Related papers: Did BICEP2 see vector modes? First B-mode constrai…
Polarized foregrounds are going to be a serious challenge for detecting CMB cosmological B-modes. Both diffuse Galactic emission and extragalactic sources contribute significantly to the power spectrum on large angular scales. At low…
Recently, BICEP2 collaboration has released their results on the measurements of the CMB polarizations. In the framework of the $\Lambda$CDM with a power law form of the scalar primordial power spectrum, this new measurement on the B-mode…
The number of cosmic strings in the observable universe is relevant in determining the probability of detecting such cosmic defects through their gravitational signatures. In particular, we refer to the observation of gravitational lensing…
Cosmic strings are one-dimensional topological defects which could have been formed in the early stages of our Universe. They triggered a lot of interest, mainly for their cosmological implications: they could offer an alternative to…
The topic of cosmic strings provides a bridge between the physics of the very small and the very large. They are predicted by some unified theories of particle interactions. If they exist, they may help to explain some of the largest-scale…
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…
[Abridged] The polarization of the CMB is widely recognized as a potential source of information about primordial gravitational waves. The gravitational wave contribution can be separated from the dominant CMB polarization created by…
Recently, BICEP2 measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) $B$-mode polarization at degree angular scales has indicated the presence of tensor modes with a high tensor-to-scalar ratio of $r=0.2$ when assuming nearly…
Standard models describing the radiation transfer of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) through Compton scattering predict that cosmological scalar perturbations at linear order are not able to source V and B polarization modes. In this…
As confusion with lensing B-modes begins to limit experiments that search for primordial B-mode polarization, robust methods for delensing the CMB polarization sky are becoming increasingly important. We investigate in detail the…
We present a new method for delensing $B$ modes of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using a lensing potential reconstructed from the same realization of the CMB polarization (CMB internal delensing). The $B$-mode delensing is required…
The shapes of galaxies trace scalar physics in the late-Universe through the large-scale gravitational potential. Are they also sensitive to higher-spin physics? We present a general study into the observational consequences of vector and…
At linear order the only expected source of a curl-like, B mode, polarization pattern in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is primordial gravitational waves. At second-order B modes are also produced from purely scalar, density, initial…
We study how the dynamical vector degree of freedom in modified gravity affects the CMB B-mode polarization in terms of the Einstein-aether theory. In this theory, vector perturbations can be generated from inflation, which can grow on…
Gravitational lensing by large-scale structure significantly impacts observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB): it smooths the acoustic peaks in temperature and $E$-mode polarization power spectra, correlating previously…
Recently, BICEP2 has reported the large tensor-to-scalar ratio $r=0.2^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$ from the observation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode at degree-scales. Since tensor modes induce not only CMB B-mode but also the…
We investigate the detectability of the primordial CMB polarization B-mode power spectrum on large scales in the presence of instrumental noise and realistic foreground contamination. We have worked out a method to estimate the errors on…
We have computed an estimate of the angular power spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) induced by cosmic strings on angular scales $>~ 15'$, using a numerical simulation of a cosmic string network; and decomposed this pattern…
We present a constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$, derived from measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization $B$-modes with "delensing," whereby the uncertainty on $r$ contributed by the sample variance of the…
We present constraints on a cosmic string network with a measurement of weak gravitational lensing from CMB temperature map. The cosmic string network between observer and last scattering surface of CMB photons generates vector and/or…