What can be learned from the lensed cosmic microwave background B-mode polarization power spectrum?

Details What can be learned from the lensed cosmic microwave background B-mode polarization power spectrum? What can be learned from the lensed cosmic microwave background B-mode polarization power spectrum?

2005-11-24

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511703v2

Phys.Rev. D73 (2006) 023517

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

15 pages, 10 figures. Very minor changes to match version accepted by Phys. Rev. D

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevD.73.023517

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 compare the information content of the lensed B-mode polarization power spectrum, properly accounting for the non-Gaussian correlations between the power on different scales, with that of the unlensed CMB fields and the lensing potential. The latter represent the products of an (idealised) optimal analysis that exploits the lens-induced non-Gaussianity to reconstruct the fields. Compressing the non-Gaussian lensed CMB into power spectra is wasteful and leaves a tight degeneracy between the equation of state of dark energy and neutrino mass that is much stronger than in the more optimal analysis. Despite this, a power spectrum analysis will be a useful first step in analysing future B-mode polarization data. For this reason, we also consider how to extract accurate parameter constraints from the lensed B-mode power spectrum. We show with simulations that for cosmic-variance-limited measurements of the lensed B-mode power, including the non-Gaussian correlations in existing likelihood approximations gives biased parameter results. We develop a more refined likelihood approximation that performs significantly better. This new approximation should also be of more general interest in the wider context of parameter estimation from Gaussian CMB data.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

What can be learned from the lensed cosmic microwave background B-mode polarization power spectrum? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with What can be learned from the lensed cosmic microwave background B-mode polarization power spectrum?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and What can be learned from the lensed cosmic microwave background B-mode polarization power spectrum? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-424362