Signature of patchy reionization in the polarization anisotropy of the CMB
- Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8 (Canada)
- Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2T8 (Canada)
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, P.O. Box 20450, MS 29, Stanford, California, 94309 (United States)
- Stockholm Observatory, AlbaNova University Center, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, Austin, 78712-1083 (United States)
The inhomogeneous ionization state of the Universe when the first sources of ionizing radiation appeared should lead to anisotropies in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. We use cosmological simulations of the process by which the first sources ionized the intergalactic medium to study the induced polarization anisotropies. We find that the polarization anisotropies have rms of order {approx}0.01 {mu}K, and local peak values of {approx}0.1 {mu}K, smaller than those due to gravitational lensing on small scales. The polarization direction is highly coherent over degree scales. This directional coherence is not expected from either primary anisotropy or gravitational lensing effects, making the largest signals due to inhomogeneous ionization relatively easy to isolate, should experiments achieve the necessary very low noise levels.
- OSTI ID:
- 21027561
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 76, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.76.043002; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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