BICEP/Keck. XX. Component-separated Maps of the Polarized Cosmic Microwave Background and Thermal Dust Emission Using Planck and BICEP/Keck Observations through the 2018 Observing Season

Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Amiri, M.; Barkats, D.; Thakur, R. Basu; Bischoff, C. A.; Beck, D.; Bock, J. J.; Boenish, H.; Buza, V.; Cantrall, B.; IV, J. R. Cheshire; Connors, J.; Cornelison, J.; Crumrine, M.; Cukierman, A. J.; Denison, E.; Duband, L.; Echter, M.; Eiben, M.; Elwood, B. D.; Fatigoni, S.; Filippini, J. P.; Fortes, A.; Gao, M.; Giannakopoulos, C.; Goeckner-Wald, N.; Goldfinger, D. C.; Gratton, S.; Grayson, J. A.; Greathouse, A.; Grimes, P. K.; Hall, G.; Halal, G.; Halpern, M.; Hand, E.; Harrison, S. A.; Henderson, S.; Hoang, T. D.; Hubmayr, J.; Hui, H.; Irwin, K. D.; Kang, J. H.; Karkare, K. S.; Kefeli, S.; Kovac, J. M.; Kuo, C.; Lasko, K.; Lau, K.; Lautzenhiser, M.; Lennox, A.; Liu, T.; Mackey, S.; Maher, N.; Megerian, K. G.; Minutolo, L.; Moncelsi, L.; Nakato, Y.; Nguyen, H. T.; O’Brient, R.; Paine, S. N.; Patel, A.; Petroff, M. A.; Polish, A. R.; Prouve, T.; Pryke, C.; Reintsema, C. D.; Richter, S.; Romand, T.; Salatino, M.; Schillaci, A.; Schmitt, B.; Schwarz, R.; Sheehy, C. D.; Singari, B.; Soliman, A.; St Germaine, T.; Steiger, A.; Steinbach, B.; Sudiwala, R.; Teply, G. P.; Thompson, K. L.; Tucker, C.; Turner, A. D.; Vergès, C.; Vieregg, A. G.; Wandui, A.; Weber, A. C.; Willmert, J.; Wong, C. L.; Wu, W. L. K.; Yang, H.; Yu, C.; Zeng, L.; Zhang, C.; Zhang, S.

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae3e53

BICEP/Keck. XX. Component-separated Maps of the Polarized Cosmic Microwave Background and Thermal Dust Emission Using Planck and BICEP/Keck Observations through the 2018 Observing Season

Journal Article · Wed Feb 25 00:00:00 EST 2026 · The Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae3e53· OSTI ID:3021363

Ade, P. A. R.; ; ; ; ; ; ; Bock, J. J.; Boenish, H.; Buza, V.; ; ; Connors, J.; ; Crumrine, M.; Cukierman, A. J.; Denison, E.; Duband, L.; Echter, M.; Eiben, M. more »

We present component-separated polarization maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Galactic thermal dust emission, derived using data from the BICEP/Keck experiments through the 2018 observing season and Planck. By employing a maximum-likelihood method that utilizes observing matrices, we produce unbiased maps of the CMB and dust signals. We outline the computational challenges and demonstrate an efficient implementation of the component map estimator. We show methods to compute and characterize power spectra of these maps, opening up an alternative way to infer the tensor-to-scalar ratio from our data. We compare the results of this map-based separation method with the baseline BICEP/Keck analysis. Our analysis demonstrates consistency between the two methods, finding an 84% correlation between the pipelines.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515

Other Award/Contract Number:: 2220444-2220448
06-ARPA206-0040
ST/N000706/1

OSTI ID:: 3021363

Journal Information:: The Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 999; ISSN 0004-637X; ISSN 1538-4357

Publisher:: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (40)

Evaluation of the performance of inexact GMRES Sidje, Roger B.; Winkles, Nathan Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Vol. 235, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2010.09.022	journal	February 2011
IV.—On Least Squares and Linear Combination of Observations Aitken, A. C. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. 55 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0370164600014346	journal	January 1936
Detection of polarization in the cosmic microwave background using DASI Kovac, J. M.; Leitch, E. M.; Pryke, C. Nature, Vol. 420, Issue 6917 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01269	journal	December 2002
Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Armitage-Caplan, C. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 571 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201321591	journal	October 2014
Statistical simulations of the dust foreground to cosmic microwave background polarization (Corrigendum) Vansyngel, F.; Boulanger, F.; Ghosh, T. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 618 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201629992e	journal	October 2018
Planck 2018 results: IV. Diffuse component separation Akrami, Y.; Ashdown, M.; Aumont, J. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 641 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833881	journal	September 2020
Planck 2018 results: VI. Cosmological parameters Aghanim, N.; Akrami, Y.; Ashdown, M. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 641, A6 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833910	journal	September 2020
Planck 2018 results: V. CMB power spectra and likelihoods Aghanim, N.; Akrami, Y.; Ashdown, M. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 641 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201936386	journal	September 2020
Planck intermediate results: LVII. Joint Planck LFI and HFI data processing Akrami, Y.; Andersen, K. J.; Ashdown, M. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 643 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202038073	journal	November 2020
Structure in the COBE differential microwave radiometer first-year maps Smoot, G. F.; Bennett, C. L.; Kogut, A. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 396 https://doi.org/10.1086/186504	journal	September 1992
Cosmic Microwave Background Component Separation by Parameter Estimation Eriksen, H. K.; Dickinson, C.; Lawrence, C. R. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 641, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/500499	journal	April 2006
BICEP2. II. Experiment And Three-Year Data Set Ade, P. A. R.; Aikin, R. W.; Amiri, M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 792, Issue 1, Article No. 62 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/792/1/62	journal	August 2014
BICEP2/KECK ARRAY V: MEASUREMENTS OF B -MODE POLARIZATION AT DEGREE ANGULAR SCALES AND 150 GHz BY THE KECK ARRAY Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Aikin, R. W. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 811, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/811/2/126	journal	September 2015
A hybrid map-C_ℓ component separation method for primordial CMB B-mode searches Azzoni, S.; Alonso, D.; Abitbol, M. H. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2023, Issue 03 https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2023/03/035	journal	March 2023
Testing for spectral index variations in polarized CMB foregrounds de Belsunce, Roger; Gratton, Steven; Efstathiou, George Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 517, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2825	journal	October 2022
The Python Sky Model: software for simulating the Galactic microwave sky Thorne, B.; Dunkley, J.; Alonso, D. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 469, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx949	journal	May 2017
A 3D model of polarized dust emission in the Milky Way Martínez-Solaeche, Ginés; Karakci, Ata; Delabrouille, Jacques Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 476, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty204	journal	January 2018
SPT-3G D1: Constraints on inflationary gravitational waves with two years of SPT-3G data Zebrowski, J. A.; Reichardt, C. L.; Anderson, A. J. Physical Review D, Vol. 112, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/33wm-c6pt	journal	December 2025
BICEP/ Keck XVIII: Measurement of BICEP3 polarization angles and consequences for constraining cosmic birefringence and inflation Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Amiri, M. Physical Review D, Vol. 111, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.063505	journal	March 2025
Pseudo- C ℓ estimators which do not mix E and B modes Smith, Kendrick M. Physical Review D, Vol. 74, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.74.083002	journal	October 2006
Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves Using P l a n c k , WMAP, and New BICEP2/ K e c k Observations through the 2015 Season Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Aikin, R. W. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 121, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.221301	journal	November 2018
Nonparametric maximum likelihood component separation for CMB polarization data Leloup, Clément; Errard, Josquin; Stompor, Radek Physical Review D, Vol. 108, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.108.123547	journal	December 2023
Pixel domain implementation of the minimally informed CMB map foreground cleaning method Morshed, Magdy; Rizzieri, Arianna; Leloup, Clément Physical Review D, Vol. 110, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.110.103521	journal	November 2024
How to measure CMB power spectra without losing information Tegmark, Max Physical Review D, Vol. 55, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.55.5895	journal	May 1997
E/B decomposition of finite pixelized CMB maps Bunn, Emory F.; Zaldarriaga, Matias; Tegmark, Max Physical Review D, Vol. 67, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.67.023501	journal	January 2003
Likelihood analysis of CMB temperature and polarization power spectra Hamimeche, Samira; Lewis, Antony Physical Review D, Vol. 77, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.77.103013	journal	May 2008
Polarized CMB power spectrum estimation using the pure pseudo-cross-spectrum approach Grain, J.; Tristram, M.; Stompor, R. Physical Review D, Vol. 79, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.79.123515	journal	June 2009
Forecasting performance of CMB experiments in the presence of complex foreground contaminations Stompor, Radek; Errard, Josquin; Poletti, Davide Physical Review D, Vol. 94, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.94.083526	journal	October 2016
Pure E and B polarization maps via Wiener filtering Bunn, Emory F.; Wandelt, Benjamin Physical Review D, Vol. 96, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.96.043523	journal	August 2017
Joint Analysis of BICEP2/ Keck Array and Planck Data Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Ahmed, Z. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.114.101301	journal	March 2015
Dust-Polarization Maps for Local Interstellar Turbulence Kritsuk, Alexei G.; Flauger, Raphael; Ustyugov, Sergey D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 121, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.121.021104	journal	July 2018
Improved Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves using Planck , WMAP, and BICEP/ Keck Observations through the 2018 Observing Season Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Amiri, M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 127, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.127.151301	journal	October 2021
Maximum likelihood algorithm for parametric component separation in cosmic microwave background experiments Stompor, Radek; Leach, Samuel; Stivoli, Federico Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 392, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.14023.x	journal	January 2009
Templates for the Solution of Linear Systems: Building Blocks for Iterative Methods. S., G. W.; Barrett, Richard; Berry, Michael Mathematics of Computation, Vol. 64, Issue 211 https://doi.org/10.2307/2153507	journal	July 1995
BICEP2/KECK ARRAY. VII. MATRIX BASED E/B SEPARATION APPLIED TO BICEP2 AND THE KECK ARRAY Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Aikin, R. W. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 825, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/825/1/66	journal	June 2016
CMB-S4: Forecasting Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves Abazajian, Kevork; Addison, Graeme E.; Adshead, Peter The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 926, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac1596	journal	February 2022
Bicep/Keck XV: The Bicep3 Cosmic Microwave Background Polarimeter and the First Three-year Data Set Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Amiri, M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 927, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac4886	journal	March 2022
BICEP/Keck. XVI. Characterizing Dust Polarization through Correlations with Neutral Hydrogen Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Amiri, M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 945, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acb64c	journal	March 2023
Full-sky Models of Galactic Microwave Emission and Polarization at Subarcminute Scales for the Python Sky Model No authors listed The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 991, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adf212	journal	September 2025
CMB-S4: Foreground-cleaning Pipeline Comparison for Measuring Primordial Gravitational Waves Bianchini, Federico; Beck, Dominic; Wu, W. L. Kimmy The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 993, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae03be	journal	October 2025

Similar Records

BICEP/Keck. XVI. Characterizing Dust Polarization through Correlations with Neutral Hydrogen

Journal Article · Tue Mar 07 19:00:00 EST 2023 · The Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:1991533

Improved Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves using Planck, WMAP, and BICEP/Keck Observations through the 2018 Observing Season

Journal Article · Sun Oct 03 20:00:00 EDT 2021 · Physical Review Letters · OSTI ID:1870843

Limits on entanglement effects in the string landscape from Planck and BICEP/Keck data

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics · OSTI ID:22679410

Related Subjects

cosmic inflation
cosmic microwave background radiation
cosmology
linear regression
maximum likelihood estimation

BICEP/Keck. XX. Component-separated Maps of the Polarized Cosmic Microwave Background and Thermal Dust Emission Using Planck and BICEP/Keck Observations through the 2018 Observing Season

Citation Formats

References (40)

Similar Records

Related Subjects