BICEP2/Keck Array V: Measurements of B-mode Polarization at Degree Angular Scales and 150 GHz by the Keck Array

Creators: Ade, P. A. R.; Aikin, R. W.; Bock, J. J.; Brevik, J. A.; Crill, B. P.; Filippini, J. P.; Golwala, S. R.; Hildebrandt, S. R.; Hristov, V. V.; Hui, H.; Kefeli, S.; Lueker, M.; Mason, P. V.; Staniszewski, Z. K.; Teply, G. P.

Abstract

The Keck Array is a system of cosmic microwave background polarimeters, each similar to the Bicep2 experiment. In this paper we report results from the 2012 to 2013 observing seasons, during which the Keck Array consisted of five receivers all operating in the same (150 GHz) frequency band and observing field as Bicep2. We again find an excess of B-mode power over the lensed-ΛCDM expectation of >5σ in the range 30 < ℓ < 150 and confirm that this is not due to systematics using jackknife tests and simulations based on detailed calibration measurements. In map difference and spectral difference tests these new data are shown to be consistent with Bicep2. Finally, we combine the maps from the two experiments to produce final Q and U maps which have a depth of 57 nK deg (3.4 μK arcmin) over an effective area of 400 deg^2 for an equivalent survey weight of 250,000 μK^(−2). The final BB band powers have noise uncertainty a factor of 2.3 times better than the previous results, and a significance of detection of excess power of >6σ.

Additional Information

© 2015 American Astronomical Society. Received 2015 February 3; accepted 2015 August 28; published 2015 September 29. The Keck Array project has been made possible through support from the National Science Foundation under Grants ANT-1145172 (Harvard), ANT-1145143 (Minnesota) & ANT-1145248 (Stanford), and from the Keck Foundation (Caltech). The development of antenna-coupled detector technology was supported by the JPL Research and Technology Development Fund and Grants No. 06-ARPA206-0040 and 10-SAT10-0017 from the NASA APRA and SAT programs. The development and testing of focal planes were supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation at Caltech. Readout electronics were supported by a Canada Foundation for Innovation grant to UBC. The computations in this paper were run on the Odyssey cluster supported by the FAS Science Division Research Computing Group at Harvard University. The analysis effort at Stanford and SLAC is partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. We thank the staff of the U.S. Antarctic Program and in particular the South Pole Station without whose help this research would not have been possible. Most special thanks go to our heroic winter-overs Robert Schwarz and Steffen Richter. We thank all those who have contributed past efforts to the Bicep–Keck Array series of experiments, including the Bicep1 team.

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Submitted - 1502.00643v2.pdf

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