A New Limit on CMB Circular Polarization from SPIDER

Journal Article · Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 UTC 2017 · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa7cfd · OSTI ID:1362139

Nagy, J. M. ; Ade, P. A. R. ; Amiri, M.; Benton, S. J.; Bergman, A. S. ; Bihary, R.; Bock, J. J.; Bond, J. R. ; Bryan, S. A. ; Chiang, H. C.; Contaldi, C. R. ; Doré, O.; Duivenvoorden, A. J.; Eriksen, H. K. ; Farhang, M.; Filippini, J. P. ; Fissel, L. M. ; Fraisse, A. A.; Freese, K.; Galloway, M. ; Gambrel, A. E.; Gandilo, N. N.; Ganga, K.; Gudmundsson, J. E. ; Halpern, M. ; Hartley, J.; Hasselfield, M.; Hilton, G.; Holmes, W.; Hristov, V. V.; Huang, Z.; Irwin, K. D. ; Jones, W. C. ; Kuo, C. L.; Kermish, Z. D.; Li, S.; Mason, P. V.; Megerian, K.; Moncelsi, L. ; Morford, T. A.; Netterfield, C. B.; Nolta, M.; Padilla, I. L.; Racine, B.; Rahlin, A. S. ; Reintsema, C.; Ruhl, J. E.; Runyan, M. C.; Ruud, T. M. ; Shariff, J. A.; Soler, J. D.; Song, X.; Trangsrud, A.; Tucker, C. ; Tucker, R. S.; Turner, A. D.; List, J. F. Van Der ; Weber, A. C.; Wehus, I. K.; Wiebe, D. V.; Young, E. Y.

We present a new upper limit on CMB circular polarization from the 2015 flight of SPIDER, a balloon-borne telescope designed to search for $$B$$-mode linear polarization from cosmic inflation. Although the level of circular polarization in the CMB is predicted to be very small, experimental limits provide a valuable test of the underlying models. By exploiting the non-zero circular-to-linear polarization coupling of the HWP polarization modulators, data from SPIDER's 2015 Antarctic flight provides a constraint on Stokes $$V$$ at 95 and 150 GHz from $$33<\ell<307$$. No other limits exist over this full range of angular scales, and SPIDER improves upon the previous limit by several orders of magnitude, providing 95% C.L. constraints on $$\ell (\ell+1)C_{\ell}^{VV}/(2\pi)$$ ranging from 141 $$\mu K ^2$$ to 203 $$\mu K ^2$$ at 150 GHz for a thermal CMB spectrum. As linear CMB polarization experiments become increasingly sensitive, the techniques described in this paper can be applied to obtain stronger constraints on circular polarization.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
• Contributing Organization: SPIDER
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359; AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1362139
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB--17-135-AE; arXiv:1704.00215; 1589235
• Journal Information: The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 844; ISSN 1538-4357
• Publisher: Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English