Efficient decomposition of cosmic microwave background polarization maps into pure E, pure B, and ambiguous components

Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.83.083003· OSTI ID:21541437

Bunn, Emory F ^[1]

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1. Physics Department, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia 23173 (United States)

Separation of the B component of a cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization map from the much larger E component is an essential step in CMB polarimetry. For a map with incomplete sky coverage, this separation is necessarily hampered by the presence of ambiguous modes which could be either E or B modes. I present an efficient pixel-space algorithm for removing the ambiguous modes and separating the map into pure E and B components. The method, which works for arbitrary geometries, does not involve generating a complete basis of such modes and scales the cube of the number of pixels on the boundary of the map.

• OSTI ID: 21541437
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 83, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.83.083003; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ALGORITHMS
DECOMPOSITION
POLARIMETRY
POLARIZATION
RELICT RADIATION
SPACE
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
MICROWAVE RADIATION
RADIATIONS