Related papers: Cosmic Background Radiation Polarization Experimen…
We describe the design and performance of a microwave polarimeter used to make precision measurements of polarized astrophysical radiation in three microwave frequency bands spanning 26-36 GHz. The instrument uses cooled HEMT amplifiers in…
Forthcoming cosmic microwave background experiments (CMB) will provide precise new tests of structure-formation theories. The geometry of the Universe may be determined robustly, and the classical cosmological parameters, such as the…
Modern dual-polarization receivers allow a radio telescope to characterize the full polarization state of incoming insterstellar radio waves. Many astronomers incorrectly consider a polarimeter to be the "backend" of the telescope. We go to…
Extensive, accurate imaging of the Cosmic Background Radiation temperature anisotropy at sub--degree angular resolution is widely recognized as one of the most crucial goals for cosmology and astroparticle physics in the next decade. We…
Cosmological observations offer unique and robust avenues for probing the fundamental nature of dark matter particles-they broadly test a range of compelling theoretical scenarios, often surpassing or complementing the reach of terrestrial…
We analyze and interpret recent optical experiments with semiconductor quantum dots. We derive a quantitative relation between the amount of information transferred into the environment and the optical polarization that may be observed in a…
This paper reviews recent progress in the field of direct measurements of Galactic cosmic rays. High-statistic measurements of cosmic ray energy spectra, chemical and isotopic composition, and the rare antimatter components have been made…
We revisit the classification of polarization observables of the cosmic microwave background. There exists a unified approach to the $3 \times 3$ density matrix by which intensity, linear and circular polarization are treated on an equal…
The majority of the matter in the universe is still unidentified and under investigation by both direct and indirect means. Many experiments searching for the recoil of dark-matter particles off target nuclei in underground laboratories…
A model of Lorentz invariant random fluctuations in photon polarization is presented. The effects are frequency dependent and affect the polarization of photons as they propagate through space. We test for this effect by confronting the…
Large-scale reionization simulations are described which combine the results of cosmological N-body simulations that model the evolving density and velocity fields and identify the galactic halo sources, with ray-tracing radiative transfer…
Notwithstanding the advent of the Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope, theoretical models predict that a significant fraction of the cosmic gamma-ray background (CGB), at the level of 20% of the currently measured value, will remain unresolved.…
Several on-going and future experiments use a Stokes polarimeter (i.e. a rotating wave plate followed by a steady polarizer and by an unpolarized detector) to measure the small polarized component of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The…
We show that the parameter space of axion-like particles can be severly constrained using high-precision measurements of quasar polarisations. Robust limits are derived from the measured bounds on optical circular polarisation and from the…
We examine the effects Lorentz violation on observations of cosmic microwave background radiation. In particular, we focus on changes in polarization caused by vacuum birefringence. We place stringent constraints on previously untested…
Cosmology provides a unique and very powerful laboratory for testing neutrino physics. Here, I review the current status of cosmological neutrino measurements. Future prospects are also discussed, with particular emphasis on the interplay…
When exposed to intense electromagnetic fields, the quantum vacuum is expected to exhibit properties of a polarisable medium akin to a weakly nonlinear dielectric material. Various schemes have been proposed to measure such vacuum…
The polarization properties of extragalactic radio sources at frequencies higher than 20 GHz are still poorly constrained. However, their characterization would provide invaluable information about the physics of the emission processes and…
In recent decades, the relevance of polarimetry in planetary sciences and astronomy has increased rapidly. Polarization is a fundamental property of light and can be modified by any scattering event. As such, polarization yields additional…
We use a simple model to investigate the effect of polarized Galactic foreground emission on the ability of planned CMB missions to detect and model CMB polarization. Emission from likely polarized sources (synchrotron and spinning dust)…