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NASA NTRS2024

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Gravitational Lensing Map and Cosmological Parameters

We present cosmological constraints from a gravitational lensing mass map covering 9400 deg2 reconstructed from measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) made by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) from 2017 to 2021. In combination with measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations and big bang nucleosynthesis, we obtain the clustering amplitude σ8 = 0.819 ± 0.015 at 1.8% precision, S 8 ≡σ 8 (Ω m>/sub>/0.3) 0.5 = 0.840 ± 0.028, and the Hubble constant H 0 = (68.3 ± 1.1) km s −1 Mpc −1 at 1.6% precision. A joint constraint with Planck CMB lensing yields σ 8 = 0.812 ± 0.013, S 8 ≡σ 8 (Ω m>/sub>/0.3) 0.5 = 0.831 ± 0.023, and H0 = (68.1 ± 1.0) km s −1 Mpc −1 . These measurements agree with ΛCDM extrapolations from the CMB anisotropies measured by Planck. We revisit constraints from the KiDS, DES, and HSC galaxy surveys with a uniform set of assumptions and find that S 8 from all three are lower than that from ACT+Planck lensing by levels ranging from 1.7σ to 2.1σ. This motivates further measurements and comparison, not just between the CMB anisotropies and galaxy lensing but also between CMB lensing probing z ∼ 0.5–5 on mostly linear scales and galaxy lensing at z ∼ 0.5 on smaller scales. We combine with CMB anisotropies to constrain extensions of ΛCDM, limiting neutrino masses to ∑m ν < 0.13 eV (95% c.l.), for example. We describe the mass map and related data products that will enable a wide array of cross-correlation science. Our results provide independent confirmation that the universe is spatially flat, conforms with general relativity, and is described remarkably well by the ΛCDM model, while paving a promising path for neutrino physics with lensing from upcoming ground-based CMB surveys.

Cosmology↗

NASA NTRS2020

Overview of the Medium and High Frequency Telescopes of the LiteBIRD Satellite Mission

LiteBIRD is a JAXA-led Strategic Large-Class mission designed to search for the existence of the primordial gravitational waves produced during the inflationary phase of the Universe, through the measurements of their imprint onto the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). These measurements, requiring unprecedented sensitivity, will be performed over the full sky, at large angular scales, and over 15 frequency bands from 34 GHz to 448 GHz. The LiteBIRD instruments consist of three telescopes, namely the Low-, Medium- and High-Frequency Telescope (respectively LFT, MFT and HFT). We present in this paper an overview of the design of the Medium-Frequency Telescope (89–224 GHz) and the High-Frequency Telescope (166–448 GHz), the so-called MHFT, under European responsibility, which are two cryogenic refractive telescopes cooled down to 5 K. They include a continuous rotating half-wave plate as the first optical element, two high-density polyethylene (HDPE) lenses and more than three thousand transition-edge sensor (TES) detectors cooled to 100 mK. We provide an overview of the concept design and the remaining specific challenges that we have to face in order to achieve the scientific goals of LiteBIRD.

LiteBIRD↗

NASA NTRS1993

Scientific results from COBE

NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) carries three scientific instruments to make precise measurements of the spectrum and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation on angular scales greater than 7 deg and to conduct a search for a diffuse cosmic infrared background (CIB) radiation with 0.7 deg angular resolution. Data from the Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) show that the spectrum of the CMB is that of a blackbody of temperature T = 2.73 +/- 0.06 K, with no deviation from a blackbody spectrum greater than 0.25% of the peak brightness. The first year of data from the Differential Microwave Radiometers (DMR) show statistically significant CMB anisotropy. The anisotropy is consistent with a scale invariant primordial density fluctuation spectrum. Infrared sky brightness measurements from the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) provide new conservative upper limits to the CIB. Extensive modeling of solar system and galactic infrared foregrounds is required for further improvement in the CIB limits.

Bennett, C. L.↗

DOE OSTI2020

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Weighing Distant Clusters with the Most Ancient Light

We use gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to measure the mass of the most distant blindly selected sample of galaxy clusters on which a lensing measurement has been performed to date. In CMB data from the the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the Planck satellite, we detect the stacked lensing effect from 677 near-infrared-selected galaxy clusters from the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS), which have a mean redshift of $\langle z\rangle =1.08$. There are currently no representative optical weak lensing measurements of clusters that match the distance and average mass of this sample. We detect the lensing signal with a significance of $4.2\sigma $. We model the signal with a halo model framework to find the mean mass of the population from which these clusters are drawn. Assuming that the clusters follow Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) density profiles, we infer a mean mass of $\langle {M}_{500c}\rangle =\left(1.7\pm 0.4\right)\times {10}^{14}\,{M}_{\odot }$. We consider systematic uncertainties from cluster redshift errors, centering errors, and the shape of the NFW profile. These are all smaller than 30% of our reported uncertainty. This work highlights the potential of CMB lensing to enable cosmological constraints from the abundance of distant clusters populating ever larger volumes of the observable universe, beyond the capabilities of optical weak lensing measurements.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Searching for axionlike time-dependent cosmic birefringence with data from SPT-3G

Ultralight axionlike particles (ALPs) are compelling dark matter candidates because of their potential to resolve small-scale discrepancies between Λ CDM predictions and cosmological observations. Axion-photon coupling induces a polarization rotation in linearly polarized photons traveling through an ALP field; thus, as the local ALP dark matter field oscillates in time, distant static polarized sources will appear to oscillate with a frequency proportional to the ALP mass. We use observations of the cosmic microwave background from SPT-3G, the current receiver on the South Pole Telescope, to set upper limits on the value of the axion-photon coupling constant g φ γ over the approximate mass range 10 - 22 – 10 - 19 eV , corresponding to oscillation periods from 12 hours to 100 days. For periods between 1 and 100 days ( 4.7 × 10 - 22 eV ≤ m φ ≤ 4.7 × 10 - 20 eV ), where the limit is approximately constant, we set a median 95% C.L. upper limit on the amplitude of on-sky polarization rotation of 0.071 deg. Assuming that dark matter comprises a single ALP species with a local dark matter density of 0.3 GeV / cm 3 , this corresponds to g φ γ < 1.18 × 10 - 12 GeV - 1 × ( m φ 1.0 × 10 - 21 eV ) . These new limits represent an improvement over the previous strongest limits set using the same effect by a factor of ~ 3.8 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2020

A Measurement of the CMB E-mode Angular Power Spectrum at Subdegree Scales from 670 Square Degrees of POLARBEAR Data

In this work, we report a measurement of the E-mode polarization power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using 150 GHz data taken from 2014 July to 2016 December with the POLARBEAR experiment. We reach an effective polarization map noise level of 32 μK-arcmin across an observation area of 670 square degrees. We measure the EE power spectrum over the angular multipole range 500 ≤ ℓ < 3000, tracing the third to seventh acoustic peaks with high sensitivity. The statistical uncertainty on E-mode bandpowers is ~2.3 μK 2 at ℓ ~ 1000, with a systematic uncertainty of 0.5 mK 2 . Furthermore, the data are consistent with the standard ΛCDM cosmological model with a probability-to-exceed of 0.38. We combine recent CMB E-mode measurements and make inferences about cosmological parameters in ΛCDM as well as in extensions to ΛCDM. Adding the ground-based CMB polarization measurements to the Planck data set reduces the uncertainty on the Hubble constant by a factor of 1.2 to H0 = 67.20 ±0.57 km s -1 Mpc -1 . When allowing the number of relativistic species (Neff ) to vary, we find N eff = 2.94 ±0.16, which is in good agreement with the standard value of 3.046. Instead allowing the primordial helium abundance (Y He ) to vary, the data favor Y He = 0.248 ±0.012. This is very close to the expectation of 0.2467 from big bang nucleosynthesis. When varying both Y He and N eff , we find N eff = 2.70 ±0.26 and Y He = 0.262 ±0.015.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Measurement of the mean central optical depth of galaxy clusters via the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect with SPT-3G and DES

Here, we infer the mean optical depth of a sample of optically selected galaxy clusters from the Dark Energy Survey via the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (KSZ) effect. The pairwise KSZ signal between pairs of clusters drawn from the Dark Energy Survey Year-3 cluster catalog is detected at 4.1σ in cosmic microwave background temperature maps from two years of observations with the SPT-3G camera on the South Pole Telescope. After cuts, there are 24,580 clusters in the similar to ~1,400 deg 2 of the southern sky observed by both experiments. We infer the mean optical depth of the cluster sample with two techniques. The optical depth inferred from the pairwise KSZ signal is $\overline{τ}$ e = (2.97 ± 0.73) x 10 -3 , while that inferred from the thermal SZ signal is $\overline{τ}$ e = (2.51 ± 0.55 stat ± 0.15 syst ) x 10 -3 . The two measures agree at 0.6 sigma. We perform a suite of systematic checks to test the robustness of the analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Joint analysis of Dark Energy Survey Year 3 data and CMB lensing from SPT and Planck . III. Combined cosmological constraints

Here we present cosmological constraints from the analysis of two-point correlation functions between galaxy positions and galaxy lensing measured in Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 data and measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck. When jointly analyzing the DES-only two-point functions and the DES cross-correlations with SPT+Planck CMB lensing, we find Ω m = 0.344 ± 0.030 and S 8 ≡ σ 8 (Ω m /0.3) 0.5 = 0.773 ± 0.016, assuming ΛCDM. When additionally combining with measurements of the CMB lensing autospectrum, we find Ω m = 0.306$^{+0.018}_{-0.021}$ and S 8 = 0.792 ± 0.012. The high signal-to-noise of the CMB lensing cross-correlations enables several powerful consistency tests of these results, including comparisons with constraints derived from cross-correlations only, and comparisons designed to test the robustness of the galaxy lensing and clustering measurements from DES. Applying these tests to our measurements, we find no evidence of significant biases in the baseline cosmological constraints from the DES-only analyses or from the joint analyses with CMB lensing cross-correlations. However, the CMB lensing cross-correlations suggest possible problems with the correlation function measurements using alternative lens galaxy samples, in particular the redMaGiC galaxies and high-redshift MagLim galaxies, consistent with the findings of previous studies. We use the CMB lensing cross-correlations to identify directions for further investigating these problems.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

A Constraint on Primordial B-modes from the First Flight of the Spider Balloon-borne Telescope

We present the first linear polarization measurements from the 2015 long-duration balloon flight of Spider, which is an experiment that is designed to map the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on degree angular scales. The results from these measurements include maps and angular power spectra from observations of 4.8% of the sky at 95 and 150 GHz, along with the results of internal consistency tests on these data. While the polarized CMB anisotropy from primordial density perturbations is the dominant signal in this region of sky, Galactic dust emission is also detected with high significance. Galactic synchrotron emission is found to be negligible in the Spider bands. We employ two independent foreground-removal techniques to explore the sensitivity of the cosmological result to the assumptions made by each. The primary method uses a dust template derived from Planck data to subtract the Galactic dust signal. A second approach, which constitutes a joint analysis of Spider and Planck data in the harmonic domain, assumes a modified-blackbody model for the spectral energy distribution of the dust with no constraint on its spatial morphology. Using a likelihood that jointly samples the template amplitude and r parameter space, we derive 95% upper limits on the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio from Feldman–Cousins and Bayesian constructions, finding r < 0.11 and r < 0.19, respectively. Roughly half the uncertainty in r derives from noise associated with the template subtraction. New data at 280 GHz from Spider's second flight will complement the Planck polarization maps, providing powerful measurements of the polarized Galactic dust emission.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Asteroid Measurements at Millimeter Wavelengths with the South Pole Telescope

Abstract We present the first measurements of asteroids in millimeter wavelength data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT), which is used primarily to study the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We analyze maps of two ∼270 deg2 sky regions near the ecliptic plane, each observed with the SPTpol camera ∼100 times over 1 month. We subtract the mean of all maps of a given field, removing static sky signal, and then average the mean-subtracted maps at known asteroid locations. We detect three asteroids—(324) Bamberga, (13) Egeria, and (22) Kalliope—with signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) of 11.2, 10.4, and 6.1, respectively, at 2.0 mm (150 GHz); we also detect (324) Bamberga with an S/N of 4.1 at 3.2 mm (95 GHz). We place constraints on these asteroids’ effective emissivities, brightness temperatures, and light-curve modulation amplitude. Our flux density measurements of (324) Bamberga and (13) Egeria roughly agree with predictions, while our measurements of (22) Kalliope suggest lower flux, corresponding to effective emissivities of 0.64 ± 0.11 at 2.0 and < 0.47 at 3.2 mm. We predict the asteroids detectable in other SPT data sets and find good agreement with detections of (772) Tanete and (1093) Freda in recent data from the SPT-3G camera, which has ∼10× the mapping speed of SPTpol. This work is the first focused analysis of asteroids in data from CMB surveys, and it demonstrates we can repurpose historic and future data sets for asteroid studies. Future SPT measurements can help constrain the distribution of surface properties over a larger asteroid population.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

The Simons Observatory: Magnetic Shielding Measurements for the Universal Multiplexing Module

The Simons Observatory (SO) includes four telescopes that will measure the temperature and polarization of the cosmic microwave background using over 60,000 highly sensitive transition-edge bolometers (TES). These multichroic TES bolometers are read out by a microwave RF SQUID multiplexing system with a multiplexing factor of 910. Given that both TESes and SQUIDs are susceptible to magnetic field pickup and that it is hard to predict how they will respond to such fields, it is important to characterize the magnetic response of these systems empirically. This information can then be used to limit spurious signals by informing magnetic shielding designs for the detectors and readout. This paper focuses on measurements of magnetic pickup with different magnetic shielding configurations for the SO universal multiplexing module (UMM), which contains the SQUIDs, associated resonators, and TES bias circuit. The magnetic pickup of a prototype UMM was tested under three shielding configurations: no shielding (copper packaging), aluminum packaging for the UMM, and a tin/lead-plated shield surrounding the entire dilution refrigerator 100 mK cold stage. We also present measurements of the pickup in the UMM when aluminum feedhorns are installed. The measurements show that the aluminum packaging outperforms the copper packaging by a shielding factor of 8-10, and adding the tin/lead-plated 1K shield further increases the relative shielding factor in the aluminum configuration by 1-2 orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the addition of feedhorns provides a factor of 30 improvement when the tin/lead shield is not installed and a factor of 5 improvement when it is.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2024

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Gravitational Lensing Map and Cosmological Parameters

We present cosmological constraints from a gravitational lensing mass map covering 9400 deg2 reconstructed from measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) made by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) from 2017 to 2021. In combination with measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations and big bang nucleosynthesis, we obtain the clustering amplitude σ8 = 0.819 ± 0.015 at 1.8% precision, S 8 ≡ σ 8 (Ω m /0.3) 0.5 = 0.840 ± 0.028, and the Hubble constant H 0 = (68.3 ± 1.1) km s -1 Mpc -1 at 1.6% precision. A joint constraint with Planck CMB lensing yields σ 8 = 0.812 ± 0.013, S 8 ≡ σ 8 (Ω m /0.3) 0.5 = 0.831 ± 0.023 , and H0 = (68.1 ± 1.0) km s -1 Mpc -1 . These measurements agree with ΛCDM extrapolations from the CMB anisotropies measured by Planck. We revisit constraints from the KiDS, DES, and HSC galaxy surveys with a uniform set of assumptions and find that S8 from all three are lower than that from ACT+Planck lensing by levels ranging from 1.7σ to 2.1σ. This motivates further measurements and comparison, not just between the CMB anisotropies and galaxy lensing but also between CMB lensing probing z ~ 0.5–5 on mostly linear scales and galaxy lensing at z 0.5 on smaller scales. We combine with CMB anisotropies to constrain extensions of ΛCDM, limiting neutrino masses to Σm ν < 0.13 eV (95% c.l.), for example. We describe the mass map and related data products that will enable a wide array of cross-correlation science. Our results provide independent confirmation that the universe is spatially flat, conforms with general relativity, and is described remarkably well by the ΛCDM model, while paving a promising path for neutrino physics with lensing from upcoming ground-based CMB surveys.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

NASA NTRS2020

Small Aperture Telescopes for the Simons Observatory

The Simons Observatory (SO) is an upcoming cosmic microwave background(CMB) experiment located on Cerro Toco, Chile, that will map the microwave sky in temperature and polarization in six frequency bands spanning 27 to 285 GHz. SO will consist of one 6-meter Large Aperture Telescope (LAT) fielding∼30,000 detectors and an array of three 0.42-meter Small Aperture Telescopes (SATs) fielding an additional 30,000 detectors. This synergy will allow for the extremely sensitive characterization of the CMB over an-gular scales ranging from an arcmin to tens of degrees, enabling a wide range of scientific output. Here we focus on the SATs targeting degree angular scales with successive dichroic instruments observing at Mid-Frequency (MF: 93/145 GHz), Ultra-High-Frequency (UHF:225/285 GHz), and Low-Frequency (LF: 27/39 GHz). The three SATs will be able to map∼10% of the sky to a noise level of∼2 μK-arcmin when combining 93 and 145 GHz. The multiple frequency bands will allow the CMB to be separated from galactic foregrounds (primarily synchrotron and dust), with the primary science goal of characterizing the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, at a target level ofσ(r)≈0.003.

Small aperature telescope↗

DOE OSTI2025

Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 gravitational lensing and SDSS BOSS cross-correlation measurement and constraints on gravity with the 𝐸 𝐺 statistic

We derive new constraints on the 𝐸 𝐺 statistic as a test of gravity, combining the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing map estimated from Data Release 6 (DR6) of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope with Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS BOSS) CMASS and LOWZ galaxy data. We develop an analysis pipeline to measure the cross-correlation between CMB lensing maps and galaxy data, following a blinding policy and testing the approach through null and consistency checks. By testing the equivalence of the spatial and temporal gravitational potentials, the 𝐸 𝐺 statistic can distinguish Λ⁢ CDM from alternative models of gravity. We find 𝐸 𝐺 ⁡(𝑧 eff = 0.555) = 0.3⁢1$^{+0.06}_{−0.05}$ for Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and CMASS data at 68.28% confidence level, and 𝐸 𝐺 ⁡(𝑧 eff = 0.316) = 0.4⁢9$^{+0.14}_{−0.11}$ for the ACT and LOWZ. Systematic errors are estimated to be 3% and 4%, respectively. Including CMB lensing information from Planck PR4 results in 𝐸 𝐺 ⁡(𝑧 eff = 0.555) = 0.3⁢4$^{+0.05}_{−0.05}$ with CMASS and 𝐸 𝐺 ⁡(𝑧 eff = 0.316) = 0.4⁢3$^{+0.11}_{−0.09}$ with LOWZ. These are consistent with predictions for the Λ⁢ CDM model that best fits the Planck CMB anisotropy and SDSS BOSS baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), where 𝐸$^{GR}_{𝐺⁡}$(𝑧 eff =0.555) =0.401 ± 0.005 for CMB lensing combined with CMASS and 𝐸$^{GR}_{𝐺}$⁡(𝑧 eff = 0.316) = 0.452 ± 0.005 combined with LOWZ. We also find 𝐸 𝐺 to be scale independent, with probability to exceed >5%, as predicted by general relativity. The methods developed in this work are also applicable to improved future analyses with upcoming spectroscopic galaxy samples and CMB lensing measurements.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Measurement of the CMB temperature power spectrum and constraints on cosmology from the SPT-3G 2018 T T , T E , and E E dataset

We present a sample-variance-limited measurement of the temperature power spectrum ( T T ) of the cosmic microwave background using observations of a ∼ 1500 deg 2 field made by the SPT-3G in 2018. We report multifrequency power spectrum measurements at 95, 150, and 220 GHz covering the angular multipole range 750 ≤ ℓ < 3000 . We combine this T T measurement with the published polarization power spectrum measurements from the 2018 observing season and update their associated covariance matrix to complete the SPT-3G 2018 T T / T E / E E dataset. This is the first analysis to present cosmological constraints from SPT T T , T E , and E E power spectrum measurements jointly. We blind the cosmological results and subject the dataset to a series of consistency tests at the power spectrum and parameter level. We find excellent agreement between frequencies and spectrum types and our results are robust to the modeling of astrophysical foregrounds. We report results for Λ CDM and a series of extensions, drawing on the following parameters: the amplitude of the gravitational lensing effect on primary power spectra A L , the effective number of neutrino species N eff , the primordial helium abundance Y P , and the baryon clumping factor due to primordial magnetic fields b . We find that the SPT-3G 2018 T T / T E / E E data are well fit by Λ CDM with a probability to exceed of 15%. For Λ CDM , we constrain the expansion rate today to H 0 = 68.3 ± 1.5 km s - 1 Mpc - 1 and the combined structure growth parameter to S 8 = 0.797 ± 0.042 . The SPT-based results are effectively independent of Planck, and the cosmological parameter constraints from either dataset are within < 1 σ of each other. The addition of temperature data to the SPT-3G T E / E E power spectra improves constraints by 8–27% for each of the Λ CDM cosmological parameters. When additionally fitting A L , N eff , or N eff + Y P , the posteriors of these parameters tighten by 5–24%. In the case of primordial magnetic fields, complete T T / T E / E E power spectrum measurements are necessary to break the degeneracy between b and n s , the spectral index of primordial density perturbations. We report a 95% confidence upper limit from SPT-3G data of b < 1.0 . The cosmological constraints in this work are the tightest from SPT primary power spectrum measurements to date and the analysis forms a new framework for future SPT analyses.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Test of the Gravitational Force Law on Cosmological Scales Using the Kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect

The mean pairwise velocity of massive halos reflects the gravitational force law on cosmic scales. For this work, we combine cosmic microwave background intensity maps from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and a galaxy catalog from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to estimate the mean pairwise velocity using the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) effect. On scales from 30 to 230 megaparsecs, we constrain the gravitational acceleration between pairs of halos at separation 𝑟 to be 𝑔 ∝ 1/𝑟 𝑛 with 𝑛 = 2.1 ± 0.3, which is consistent with Newtonian gravity in an expanding spacetime (i.e., the standard Λ⁢ CDM model). This constraint shows agreement with an inverse quadratic radial dependence over the large distances separating galaxy halos, as expected in standard cosmology. Upcoming surveys have the potential to rule out 𝑛 = 1 at 10⁢𝜎 significance. Our results establish the kSZ effect as a powerful tool for testing gravity on cosmological scales.

alternative gravity theories↗

DOE OSTI2021

The Simons Observatory Microwave SQUID Multiplexing Detector Module Design

Advances in cosmic microwave background (CMB) science depend on increasing the number of sensitive detectors observing the sky. New instruments deploy large arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers tiled densely into ever larger focal planes. High multiplexing factors reduce the thermal loading on the cryogenic receivers and simplify their design. We present the design of focal-plane modules with an order of magnitude higher multiplexing factor than has previously been achieved with TES bolometers. We focus on the novel cold readout component, which employs microwave SQUID multiplexing (μmux). Simons Observatory will use 49 modules containing 70,000 bolometers to make exquisitely sensitive measurements of the CMB. We validate the focal-plane module design, presenting measurements of the readout component with and without a prototype detector array of 1728 polarization-sensitive bolometers coupled to feedhorns. The readout component achieves a 95% yield and a 910 multiplexing factor. The median white noise of each readout channel is 65 . This impacts the projected SO mapping speed by <8%, which is less than is assumed in the sensitivity projections. The results validate the full functionality of the module. We discuss the measured performance in the context of SO science requirements, which are exceeded.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2023

Plastic Laminate Antireflective Coatings for Millimeter-Wave Optics in BICEP Array

The BICEP/Keck series of experiments target the cosmic microwave background at degree-scale resolution from the South Pole. Over the next few years, the “Stage-3” BICEP Array (BA) telescope will improve the program’s frequency coverage and sensitivity to primordial B-mode polarization by an order of magnitude. The first receiver in the array, BA1, began observing at 30/40 GHz in early 2020. The next two receivers, BA2 and BA3, are currently being assembled and will map the southern sky at frequencies ranging from 95 to 150 GHz. Common to all BA receivers is a refractive, on-axis, cryogenic optical design that focuses microwave radiation onto a focal plane populated with antenna-coupled bolometers. High-performance antireflective coatings up to 760 mm in aperture are needed for each element in the optical chain, and must withstand repeated thermal cycles down to 4 K. Here, in this work, we present the design and fabrication of the 30/40 GHz anti-reflection coatings for the recently deployed BA1 receiver, with indices matched to its various polyethylene, nylon and alumina optical components. We describe an epoxy coating technique designed for alumina optics, which achieves better than 80% transmission at room temperature. For polyethylene optical elements, we present a new heat-compression approach that allows low-density polytetrafluoroethylene AR layers to reach sub-percent reflected power. We describe the planned use of these methods for the next BA cryostats, which may inform technological choices for future small-aperture telescopes of the CMB-S4 experiment.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗