NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE): A Nulling Polarimeter for Cosmic Microwave Background ObservationsThe Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) is a concept for an Explorer-class mission to measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background. The instrument consists of a polarizing Michelson interferometer configured as a nulling polarimeter to measure the difference spectrum between orthogonal linear polarizations from two co-aligned beams. Either input can view the sky or a temperature-controlled absolute reference blackbody calibrator. Rhe proposed instrument can map the absolute intensity and linear polarization (Stokes I, Q, and U parameters) over the full sky in 400 spectral channels spanning 2.5 decades in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 micron wavelength). Multi-moded optics provide background-limited sensitivity using only 4 detectors, while the highly symmetric design and multiple signal modulations provide robust rejection of potential systematic errors. The principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10..3 at 5 standard deviations. The rich PIXIE data set can also constrain physical processes ranging from Big Bang cosmology to the nature of the first stars to physical conditions within the interstellar medium of the Galaxy.
Document ID
20110015446
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
External Source(s)
doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2011/07/025
Authors
Kogut, Alan J. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Fixsen, D. J. (Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Chuss, D. T. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Dotson, J. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Dwek, E. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Halpern, M. (British Columbia Univ. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Hinshaw, G. F. (British Columbia Univ. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Meyer, S. M. (Chicago Univ. Chicago, IL, United States)
Moseley, S. H. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Seiffert, M. D. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Spergel, D. N.
Wollack, E. J. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
May 10, 2011
Subject Category
Astronomy
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.JA.4824.2011
GSFC.JA.6656.2012
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available