a target level of $σ\left(r\right) \approx 0.003$.

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arXiv2019

Evidence for the Cross-correlation between Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Lensing from POLARBEAR and Cosmic Shear from Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam

We present the first measurement of cross-correlation between the lensing potential, reconstructed from cosmic microwave background (CMB) {\it polarization} data, and the cosmic shear field from galaxy shapes. This measurement is made using data from the POLARBEAR CMB experiment and the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey. By analyzing an 11~deg$^2$ overlapping region, we reject the null hypothesis at 3.5$σ$\ and constrain the amplitude of the {\bf cross-spectrum} to $\widehat{A}_{\rm lens}=1.70\pm 0.48$, where $\widehat{A}_{\rm lens}$ is the amplitude normalized with respect to the Planck~2018{} prediction, based on the flat $Λ$ cold dark matter cosmology. The first measurement of this {\bf cross-spectrum} without relying on CMB temperature measurements is possible due to the deep POLARBEAR map with a noise level of ${\sim}$6\,$μ$K-arcmin, as well as the deep HSC data with a high galaxy number density of $n_g=23\,{\rm arcmin^{-2}}$. We present a detailed study of the systematics budget to show that residual systematics in our results are negligibly small, which demonstrates the future potential of this cross-correlation technique.

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arXiv2019

Future CMB constraints on cosmic birefringence and implications for fundamental physics

The primary scientific target of the CMB polarization experiments that are currently being built and proposed is the detection of primordial tensor perturbations. As a byproduct, these instruments will significantly improve constraints on cosmic birefringence, or the rotation of the CMB polarization plane. If convincingly detected, cosmic birefringence would be a dramatic manifestation of physics beyond the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. We forecast the bounds on the cosmic polarization rotation (CPR) from the upcoming ground-based Simons Observatory (SO) and the space-based LiteBIRD experiments, as well as a "fourth generation" ground-based CMB experiment like CMB-S4 and the mid-cost space mission PICO. We examine the detectability of both a stochastic anisotropic rotation field and an isotropic rotation by a constant angle. CPR induces new correlations of CMB observables, including spectra of parity-odd type in the case of isotropic CPR, and mode-coupling correlations in the anisotropic rotation case. We find that LiteBIRD and SO will reduce the 1$σ$ bound on the isotropic CPR from the current value of 30 arcmin to 1.5 and 0.6 arcmin, respectively, while CMB-S4-like and PICO will reduce it to $\sim 0.1$ arcmin. The bounds on the amplitude of a scale-invariant CPR spectrum will be reduced by 1, 2 and 3 orders of magnitude by LiteBIRD, SO and CMB-S4-like/PICO, respectively. We discuss implications of the forecasted CPR bounds for pseudoscalar fields, primordial magnetic fields (PMF), and violations of Lorentz invariance. We find that CMB-S4-like and PICO can reduce the 1$σ$ bound on the amplitude of the scale-invariant PMF from 1 nG to 0.1 nG, while also probing the magnetic field of the Milky Way. They will also significantly improve bounds on the axion-photon coupling, placing stringent constraints on the string theory axions.

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arXiv2019

Constraints on Scalar and Tensor spectra from $N_{eff}$

At the linear level, the gravitational wave (GW) spectrum predicted by inflation, and many of its alternatives, can have arbitrarily small amplitude and consequently an unconstrained tilt. However, at second order, tensor fluctuations are sourced by scalar fluctuations that have been measured in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). These second order fluctuations generically produce a minimum amount of tensor perturbations corresponding to a tensor-to-scalar ratio of $r\sim 10^{-6}$. Inverting this relationship yields a bound on the tensor tilt sourced by scalar fluctuations. Since this induced GW spectrum depends on the scalar spectrum, we derive a new indirect bound that involves \textit{all scales} of the scalar spectrum based on CMB observations. This bound comes from the constraint on the number of effective relativistic degrees of freedom, $N_{eff}$. We estimate the bound using current data, and the improvements expected by future CMB experiment. The bound forces the running and running of running to conform to standard slow-roll predictions of $α,β\lesssim (n_s-1)^2$, improving on current CMB measurements by an order of magnitude. This bound has further implications for the possibility of primordial black holes as dark matter candidates. Performing a likelihood analysis including this new constraint, we find that positive $α$ and/or $β$ are disfavored at least at $1σ$. Finally, using bounds on the fractional energy density of gravitational waves today obtained by LIGO and the Pulsar Timing Array, we obtain a bound on the primordial scalar spectrum on these scales and give forecast for future measurements.

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arXiv2019

Removal of Galactic foregrounds for the Simons Observatory primordial gravitational wave search

Upcoming observations from the Simons Observatory have been projected to constrain the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$, at the level of $σ(r)=$0.003. Here we describe one of the forecasting algorithms for the Simons Observatory in more detail, based on cleaning CMB polarization maps using a parametric model. We present a new code to perform this end-to-end forecast, and explore the assumptions in greater detail. If spatial uniformity of the spectral energy distribution of synchrotron radiation and thermal dust emission is assumed over the region planned for observations, covering almost a fifth of the sky, a bias of order 1--3$σ$ in $r$ is projected for foreground models consistent with current data. We find that by masking the most contaminated regions of sky, or by adopting more parameters to describe the spatial variation in spectral index for synchrotron and dust, such a bias can be mitigated for the foreground models we consider. We also explore strategies for testing whether the cleaned CMB polarization maps contain residual foreground contamination, including cross-correlating with maps tracing the foregrounds. This method also has applications for other CMB polarization experiments.

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arXiv2018

Development of Calibration Strategies for the Simons Observatory

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a set of cosmic microwave background instruments that will be deployed in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The key science goals include setting new constraints on cosmic inflation, measuring large scale structure with gravitational lensing, and constraining neutrino masses. Meeting these science goals with SO requires high sensitivity and improved calibration techniques. In this paper, we highlight a few of the most important instrument calibrations, including spectral response, gain stability, and polarization angle calibrations. We present their requirements for SO and experimental techniques that can be employed to reach those requirements.

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arXiv2018

Measurements of tropospheric ice clouds with a ground-based CMB polarization experiment, POLARBEAR

The polarization of the atmosphere has been a long-standing concern for ground-based experiments targeting cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. Ice crystals in upper tropospheric clouds scatter thermal radiation from the ground and produce a horizontally-polarized signal. We report the detailed analysis of the cloud signal using a ground-based CMB experiment, POLARBEAR, located at the Atacama desert in Chile and observing at 150 GHz. We observe horizontally-polarized temporal increases of low-frequency fluctuations ("polarized bursts," hereafter) of $\lesssim$0.1 K when clouds appear in a webcam monitoring the telescope and the sky. The hypothesis of no correlation between polarized bursts and clouds is rejected with $>$24$σ$ statistical significance using three years of data. We consider many other possibilities including instrumental and environmental effects, and find no other reasons other than clouds that can explain the data better. We also discuss the impact of the cloud polarization on future ground-based CMB polarization experiments.

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arXiv2018

Studies of Systematic Uncertainties for Simons Observatory: Detector Array Effects

In this proceeding, we present studies of instrumental systematic effects for the Simons Obsevatory (SO) that are associated with the detector system and its interaction with the full SO experimental systems. SO will measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropies over a wide range of angular scales in six bands with bandcenters spanning from 27 GHz to 270 GHz. We explore effects including intensity-to-polarization leakage due to coupling optics, bolometer nonlinearity, uncalibrated gain variations of bolometers, and readout crosstalk. We model the level of signal contamination, discuss proposed mitigation schemes, and present instrument requirements to inform the design of SO and future CMB projects.

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arXiv2018

Simons Observatory Large Aperture Telescope Receiver Design Overview

The Simons Observatory (SO) will make precision temperature and polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using a series of telescopes which will cover angular scales between one arcminute and tens of degrees and sample frequencies between 27 and 270 GHz. Here we present the current design of the large aperture telescope receiver (LATR), a 2.4 m diameter cryostat that will be mounted on the SO 6 m telescope and will be the largest CMB receiver to date. The cryostat size was chosen to take advantage of the large focal plane area having high Strehl ratios, which is inherent to the Cross-Dragone telescope design. The LATR will be able to accommodate thirteen optics tubes, each having a 36 cm diameter aperture and illuminating several thousand transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers. This set of equipment will provide an opportunity to make measurements with unparalleled sensitivity. However, the size and complexity of the LATR also pose numerous technical challenges. In the following paper, we present the design of the LATR and include how we address these challenges. The solutions we develop in the process of designing the LATR will be informative for the general CMB community, and for future CMB experiments like CMB-S4.

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arXiv2018

Cooldown Strategies and Transient Thermal Simulations for the Simons Observatory

The Simons Observatory (SO) will provide precision polarimetry of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using a series of telescopes which will cover angular scales from arc-minutes to tens of degrees, contain over 60,000 detectors, and observe in frequency bands between 27 GHz and 270 GHz. SO will consist of a six-meter-aperture telescope initially coupled to ~35,000 detectors along with an array of 0.5m aperture refractive cameras, coupled to an additional 30,000+ detectors. The large aperture telescope receiver (LATR) is coupled to a six-meter crossed Dragone telescope and will be 2.4m in diameter, weigh over 3 tons, and have five cryogenic stages (80 K, 40 K, 4 K, 1 K and 100 mK). The LATR is coupled to the telescope via 13 independent optics tubes containing cryogenic optical elements and detectors. The cryostat will be cooled by by two Cryomech PT90 (80 K) and three Cryomech PT420 (40 K and 4 K) pulse tube cryocoolers, with cooling of the 1 K and 100 mK stages by a commercial dilution refrigerator system. The second component, the small aperture telescope (SAT), is a single optics tube refractive cameras of 42cm diameter. Cooling of the SAT stages will be provided by two Cryomech PT420, one of which is dedicated to the dilution refrigeration system which will cool the focal plane to 100 mK. SO will deploy a total of three SATs. In order to estimate the cool down time of the camera systems given their size and complexity, a finite difference code based on an implicit solver has been written to simulate the transient thermal behavior of both cryostats. The result from the simulations presented here predict a 35 day cool down for the LATR. The simulations suggest additional heat switches between stages would be effective in distribution cool down power and reducing the time it takes for the LATR to cool. The SAT is predicted to cool down in one week, which meets the SO design goals.

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arXiv2018

Studies of Systematic Uncertainties for Simons Observatory: Polarization Modulator Related Effects

The Simons Observatory (SO) will observe the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) over a wide range of frequencies (27 to 270 GHz) and angular scales by using both small (0.5 m) and large (6 m) aperture telescopes. The SO small aperture telescopes will target degree angular scales where the primordial B-mode polarization signal is expected to peak. The incoming polarization signal of the small aperture telescopes will be modulated by a cryogenic, continuously-rotating half-wave plate (CRHWP) to mitigate systematic effects arising from slowly varying noise and detector pair-differencing. In this paper, we present an assessment of some systematic effects arising from using a CRHWP in the SO small aperture systems. We focus on systematic effects associated with structural properties of the HWP and effects arising when operating a HWP, including the amplitude of the HWP synchronous signal (HWPSS), and I -> P (intensity to polarization) leakage that arises from detector non-linearity in the presence of a large HWPSS. We demonstrate our ability to simulate the impact of the aforementioned systematic effects in the time domain. This important step will inform mitigation strategies and design decisions to ensure that SO will meet its science goals.

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arXiv2018

Simons Observatory large aperture receiver simulation overview

The Simons Observatory (SO) will make precision temperature and polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using a series of telescopes which will cover angular scales between one arcminute and tens of degrees, contain over 60,000 detectors, and sample frequencies between 27 and 270 GHz. SO will consist of a six-meter-aperture telescope coupled to over 30,000 detectors along with an array of half-meter aperture refractive cameras, which together couple to an additional 30,000+ detectors. SO will measure fundamental cosmological parameters of our universe, find high redshift clusters via the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, constrain properties of neutrinos, and seek signatures of dark matter through gravitational lensing. In this paper we will present results of the simulations of the SO large aperture telescope receiver (LATR). We will show details of simulations performed to ensure the structural integrity and thermal performance of our receiver, as well as will present the results of finite element analyses (FEA) of designs for the structural support system. Additionally, a full thermal model for the LATR will be described. The model will be used to ensure we meet our design requirements. Finally, we will present the results of FEA used to identify the primary vibrational modes, and planned methods for suppressing these modes. Design solutions to each of these problems that have been informed by simulation will be presented.

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arXiv2018

Studies of Systematic Uncertainties for Simons Observatory: Optical Effects and Sensitivity Considerations

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a new experiment that aims to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in temperature and polarization. SO will measure the polarized sky over a large range of microwave frequencies and angular scales using a combination of small ($\sim0.5 \, \rm m$) and large ($\sim 6\, \rm m $) aperture telescopes and will be located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. This work is part of a series of papers studying calibration, sensitivity, and systematic errors for SO. In this paper, we discuss current efforts to model optical systematic effects, how these have been used to guide the design of the SO instrument, and how these studies can be used to inform instrument design of future experiments like CMB-S4. While optical systematics studies are underway for both the small aperture and large aperture telescopes, we limit the focus of this paper to the more mature large aperture telescope design for which our studies include: pointing errors, optical distortions, beam ellipticity, cross-polar response, instrumental polarization rotation and various forms of sidelobe pickup.

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arXiv2018

The Simons Observatory: Instrument Overview

The Simons Observatory (SO) will make precise temperature and polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using a set of telescopes which will cover angular scales between 1 arcminute and tens of degrees, contain over 60,000 detectors, and observe at frequencies between 27 and 270 GHz. SO will consist of a 6 m aperture telescope coupled to over 30,000 transition-edge sensor bolometers along with three 42 cm aperture refractive telescopes, coupled to an additional 30,000+ detectors, all of which will be located in the Atacama Desert at an altitude of 5190 m. The powerful combination of large and small apertures in a CMB observatory will allow us to sample a wide range of angular scales over a common survey area. SO will measure fundamental cosmological parameters of our universe, constrain primordial fluctuations, find high redshift clusters via the Sunyaev-Zel`dovich effect, constrain properties of neutrinos, and trace the density and velocity of the matter in the universe over cosmic time. The complex set of technical and science requirements for this experiment has led to innovative instrumentation solutions which we will discuss. The large aperture telescope will couple to a cryogenic receiver that is 2.4 m in diameter and nearly 3 m long, creating a number of technical challenges. Concurrently, we are designing the array of cryogenic receivers housing the 42 cm aperture telescopes. We will discuss the sensor technology SO will use and we will give an overview of the drivers for and designs of the SO telescopes and receivers, with their cold optical components and detector arrays.

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arXiv2018

Design and characterization of the POLARBEAR-2b and POLARBEAR-2c cosmic microwave background cryogenic receivers

The POLARBEAR-2/Simons Array Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization experiment is an upgrade and expansion of the existing POLARBEAR-1 (PB-1) experiment, located in the Atacama desert in Chile. Along with the CMB temperature and $E$-mode polarization anisotropies, PB-1 and the Simons Array study the CMB $B$-mode polarization anisotropies produced at large angular scales by inflationary gravitational waves, and at small angular scales by gravitational lensing. These measurements provide constraints on various cosmological and particle physics parameters, such as the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$, and the sum of the neutrino masses. The Simons Array consists of three 3.5 m diameter telescopes with upgraded POLARBEAR-2 (PB-2) cryogenic receivers, named PB-2a, -2b, and -2c. PB-2a and -2b will observe the CMB over multiple bands centered at 95 GHz and 150 GHz, while PB-2c will observe at 220 GHz and 270 GHz, which will enable enhanced foreground separation and de-lensing. Each Simons Array receiver consists of two cryostats which share the same vacuum space: an optics tube containing the cold reimaging lenses and Lyot stop, infrared-blocking filters, and cryogenic half-wave plate; and a backend which contains the focal plane detector array, cold readout components, and millikelvin refrigerator. Each PB-2 focal plane array is comprised of 7,588 dual-polarization, multi-chroic, lenslet- and antenna-coupled, Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers which are cooled to 250 mK and read out using Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) through a digital frequency division multiplexing scheme with a multiplexing factor of 40. In this work we describe progress towards commissioning the PB-2b and -2c receivers including cryogenic design, characterization, and performance of both the PB-2b and -2c backend cryostats.

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arXiv2017

A Halo Model Approach to the $\rm{21\, cm}$ and $\rm{Ly}α$ Cross-correlation

We present a halo-model-based approach to calculate the cross-correlation between $\rm{21\,cm}$ HI intensity fluctuations and $\rm{Ly}α$ emitters (LAE) during the epoch of reionization (EoR). Ionizing radiation around dark matter halos are modeled as bubbles with the size and growth determined based on the reionization photon production, among other physical parameters. The cross-correlation shows a clear negative-to-positive transition, associated with transition from ionized to neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium during EoR. The cross-correlation is subject to several foreground contaminants, including foreground radio point sources important for $\rm{21\,cm}$ experiments and low-$z$ interloper emission lines, such as $\rm{H}α$, OIII, and OII, for $\rm{Ly}α$ experiments. Our calculations show that by masking out high fluxes in the $\rm{Ly}α$ measurement, the correlated foreground contamination on the $\rm{21\,cm}$-$\rm{Ly}α$ cross-correlation can be dramatically reduced. We forecast the detectability of $\rm{21\,cm}$-$\rm{Ly}α$ cross-correlation at different redshifts and adopt a Fisher matrix approach to estimate uncertainties on the key EoR parameters that have not been well constrained by other observations of reionization. This halo-model-based approach enables us to explore the EoR parameter space rapidly for different $\rm{21\,cm}$ and $\rm{Ly}α$ experiments.

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