Reconstructing patchy reionization from the cosmic microwave background

Journal Article · Sun Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.79.043003· OSTI ID:21259969

Dvorkin, Cora ^[1]; Smith, Kendrick M ^[2]

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1. Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics and Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States)
2. Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)

We introduce a new statistical technique for extracting the inhomogeneous reionization signal from future high-sensitivity measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization fields. If reionization is inhomogeneous, then the optical depth to recombination will be a function {tau}(n-circumflex) of position on the sky. Anisotropies in {tau}(n-circumflex) alter the statistics of the observed CMB via several physical mechanisms: screening of the surface of last scattering, generation of new polarization via Thomson scattering from reionization bubbles, and the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. We construct a quadratic estimator {tau}-circumflex{sub lm} for the modes of the {tau} field. This estimator separates the patchy reionization signal from the CMB in the form of a noisy map, which can be cross correlated with other probes of reionization or used as a standalone probe. A future satellite experiment with sufficient sensitivity and resolution to measure the lensed B modes on most of the sky can constrain key parameters of patchy reionization, such as the duration of the patchy epoch or the mean bubble radius, at the {approx}10% level.

• OSTI ID: 21259969
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 79; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

39
ANISOTROPY
IONIZATION
POLARIZATION
RECOMBINATION
RELICT RADIATION
RESOLUTION
SATELLITES
SENSITIVITY
SURFACES
THOMSON SCATTERING