EBEX: a balloon-borne CMB polarization experiment

Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud; Asad M. Aboobaker; Peter Ade; François Aubin; Carlo Baccigalupi; Chaoyun Bao; Julian Borrill; Christopher Cantalupo; Daniel Chapman; Joy Didier; Matt Dobbs; Julien Grain; William Grainger; Shaul Hanany; Seth Hillbrand; Johannes Hubmayr; Andrew Jaffe; Bradley Johnson; Terry Jones; Theodore Kisner; Jeff Klein; Andrei Korotkov; Sam Leach; Adrian Lee; Lorne Levinson; Michele Limon; Kevin MacDermid; Tomotake Matsumura; Xiaofan Meng; Amber Miller; Michael Milligan; Enzo Pascale; Daniel Polsgrove; Nicolas Ponthieu; Kate Raach; Ilan Sagiv; Graeme Smecher; Federico Stivoli; Radek Stompor; Huan Tran; Matthieu Tristram; Gregory S. Tucker; Yury Vinokurov; Amit Yadav; Matias Zaldarriaga; Kyle Zilic

doi:10.1117/12.857138

15 July 2010 EBEX: a balloon-borne CMB polarization experiment

Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud, Asad M. Aboobaker, Peter Ade, François Aubin, Carlo Baccigalupi, Chaoyun Bao, Julian Borrill, Christopher Cantalupo, Daniel Chapman, Joy Didier, Matt Dobbs, Julien Grain, William Grainger, Shaul Hanany, Seth Hillbrand, Johannes Hubmayr, Andrew Jaffe, Bradley Johnson, Terry Jones, Theodore Kisner, Jeff Klein, Andrei Korotkov, Sam Leach, Adrian Lee, Lorne Levinson, Michele Limon, Kevin MacDermid, Tomotake Matsumura, Xiaofan Meng, Amber Miller, Michael Milligan, Enzo Pascale, Daniel Polsgrove, Nicolas Ponthieu, Kate Raach, Ilan Sagiv, Graeme Smecher, Federico Stivoli, Radek Stompor, Huan Tran, Matthieu Tristram, Gregory S. Tucker, Yury Vinokurov, Amit Yadav, Matias Zaldarriaga, Kyle Zilic

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7741, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V; 77411C (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857138
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

EBEX is a NASA-funded balloon-borne experiment designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Observations will be made using 1432 transition edge sensor (TES) bolometric detectors read out with frequency multiplexed SQuIDs. EBEX will observe in three frequency bands centered at 150, 250, and 410 GHz, with 768, 384, and 280 detectors in each band, respectively. This broad frequency coverage is designed to provide valuable information about polarized foreground signals from dust. The polarized sky signals will be modulated with an achromatic half wave plate (AHWP) rotating on a superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB) and analyzed with a fixed wire grid polarizer. EBEX will observe a patch covering ~1% of the sky with 8' resolution, allowing for observation of the angular power spectrum from l = 20 to 1000. This will allow EBEX to search for both the primordial B-mode signal predicted by inflation and the anticipated lensing B-mode signal. Calculations to predict EBEX constraints on r using expected noise levels show that, for a likelihood centered around zero and with negligible foregrounds, 99% of the area falls below r = 0.035. This value increases by a factor of 1.6 after a process of foreground subtraction. This estimate does not include systematic uncertainties. An engineering flight was launched in June, 2009, from Ft. Sumner, NM, and the long duration science flight in Antarctica is planned for 2011. These proceedings describe the EBEX instrument and the North American engineering flight.

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Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud, Asad M. Aboobaker, Peter Ade, François Aubin, Carlo Baccigalupi, Chaoyun Bao, Julian Borrill, Christopher Cantalupo, Daniel Chapman, Joy Didier, Matt Dobbs, Julien Grain, William Grainger, Shaul Hanany, Seth Hillbrand, Johannes Hubmayr, Andrew Jaffe, Bradley Johnson, Terry Jones, Theodore Kisner, Jeff Klein, Andrei Korotkov, Sam Leach, Adrian Lee, Lorne Levinson, Michele Limon, Kevin MacDermid, Tomotake Matsumura, Xiaofan Meng, Amber Miller, Michael Milligan, Enzo Pascale, Daniel Polsgrove, Nicolas Ponthieu, Kate Raach, Ilan Sagiv, Graeme Smecher, Federico Stivoli, Radek Stompor, Huan Tran, Matthieu Tristram, Gregory S. Tucker, Yury Vinokurov, Amit Yadav, Matias Zaldarriaga, and Kyle Zilic "EBEX: a balloon-borne CMB polarization experiment", Proc. SPIE 7741, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 77411C (15 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857138

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