Spider Optimization: Probing the Systematics of a Large Scale B-Mode Experiment
Abstract
Spider is a long-duration, balloon-borne polarimeter designed to measure large scale Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization with very high sensitivity and control of systematics. The instrument will map over half the sky with degree angular resolution in I, Q and U Stokes parameters, in four frequency bands from 96 to 275 GHz. Spider's ultimate goal is to detect the primordial gravity wave signal imprinted on the CMB B-mode polarization. One of the challenges in achieving this goal is the minimization of the contamination of B-modes by systematic effects. This paper explores a number of instrument systematics and observing strategies in order to optimize B-mode sensitivity. This is done by injecting realistic-amplitude, time-varying systematics in a set of simulated time-streams. Tests of the impact of detector noise characteristics, pointing jitter, payload pendulations, polarization angle offsets, beam systematics and receiver gain drifts are shown. Spider's default observing strategy is to spin continuously in azimuth, with polarization modulation achieved by either a rapidly spinning half-wave plate or a rapidly spinning gondola and a slowly stepped half-wave plate. Although the latter is more susceptible to systematics, results shown here indicate that either mode of operation can be used by Spider.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0710.0375,
title = {Spider Optimization: Probing the Systematics of a Large Scale B-Mode Experiment},
author = {C. J. MacTavish and P. A. R. Ade and E. S. Battistelli and S. Benton and R. Bihary and J. J. Bock and J. R. Bond and J. Brevik and S. Bryan and C. R. Contaldi and B. P. Crill and O. Doré and L. Fissel and S. R. Golwala and M. Halpern and G. Hilton and W. Holmes and V. V. Hristov and K. Irwin and W. C. Jones and C. L. Kuo and A. E. Lange and C. Lawrie and T. G. Martin and P. Mason and T. E. Montroy and C. B. Netterfield and D. Riley and J. E. Ruhl and A. Trangsrud and C. Tucker and A. Turner and M. Viero and D. Wiebe},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0710.0375},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
15 pages, 12 figs, version with full resolution figs available here http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~lgg/spider_front.htm