Absolute polarization angle calibration using polarized diffuse Galactic emission observed by BICEP

Tomotake Matsumura; Peter Ade; Denis Barkats; Darcy Barron; John O. Battle; Evan M. Bierman; James J. Bock; H. Cynthia Chiang; Brendan P. Crill; C. Darren Dowell; Lionel Duband; Eric F. Hivon; William L. Holzapfel; Viktor V. Hristov; William C. Jones; Brian G. Keating; John M. Kovac; Chao-lin Kuo; Andrew E. Lange; Erik M. Leitch; Peter V. Mason; Hien T. Nguyen; Nicolas Ponthieu; Clem Pryke; Steffen Richter; Graca M. Rocha; Yuki D. Takahashi; Ki Won Yoon

doi:10.1117/12.856855

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15 July 2010 Absolute polarization angle calibration using polarized diffuse Galactic emission observed by BICEP

Tomotake Matsumura, Peter Ade, Denis Barkats, Darcy Barron, John O. Battle, Evan M. Bierman, James J. Bock, H. Cynthia Chiang, Brendan P. Crill, C. Darren Dowell, Lionel Duband, Eric F. Hivon, William L. Holzapfel, Viktor V. Hristov, William C. Jones, Brian G. Keating, John M. Kovac, Chao-lin Kuo, Andrew E. Lange, Erik M. Leitch, Peter V. Mason, Hien T. Nguyen, Nicolas Ponthieu, Clem Pryke, Steffen Richter, Graca M. Rocha, Yuki D. Takahashi, Ki Won Yoon

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Proceedings Volume 7741, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V; 77412O (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856855
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We present a method of cross-calibrating the polarization angle of a polarimeter using Bicep Galactic observations. Bicep was a ground based experiment using an array of 49 pairs of polarization sensitive bolometers observing from the geographic South Pole at 100 and 150 GHz. The Bicep polarimeter is calibrated to ±0.01 in cross-polarization and less than ±0.7° in absolute polarization orientation. Bicep observed the temperature and polarization of the Galactic plane (R.A = 100° ~ 270° and Dec. = -67° ~ -48°). We show that the statistical error in the 100 GHz Bicep Galaxy map can constrain the polarization angle offset of Wmap W band to 0.6° ± 1.4°. The expected 1σ errors on the polarization angle cross-calibration for Planck or EPIC are 1.3° and 0.3° at 100 and 150 GHz, respectively. We also discuss the expected improvement of the Bicep Galactic field observations with forthcoming Bicep2 and Keck observations.

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Tomotake Matsumura, Peter Ade, Denis Barkats, Darcy Barron, John O. Battle, Evan M. Bierman, James J. Bock, H. Cynthia Chiang, Brendan P. Crill, C. Darren Dowell, Lionel Duband, Eric F. Hivon, William L. Holzapfel, Viktor V. Hristov, William C. Jones, Brian G. Keating, John M. Kovac, Chao-lin Kuo, Andrew E. Lange, Erik M. Leitch, Peter V. Mason, Hien T. Nguyen, Nicolas Ponthieu, Clem Pryke, Steffen Richter, Graca M. Rocha, Yuki D. Takahashi, and Ki Won Yoon "Absolute polarization angle calibration using polarized diffuse Galactic emission observed by BICEP", Proc. SPIE 7741, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 77412O (15 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856855

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