CMB Polarization                                                                    Up

last update March 7, 2005.

Background:

  
 The CMB is expected to be polarized by the Thompson scatteering of photons off electrons at the moment of decoupling or during the later epoch of reionization. Only a local quadrupole distribution of initially unpolarized radiation will generate a  linearly polarized outcome. The amplitude of  polarization is expected to be 1-10% of the temperature anisotropies.
        CMB polarization is an important property of the CMB radiation: It allows an independant test of of the precise predictions of the inflationnary
    paradigm. Once the polarization mesurments become precise enough, it will substantially improve the  accuracy of the parameters decribing the universe.

        The field of CMB polarization has been experimentally taking off in the recent years.  A vast array of experiments are taking data or about to come online. Below is a summary as complete as possible of the various past, present and future experiments, grouped according to their detection techniques.

        Here is the  experimental constraints and detections of the polarization to-date. Papers describing the results shown in the figure as well as the instruments  are tabulated here.

CMB Polarization Experiments
Past
 On-Going
Planned



Cosmology  Groups
USA & CANADA (from East to West)
 ENGLAND
 EUROPE



For more info contact me here: dbarkats at caltech dot edu