arXiv subjects

Janet L. Weiland

Publications and source records attributed to Janet L. Weiland.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Improved Constraints on Cosmic Microwave Background Circular Polarization with CLASS

We present improved constraints on circular polarization in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) experiment using data at 90, 150, and 220 GHz to complement previous results based on 40 GHz data alone. We extend constraints on circular polarization from the atmosphere to all CLASS frequencies and compare with a model of the atmospheric circular polarization spectrum. The inclusion of data at all CLASS frequencies improves upper limits on circular polarization, Stokes $V$, in the CMB by a factor of $\sim 5$ at the largest angular scales ($10 < \ell < 30$) and extends the constraints to smaller angular scales, $\ell = 700$. In combination with Planck temperature data, we provide the first limits on the temperature-circular-polarization ($TV$) power spectrum to date. Both circular polarization ($VV$) and $TV$ power spectra are consistent with zero, and CLASS places upper limits of $5.4 \times 10^{-3}$ $μ$K$_{\text{CMB}}^2$ on $VV$ at large angular scale ($10 < \ell < 30$) and $5.8 \times 10^{-1}$ $μ$K$_{\text{CMB}}^2$ on $TV$ at 95% confidence at $30 < \ell < 50$.

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arXiv2024

Revisiting the $A_L$ Lensing Anomaly in Planck 2018 Temperature Data

We revisit the lensing anomaly in the Planck 2018 temperature (TT) data and examine its robustness to frequency selection and additional sky masking. Our main findings are: (1) The phenomenological lensing amplitude parameter, $A_L$, varies with ecliptic latitude, with a $2.9σ$ preference for $A_L>1$ near the ecliptic, and $1.0σ$ preference near the ecliptic poles, compared to $2.5σ$ on the original masks. This behavior is largely or solely from 217 GHz and suggestive of some non-random effect given the Planck scan strategy. (2) The 217 GHz TT data also show a stronger preference for $A_L>1$ than the lower frequencies. The shifts in $A_L$ from 217 GHz with additional Galactic dust masking are too large to be explained solely by statistical fluctuations, indicating some connection with the foreground treatment. Overall, the Planck $A_L$ anomaly does not have a single simple cause. Removing the 217 GHz TT data leaves a $1.8σ$ preference for $A_L>1$. The low-multipole ($\ell<30$) TT data contribute to the preference for $A_L>1$ through correlations with $Λ$CDM parameters. The 100 and 143 GHz data at $\ell\geq30$ prefer $A_L>1$ at $1.3σ$, and this appears robust to the masking tests we performed. The lensing anomaly may impact fits to alternative cosmological models. Marginalizing over $A_L$, optionally applied only to Planck TT spectra, can check this. Models proposed to address cosmological tensions should be robust to removal of the Planck 217 GHz TT data.

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arXiv2024

Sensitivity-Improved Polarization Maps at 40 GHz with CLASS and WMAP data

Improved polarization measurements at frequencies below 70 GHz with degree-level angular resolution are crucial for advancing our understanding of the Galactic synchrotron radiation and the potential polarized anomalous microwave emission and ultimately benefiting the detection of primordial $B$ modes. In this study, we present sensitivity-improved 40 GHz polarization maps obtained by combining the CLASS 40 GHz and WMAP $Q$-band data through a weighted average in the harmonic domain. The decision to include WMAP $Q$-band data stems from similarities in the bandpasses. Leveraging the accurate large-scale measurements from WMAP $Q$ band and the high-sensitivity information from CLASS 40 GHz band at intermediate scales, the noise level at $\ell\in[30, 100]$ is reduced by a factor of $2-3$ in the map space. A pixel domain analysis of the polarized synchrotron spectral index ($β_s$) using WMAP $K$ band and the combined maps (mean and 16/84th percentile across the $β_s$ map: $-3.08_{-0.20}^{+0.20}$) reveals a stronger preference for spatial variation (PTE for a uniform $β_s$ hypothesis smaller than 0.001) than the results obtained using WMAP $K$ and $Ka$ bands ($-3.08_{-0.14}^{+0.14}$). The cross-power spectra of the combined maps follow the same trend as other low-frequency data, and validation through simulations indicates negligible bias introduced by the combination method (sub-percent level in the power spectra). The products of this work are publicly available on $\mathtt{LAMBDA}$.

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arXiv2024

Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS): 90 GHz Telescope Pointing, Beam Profile, Window Function, and Polarization Performance

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) is a telescope array that observes the cosmic microwave background (CMB) over ~75% of the sky from the Atacama Desert, Chile, at frequency bands centered near 40, 90, 150, and 220 GHz. CLASS measures the large angular scale CMB polarization to constrain the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the optical depth to last scattering. This paper presents the optical characterization of the 90GHz telescope, which has been observing since July 2018. Observations of the Moon establish the pointing while dedicated observations of Jupiter are used for beam calibration. The standard deviations of the pointing error in azimuth, elevation, and boresight angle are 1.3, 2.1, and 2.0 arcminutes, respectively, over the first 3 years of observations. This corresponds to a pointing uncertainty ~7% of the beam's full width at half maximum (FWHM). The effective azimuthally-symmetrized instrument 1D beam estimated at 90 GHz has an FWHM of 0.620+/-0.003 deg and a solid angle of 138.7+/-0.6(stats.)+/-1.1(sys.) usr integrated to a radius of 4 deg. The corresponding beam window function drops to b_ell^2 = 0.93, 0.71, 0.14 at ell = 30, 100, 300, respectively. Far-sidelobes are studied using detector-centered intensity maps of the Moon and measured to be at a level of 10^-3 or below relative to the peak. The polarization angle of Tau A estimated from preliminary survey maps is 149.6+/-0.2(stats.) deg in equatorial coordinates. The instrumental temperature-to-polarization (T-to-P) leakage fraction, inferred from per-detector demodulated Jupiter scan data, has a monopole component at the level of 1.7 x 10^-3, a dipole component with an amplitude of 4.3 x 10^-3, with no evidence of quadrupolar leakage.

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arXiv2024

CLASS Angular Power Spectra and Map-Component Analysis for 40 GHz Observations through 2022

Measurement of the largest angular scale ($\ell < 30$) features of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization is a powerful way to constrain the optical depth to reionization and search for the signature of inflation through the detection of primordial $B$-modes. We present an analysis of maps covering 73.6\% of the sky made from the $40\,\mathrm{GHz}$ channel of the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) from 2016 August to 2022 May. Taking advantage of the measurement stability enabled by front-end polarization modulation and excellent conditions from the Atacama Desert, we show this channel achieves higher sensitivity than the analogous frequencies from satellite measurements in the range $10 < \ell < 100$. Simulations show the CLASS linear (circular) polarization maps have a white noise level of $125 \,(130)\,\mathrm{μK\, arcmin}$. We measure the Galaxy-masked $EE$ and $BB$ spectra of diffuse synchrotron radiation and compare to space-based measurements at similar frequencies. In combination with external data, we expand measurements of the spatial variations of the synchrotron spectral energy density (SED) to include new sky regions and measure the diffuse SED in the harmonic domain. We place a new upper limit on a background of circular polarization in the range $5 < \ell < 125$ with the first bin showing $D_\ell < 0.023$ $\mathrm{μK^2_{CMB}}$ at 95\% confidence. These results establish a new standard for recovery of the largest-scale CMB polarization from the ground and signal exciting possibilities when the higher sensitivity and higher-frequency CLASS channels are included in the analysis.

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arXiv2023

Microwave Observations of Venus with CLASS

We report on the disk-averaged absolute brightness temperatures of Venus measured at four microwave frequency bands with the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS). We measure temperatures of 432.3 $\pm$ 2.8 K, 355.6 $\pm$ 1.3 K, 317.9 $\pm$ 1.7 K, and 294.7 $\pm$ 1.9 K for frequency bands centered at 38.8, 93.7, 147.9, and 217.5 GHz, respectively. We do not observe any dependence of the measured brightness temperatures on solar illumination for all four frequency bands. A joint analysis of our measurements with lower frequency Very Large Array (VLA) observations suggests relatively warmer ($\sim$ 7 K higher) mean atmospheric temperatures and lower abundances of microwave continuum absorbers than those inferred from prior radio occultation measurements.

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arXiv2022

Calibration of Transition-edge Sensor (TES) Bolometer Arrays with Application to CLASS

The current and future cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments fielding kilo-pixel arrays of transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers require accurate and robust gain calibration methods. We simplify and refactor the standard TES model to directly relate the detector responsivity calibration and optical time constant to the measured TES current $I$ and the applied bias current $I_{\mathrm{b}}$. The calibration method developed for the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) TES bolometer arrays relies on current versus voltage ($I$-$V$) measurements acquired daily prior to CMB observations. By binning Q-band (40GHz) $I$-$V$ measurements by optical loading, we find that the gain calibration median standard error within a bin is 0.3%. We test the accuracy of this "$I$-$V$ bin" detector calibration method by using the Moon as a photometric standard. The ratio of measured Moon amplitudes between detector pairs sharing the same feedhorn indicates a TES calibration error of 0.5%. We also find that for the CLASS Q-band TES array, calibrating the response of individual detectors based solely on the applied TES bias current accurately corrects TES gain variations across time but introduces a bias in the TES calibration from data counts to power units. Since the TES current bias value is set and recorded before every observation, this calibration method can always be applied to raw TES data and is not subject to $I$-$V$ data quality or processing errors.

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arXiv2022

Polarized Synchrotron Foreground Assessment for CMB Experiments

Polarized Galactic synchrotron emission is an undesirable foreground for cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments observing at frequencies $< 150$ GHz. We perform a combined analysis of observational data at 1.4, 2.3, 23, 30 and 33 GHz to quantify the spatial variation of the polarized synchrotron spectral index, $β^{pol}$, on $\sim3.5^\circ$ scales. We compare results from different data combinations to address limitations and inconsistencies present in these public data, and form a composite map of $β^{pol}$. Data quality masking leaves 44% sky coverage (73% for $|b|> 45^\circ$). Generally $-3.2 < β^{pol} \lesssim -3$ in the inner Galactic plane and spurs, but the Fan Region in the outer Galaxy has a flatter index. We find a clear spectral index steepening with increasing latitude south of the Galactic plane with $Δβ^{pol}=0.4$, and a smaller steepening of $0.25$ in the north. Near the south Galactic pole the polarized synchrotron spectral index is $β^{pol} \approx -3.4$. Longitudinal spectral index variations of $Δβ^{pol} \sim 0.1$ about the latitudinal mean are also detected. Within the BICEP2/Keck survey footprint, we find consistency with a constant value, $β^{pol} = -3.25 \pm 0.04$ (statistical) $\pm 0.02$ (systematic). We compute a map of the frequency at which synchrotron and thermal dust emission contribute equally to the total polarized foreground. The limitations and inconsistencies among datasets encountered in this work make clear the value of additional independent surveys at multiple frequencies, especially between $10-20$ GHz, provided these surveys have sufficient sensitivity and control of instrumental systematic errors.

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arXiv2022

Four-year Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) Observations: On-sky Receiver Performance at 40, 90, 150, and 220 GHz Frequency Bands

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) observes the polarized cosmic microwave background (CMB) over the angular scales of 1$^\circ \lesssim θ\leq$ 90$^\circ$ with the aim of characterizing primordial gravitational waves and cosmic reionization. We report on the on-sky performance of the CLASS Q-band (40 GHz), W-band (90 GHz), and dichroic G-band (150/220 GHz) receivers that have been operational at the CLASS site in the Atacama desert since June 2016, May 2018, and September 2019, respectively. We show that the noise-equivalent power measured by the detectors matches the expected noise model based on on-sky optical loading and lab-measured detector parameters. Using Moon, Venus, and Jupiter observations, we obtain power-to-antenna-temperature calibrations and optical efficiencies for the telescopes. From the CMB survey data, we compute instantaneous array noise-equivalent-temperature sensitivities of 22, 19, 23, and 71 $\mathrm{μK}_\mathrm{cmb}\sqrt{\mathrm{s}}$ for the 40, 90, 150, and 220 GHz frequency bands, respectively. These noise temperatures refer to white noise amplitudes, which contribute to sky maps at all angular scales. Future papers will assess additional noise sources impacting larger angular scales.

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arXiv2021

Limits on Polarized Dust Spectral Index Variations for CMB Foreground Analysis

Using Planck polarization data, we search for and constrain spatial variations of the polarized dust foreground for cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations, specifically in its spectral index, $β_d$. Failure to account for such variations will cause errors in the foreground cleaning that propagate into errors on cosmological parameter recovery from the cleaned CMB map. It is unclear how robust prior studies of the Planck data which constrained $β_d$ variations are due to challenges with noise modeling, residual systematics, and priors. To clarify constraints on $β_d$ and its variation, we employ two pixel space analyses of the polarized dust foreground at $>3.7^{\circ}$ scales on $\approx 60\%$ of the sky at high Galactic latitudes. A template fitting method, which measures $β_d$ over three regions of $\approx 20\%$ of the sky, does not find significant deviations from an uniform $β_d = 1.55$, consistent with prior Planck determinations. An additional analysis in these regions, based on multifrequency fits to a dust and CMB model per pixel, puts limits on $σ_{β_d}$, the Gaussian spatial variation in $β_d$. At the highest latitudes, the data support $σ_{β_d}$ up to $0.45$, $0.30$ at mid-latitudes, and $0.15$ at low-latitudes. We also demonstrate that care must be taken when interpreting the current Planck constraints, $β_d$ maps, and noise simulations. Due to residual systematics and low dust signal to noise at high latitudes, forecasts for ongoing and future missions should include the possibility of large values of $σ_{β_d}$ as estimated in this paper, based on current polarization data.

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arXiv2021

Venus Observations at 40 and 90 GHz with CLASS

Using the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor, we measure the disk-averaged absolute Venus brightness temperature to be 432.3 $\pm$ 2.8 K and 355.6 $\pm$ 1.3 K in the Q and W frequency bands centered at 38.8 and 93.7 GHz, respectively. At both frequency bands, these are the most precise measurements to date. Furthermore, we observe no phase dependence of the measured temperature in either band. Our measurements are consistent with a CO$_2$-dominant atmospheric model that includes trace amounts of additional absorbers like SO$_2$ and H$_2$SO$_4$.

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arXiv2020

Two Year Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) Observations: Long Timescale Stability Achieved with a Front-End Variable-delay Polarization Modulator at 40 GHz

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) is a four-telescope array observing the largest angular scales ($2 \lesssim \ell \lesssim 200$) of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. These scales encode information about reionization and inflation during the early universe. The instrument stability necessary to observe these angular scales from the ground is achieved through the use of a variable-delay polarization modulator (VPM) as the first optical element in each of the CLASS telescopes. Here we develop a demodulation scheme used to extract the polarization timestreams from the CLASS data and apply this method to selected data from the first two years of observations by the 40 GHz CLASS telescope. These timestreams are used to measure the $1/f$ noise and temperature-to-polarization ($T\rightarrow P$) leakage present in the CLASS data. We find a median knee frequency for the pair-differenced demodulated linear polarization of 15.12 mHz and a $T\rightarrow P$ leakage of $<3.8\times10^{-4}$ (95\% confidence) across the focal plane. We examine the sources of $1/f$ noise present in the data and find the component of $1/f$ due to atmospheric precipitable water vapor (PWV) has an amplitude of $203 \pm 12 \mathrm{μK_{RJ}\sqrt{s}}$ for 1 mm of PWV when evaluated at 10 mHz; accounting for $\sim32\%$ of the $1/f$ noise in the central pixels of the focal plane. The low level of $T\rightarrow P$ leakage and $1/f$ noise achieved through the use of a front-end polarization modulator enables the observation of the largest scales of the CMB polarization from the ground by the CLASS telescopes.

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arXiv2020

Full-sky Cosmic Microwave Background Foreground Cleaning Using Machine Learning

In order to extract cosmological information from observations of the millimeter and submillimeter sky, foreground components must first be removed to produce an estimate of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We developed a machine-learning approach for doing so for full-sky temperature maps of the millimeter and submillimeter sky. We constructed a Bayesian spherical convolutional neural network architecture to produce a model that captures both spectral and morphological aspects of the foregrounds. Additionally, the model outputs a per-pixel error estimate that incorporates both statistical and model uncertainties. The model was then trained using simulations that incorporated knowledge of these foreground components that was available at the time of the launch of the Planck satellite. On simulated maps, the CMB is recovered with a mean absolute difference of $<4μ$K over the full sky after masking map pixels with a predicted standard error of $>50μ$K; the angular power spectrum is also accurately recovered. Once validated with the simulations, this model was applied to Planck temperature observations from its 70GHz through 857GHz channels to produce a foreground-cleaned CMB map at a Healpix map resolution of NSIDE=512. Furthermore, we demonstrate the utility of the technique for evaluating how well different simulations match observations, particularly in regard to the modeling of thermal dust.

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arXiv2020

Two-year Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) Observations: A First Detection of Atmospheric Circular Polarization at Q Band

The Earth's magnetic field induces Zeeman splitting of the magnetic dipole transitions of molecular oxygen in the atmosphere, which produces polarized emission in the millimeter-wave regime. This polarized emission is primarily circularly polarized and manifests as a foreground with a dipole-shaped sky pattern for polarization-sensitive ground-based cosmic microwave background experiments, such as the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS), which is capable of measuring large angular scale circular polarization. Using atmospheric emission theory and radiative transfer formalisms, we model the expected amplitude and spatial distribution of this signal and evaluate the model for the CLASS observing site in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Then, using two years of observations at 32.3 GHz to 43.7 GHz from the CLASS Q-band telescope, we present a detection of this signal and compare the observed signal to that predicted by the model. We recover an angle between magnetic north and true north of $(-5.5 \pm 0.6)^\circ$, which is consistent with the expectation of $-5.9^\circ$ for the CLASS observing site. When comparing dipole sky patterns fit to both simulated and data-derived sky maps, the dipole directions match to within a degree, and the measured amplitudes match to within ${\sim}20\%$.

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arXiv2019

Two-year Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) Observations: A Measurement of Circular Polarization at 40 GHz

We report circular polarization measurements from the first two years of observation with the 40 GHz polarimeter of the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS). CLASS is conducting a multi-frequency survey covering 75% of the sky from the Atacama Desert designed to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) linear E and B polarization on angular scales $1^\circ \lesssim θ\leq 90^\circ$, corresponding to a multipole range of $2 \leq \ell \lesssim 200$. The modulation technology enabling measurements of linear polarization at the largest angular scales from the ground, the Variable-delay Polarization Modulator, is uniquely designed to provide explicit sensitivity to circular polarization (Stokes $V$). We present a first detection of circularly polarized atmospheric emission at 40 GHz that is well described by a dipole with an amplitude of $124\pm4\,\mathrm{μK}$ when observed at an elevation of $45^\circ$, and discuss its potential impact as a foreground to CMB experiments. Filtering the atmospheric component, CLASS places a 95% C.L. upper limit of $0.4\,\mathrm{μK}^2$ to $13.5\,\mathrm{μK}^2$ on $\ell(\ell+1)C_\ell^{VV}/(2π)$ between $1 \leq \ell \leq 120$, representing a two-orders-of-magnitude improvement over previous limits.

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arXiv2018

Assessing Consistency Between WMAP 9-year and Planck 2015 Temperature Power Spectra

We perform a comparison of WMAP 9-year (WMAP9) and Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature power spectra across multipoles $30\leq\ell\leq1200$. We generate simulations to estimate the correlation between the two datasets due to cosmic variance from observing the same sky. We find that their spectra are consistent within $1σ$. While we do not implement the optimal "$C^{-1}$" estimator on WMAP maps as in the WMAP9 analysis, we demonstrate that the change of pixel weighting only shifts our results at most at the $0.66σ$ level. We also show that changing the fiducial power spectrum for simulations only impacts the comparison at around $0.1σ$ level. We exclude $\ell<30$ both because WMAP9 data were included in the Planck 2015 $\ell<30$ analysis, and because the cosmic variance uncertainty on these scales is large enough that any remaining systematic difference between the experiments is extremely unlikely to affect cosmological constraints. The consistency shown in our analysis provides high confidence in both the WMAP9 temperature power spectrum and the overlapping multipole region of Planck 2015's, virtually independent of any assumed cosmological model. Our results indicate that cosmological model differences between Planck and WMAP do not arise from measurement differences, but from the high multipoles not measured by WMAP.

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