Statistics – Applications
Scientific paper
Jan 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21931904c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #319.04
Statistics
Applications
Scientific paper
The methods and observations are described for the full field of view (FOV) polarimetric calibration of the Mimir near-infrared imaging polarimeter in support of the Galactic Plane Infrared Polarization Survey and other imaging polarimetric applications. Polarimetric calibration consisted of three major steps: (1) flat-fielding using in-dome images obtained with the half-wave-plate (HWP) oriented to the 16 position angles employed in polarimetric observations; (2) mapping and removing the remaining instrumental polarization via observations of unpolarized globular cluster stars; and (3) correcting the instrument zero-phase angle to equatorial and correcting for linear polarization efficiency, both using observations of polarimetric standard stars. For Mimir, the HWP-angle flat-fielding step reduced the first-order instrumental polarization to under 0.5% across the FOV. The 151 observations of eight globular clusters yielded over 40,000 stellar measurements for determining the 0.05-0.45% second-order instrumental polarization across the Mimir FOV to uncertainties of 0.02-0.04%. The 444 observations of 23 polarized standard stars allowed determination of observing run-based offset angles to 0.5 deg uncertainty and the polarization efficiency to be 91.1+/-0.4%. The observations of the standard stars, when fully corrected, showed superb agreement with published values of polarization percentage and position angle.
Additionally, the observations of four sky fields containing `primary' polarization standard stars were analyzed to yield 30 new `secondary' linear polarization standards. These are fainter than the primaries, allowing use with larger apertures and longer integration times. The secondary standards have polarization position angle uncertainties under 5 deg and range in degree of polarization from 0.40 to 8.52%.
Supported by NSF grants AST 06-07500 and 09-07790.
Clemens Dan P.
Pavel Michael
Pinnick April
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