B-mode CMB Polarization from Patchy Screening during Reionization
Abstract
B-modes in CMB polarization from patchy reionization arise from two effects: generation of polarization from scattering of quadrupole moments by reionization bubbles, and fluctuations in the screening of E-modes from recombination. The scattering contribution has been studied previously, but the screening contribution has not yet been calculated. We show that on scales smaller than the acoustic scale (l>300), the B-mode power from screening is larger than the B-mode power from scattering. The ratio approaches a constant ~2.5 below the damping scale (l>2000). On degree scales relevant for gravitational waves (l<100), screening B-modes have a white noise tail and are subdominant to the scattering effect. These results are robust to uncertainties in the modeling of patchy reionization.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0902.4413,
title = {B-mode CMB Polarization from Patchy Screening during Reionization},
author = {Cora Dvorkin and Wayne Hu and Kendrick M. Smith},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0902.4413},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 1 figure; minor changes matching PRD published version