Study of the Experimental Probe of Inflationary Cosmology (EPIC)-Intemediate Mission for NASA's Einstein Inflation Probe

Details Study of the Experimental Probe of Inflationary Cosmology (EPIC)-Intemediate Mission for NASA's Einstein Inflation Probe Study of the Experimental Probe of Inflationary Cosmology (EPIC)-Intemediate Mission for NASA's Einstein Inflation Probe

2009-06-05

arxiv.org/abs/0906.1188v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

157 pages. This report presents the EPIC mission concept for NASA's Inflation Probe (CMBpol) for CMB polarization measurements

Scientific paper

Measurements of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy have served as the best experimental probe of the early universe to date. The inflationary paradigm, inspired in part by the extreme isotropy of the CMB, is now a cornerstone in modern cosmology. Inflation has passed a series of rigorous experimental tests, but we still do not understand the physical mechanism or energy scale behind inflation. A general prediction of inflation and one that can provide certain insights into inflationary physics is a background of primordial gravitational waves. These perturbations leave a distinct signature in the CMB B-modes of polarization. The EPIC (Experimental Probe of Inflationary Cosmology) study team has investigated several CMB polarization mission concepts to carry out a definitive measurement of the inflationary B-mode polarization spectrum. In this report we study a mission with an aperture intermediate between the two missions discussed in our previous report. EPIC-IM's increased aperture allows access to a broader science case than the small EPIC-Low Cost mission. In addition to the search for inflationary gravitational waves, the increase aperture allows us to mine the scale polarization and lensing shear polarization signals down to cosmological limits, so that we extract virtually all the cosmological information available from the CMB. In addition, a modest number of channels operating at higher frequencies allows for an all-sky measurement of polarized Galactic dust, which will provide a rich dataset for Galactic science related to magnetic fields. Using a combination of a large sensitivity focal plane with a new optical design, and an efficient 4K mechanical cooler, EPIC-IM realizes higher sensitivity than EPIC-Comprehensive Science mission.

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