Related papers: Fitting BICEP2 with defects, primordial gravitatio…
The search for the curl component (B mode) in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization induced by inflationary gravitational waves is described. The canonical single-field slow-roll model of inflation is presented, and we explain…
We extend our recent work on ``two-metric'' theories of gravity by showing how in such models cosmic defects can produce a spectrum of primordial Gaussian density perturbations. This will happen when the speed characterising the decay…
The search for primordial gravitational waves is a central goal of cosmic microwave background (CMB) surveys. Isolating the characteristic $B$-mode polarization signal sourced by primordial gravitational waves is challenging for several…
The announcement by BICEP2 of the detection of B-mode polarization consistent with primordial gravitational waves with a tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r=0.2^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$, challenged predictions from most inflationary models of a lower value…
The recently released BICEP2 data detected the primordial B-mode polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) map which strongly supports for a large tensor-to-scalar ratio, and thus, is found to be in tension with the Planck…
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…
In the measurements of cosmic microwave background polarizations, three frequency channels are necessary for discriminating the primordial B-modes from the polarized dust and the synchrotron emission. We carry out an optimistic estimate on…
The cosmic microwave background polarization is rich of cosmological information complementary to those from temperature anisotropies. Linear polarization can be decomposed uniquely in two components of opposite parities, called E and B.…
The recent claim by BICEP2 of evidence for primordial gravitational waves from inflation has focused interest on the potential for early-Universe cosmology using observations of gravitational waves. In addition to cosmic microwave…
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…
We investigate which practical constraints are imposed by foregrounds to the detection of the B-mode polarization generated by gravitational waves in the case of experiments of the type currently being planned. Because the B-mode signal is…
Distortions in the primordial cosmic microwave background (CMB) along the line-of-sight can be modeled and described using 11 fields. These distortion fields correspond to various cosmological signals such as weak gravitational lensing of…
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…
One of the main goals of Cosmology is to search for the imprint of primordial gravitational waves in the CMB polarisation field, to probe inflationary theories. One of the obstacles toward the detection of the primordial signal is to…
Polarized Galactic foregrounds are one of the primary sources of systematic error in measurements of the B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Experiments are becoming increasingly sensitive to complexities in the…
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…
Constraints on inflationary $B$-modes using Cosmic Microwave Background polarization data commonly rely on either template cleaning or cross-spectra between maps at different frequencies to disentangle galactic foregrounds from the…
The measurement of the large-scale B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a fundamental goal of future CMB experiments. However, because of unprecedented sensitivity, future CMB experiments will be much more…
Cosmological Birefringence (CB) is a phenomenon, caused by parity violating modifications to electrodynamics, whereby the linear polarisation angle of light changes as photons traverse a vacuum. It is possible to use a number of different…
Recent developments in the search for inflationary gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization motivate the search for new diagnostics to distinguish the Galactic foreground contribution to B modes from the…