Related papers: Polarized Microwave Emission from Dust
We summarize the physical mechanism by which the Cosmic Microwave Background acquires a small degree of polarization. We discuss the imprint left by gravitational waves and the use of polarization as a test of the inflationary paradigm. We…
The search for the primordial B-modes of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) relies on the separation from the brighter foreground dust signal. In this context, the characterisation of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of thermal…
Polarized dust emission is a key tracer in the study of interstellar medium and of star formation. The observed polarization, however, is a product of magnetic field structure, dust grain properties and grain alignment efficiency, as well…
The investigation of polarized light of protoplanetary disks is key for constraining the dust properties, disk morphology and embedded magnetic fields. However, different polarization mechanisms and the diversity of dust grain shapes and…
The DASI discovery of CMB polarization, confirmed by WMAP, has opened a new chapter in cosmology. Most of the useful information about inflationary gravitational waves and reionization is on large angular scales where Galactic foreground…
BICEP2 has reported the detection of a degree-scale B-mode polarization pattern in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and has interpreted the measurement as evidence for primordial gravitational waves. Motivated by the profound…
The polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can be used to search for parity-violating processes like that predicted by a Chern-Simons coupling to a light pseudoscalar field. Such an interaction rotates $E$ modes into $B$…
This chapter discusses Galactic dust and how its thermal emission confuses CMBR measurements. Interstellar dust grains are composed of many differing species, and observational evidence has only begun to disentagle their composition and…
In this report we discuss the impact of polarized foregrounds on a future CMBPol satellite mission. We review our current knowledge of Galactic polarized emission at microwave frequencies, including synchrotron and thermal dust emission. We…
Magnetic dipole emission (MDE) from interstellar magnetic nanoparticles is an important Galactic foreground in the microwave frequencies, and its polarization level may pose great challenges for achieving reliable measurements of cosmic…
Polarimetry in the far-infrared and submillimeter has been valuable in tracing magnetic fields in bright Galactic Clouds. We discuss the techniques we have developed and trends we have found in polarization vs column density, and vs…
Galactic dust emission is polarized at unexpectedly high levels, as revealed by Planck. The origin of the observed $\simeq 20\%$ polarization fractions can be identified by characterizing the properties of optical starlight polarization in…
Recent announcements that the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) - the faint remnant of the Big Bang - is polarized have caused a stir among cosmologists. Such polarization has long been predicted but could not be detected, until the recent…
ALMA observations revealed recently polarised radiation of several protoplanetary disks in the (sub-)millimetre wavelength range. Besides self-scattering of large particles, thermal emission by elongated grains is a potential source for the…
The most promising avenue for detecting primordial gravitational waves from cosmic inflation is through measurements of degree-scale CMB $B$-mode polarisation. This approach must face the challenge posed by gravitational lensing of the CMB,…
Polarization at millimeter wavelengths provides a powerful diagnostic of dust grain properties in protoplanetary disks. Standard models based on solid spherical grains often struggle to reproduce the observed polarization fractions and…
Precise polarisation measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) require accurate knowledge of the instrument orientation relative to the sky frame used to define the cosmological Stokes parameters. Suitable celestial calibration…
In addition to its spectrum and temperature anisotropy, the 2.7K Cosmic Microwave Background is also expected to exhibit a low level of polarization. The spatial power spectrum of the polarization can provide details about the formation of…
The B-modes of polarization at frequencies ranging from 50-1000 GHz are produced by Galactic dust, lensing of primordial E-modes in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by intervening large scale structure, and possibly by primordial…
The study of polarized dust emission has become entwined with the analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. We use new Planck maps to characterize Galactic dust emission as a foreground to the CMB polarization. We…