Related papers: Can topological defects mimic the BICEP2 B-mode si…
The recent BICEP2 measurement of B-modes in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background suggests that inflation was driven by a field at an energy scale of $2\times 10^{16}$ GeV. I explore the potential of upcoming CMB polarization…
We present a demonstration of delensing the observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode polarization anisotropy. This process of reducing the gravitational-lensing generated B-mode component will become increasingly important for…
Future Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) satellite missions aim at using the B-mode polarisation signal to measure the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ with a sensitivity $\sigma(r)$ of the order of $\leq 10^{-3}$. Small uncertainties in the…
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies exhibit a large-scale dipolar power asymmetry. To determine whether this is due to a real, physical modulation or is simply a large statistical fluctuation requires the…
The recent BICEP2 detection of degree scale CMB B-mode polarization, coupled with a deficit of observed power in large angle temperature anisotropy, suggest that the slow-roll parameter $\epsilon_H$, the fractional variation in the Hubble…
The most convincing confirmation that the B-mode polarization signal detected at degree scales by BICEP2 is due to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) would be the measurement of its large-scale counterpart. We assess the requirements for…
Recent measurements from the BICEP2 cosmic microwave background polarization experiment indicate the presence of primordial gravitational waves with surprisingly large amplitude. If these results are confirmed, they point to a discrepancy…
The effect of weak gravitational lensing on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies and polarization will provide access to cosmological information that cannot be obtained from the primary anisotropies alone. We…
We study the eigenmodes of the spin-2 Laplacian in orientable Euclidean manifolds and their implications for the tensor-induced part of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropies. We provide analytic…
In a companion paper we have reported a $>5\sigma$ detection of degree scale $B $-mode polarization at 150 GHz by the BICEP2 experiment. Here we provide a detailed study of potential instrumental systematic contamination to that…
Combining the latest Planck, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data, we exploit the recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode power spectra data released by the BICEP2 collaboration to…
The detection of the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by the BICEP2 experiment implies that the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ should be involved in the base standard cosmology. In this paper, we extend the…
The BICEP and Keck Array experiments are a suite of small-aperture refracting telescopes observing the microwave sky from the South Pole. They target the degree-scale B-mode polarization signal imprinted in the Cosmic Microwave Background…
While observations indicate that the predominant source of cosmic inhomogeneities are adiabatic perturbations, there are a variety of candidates to provide auxiliary trace effects, including inflation-generated primordial tensors and cosmic…
Since the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) was detected by the BICEP2 experiment and an unexpectedly large tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r=0.20^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$, was found, the base standard cosmology should at least…
The BICEP2 collaboration reports a detection of primordial cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode with a tensor-scalar ratio $r=0.20^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$ (68% C.L.). However, this result is in tension with the recent Planck limit, $r<0.11$…
BICEP1 is a millimeter-wavelength telescope designed specifically to measure the inflationary B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at degree angular scales. We present results from an analysis of the data acquired…
Inflation predicts B-mode polarization with correlations that span superhorizon scales at recombination. In contrast, the correlations set up by causal sources, such as phase transitions or defects, necessarily vanish on superhorizon…
Measurement of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature by Planck has resulted in extremely tight constraints on the $\Lambda$CDM model. However the data indicates a evidence of dipole modulated temperature fluctuations at large…
We present a measurement of the $B$-mode polarization power spectrum (the $BB$ spectrum) from 100 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ of sky observed with SPTpol, a polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed on the South Pole Telescope. The…