Measurements of Tropospheric Ice Clouds with a Ground-based CMB Polarization Experiment, POLARBEAR

S. Takakura; M. A.O. Aguilar-Faundez; Y. Akiba; K. Arnold; C. Baccigalupi; D. Barron; D. Beck; F. Bianchini; D. Boettger; J. Borrill; K. Cheung; Y. Chinone; T. Elleflot; J. Errard; G. Fabbian; C. Feng; N. Goeckner-Wald; T. Hamada; M. Hasegawa; M. Hazumi; L. Howe; D. Kaneko; N. Katayama; B. Keating; R. Keskitalo; T. Kisner; N. Krachmalnicoff; A. Kusaka; A. T. Lee; L. N. Lowry; F. T. Matsuda; A. J. May; Y. Minami; M. Navaroli; H. Nishino; L. Piccirillo; D. Poletti; G. Puglisi; C. L. Reichardt; Y. Segawa; M. Silva-Feaver; P. Siritanasak; A. Suzuki; O. Tajima; S. Takatori; D. Tanabe; G. P. Teply; C. Tsai

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aaf381

Measurements of Tropospheric Ice Clouds with a Ground-based CMB Polarization Experiment, POLARBEAR

S. Takakura, M. A.O. Aguilar-Faundez, Y. Akiba, K. Arnold, C. Baccigalupi, D. Barron, D. Beck, F. Bianchini, D. Boettger, J. Borrill, K. Cheung, Y. Chinone, T. Elleflot, J. Errard, G. Fabbian, C. Feng, N. Goeckner-Wald, T. Hamada, M. Hasegawa, M. HazumiL. Howe, D. Kaneko, N. Katayama, B. Keating, R. Keskitalo, T. Kisner, N. Krachmalnicoff, A. Kusaka, A. T. Lee, L. N. Lowry, F. T. Matsuda, A. J. May, Y. Minami, M. Navaroli, H. Nishino, L. Piccirillo, D. Poletti, G. Puglisi, C. L. Reichardt, Y. Segawa, M. Silva-Feaver, P. Siritanasak, A. Suzuki, O. Tajima, S. Takatori, D. Tanabe, G. P. Teply, C. Tsai

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The polarization of the atmosphere has been a long-standing concern for ground-based experiments targeting cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. Ice crystals in upper tropospheric clouds scatter thermal radiation from the ground and produce a horizontally polarized signal. We report a detailed analysis of the cloud signal using a ground-based CMB experiment, Polarbear, located at the Atacama desert in Chile and observing at 150 GHz. We observe horizontally polarized temporal increases of low-frequency fluctuations ("polarized bursts," hereafter) of ≲0.1 K when clouds appear in a webcam monitoring the telescope and the sky. The hypothesis of no correlation between polarized bursts and clouds is rejected with >24σ statistical significance using three years of data. We consider many other possibilities including instrumental and environmental effects, and find no reasons other than clouds that can explain the data better. We also discuss the impact of the cloud polarization on future ground-based CMB polarization experiments.

Original language	English
Article number	102
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	870
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf381
Publication status	Published - Jan 10 2019
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

atmospheric effects
cosmic background radiation
cosmology: observations
polarization
scattering

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.3847/1538-4357/aaf381

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Takakura, S., Aguilar-Faundez, M. A. O., Akiba, Y., Arnold, K., Baccigalupi, C., Barron, D., Beck, D., Bianchini, F., Boettger, D., Borrill, J., Cheung, K., Chinone, Y., Elleflot, T., Errard, J., Fabbian, G., Feng, C., Goeckner-Wald, N., Hamada, T., Hasegawa, M., ... Tsai, C. (2019). Measurements of Tropospheric Ice Clouds with a Ground-based CMB Polarization Experiment, POLARBEAR. Astrophysical Journal, 870(2), Article 102. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf381

Takakura, S, Aguilar-Faundez, MAO, Akiba, Y, Arnold, K, Baccigalupi, C, Barron, D, Beck, D, Bianchini, F, Boettger, D, Borrill, J, Cheung, K, Chinone, Y, Elleflot, T, Errard, J, Fabbian, G, Feng, C, Goeckner-Wald, N, Hamada, T, Hasegawa, M, Hazumi, M, Howe, L, Kaneko, D, Katayama, N, Keating, B, Keskitalo, R, Kisner, T, Krachmalnicoff, N, Kusaka, A, Lee, AT, Lowry, LN, Matsuda, FT, May, AJ, Minami, Y, Navaroli, M, Nishino, H, Piccirillo, L, Poletti, D, Puglisi, G, Reichardt, CL, Segawa, Y, Silva-Feaver, M, Siritanasak, P, Suzuki, A, Tajima, O, Takatori, S, Tanabe, D, Teply, GP & Tsai, C 2019, 'Measurements of Tropospheric Ice Clouds with a Ground-based CMB Polarization Experiment, POLARBEAR', Astrophysical Journal, vol. 870, no. 2, 102. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf381

@article{26ca909a8aa7459f84fc48761aae993f,

title = "Measurements of Tropospheric Ice Clouds with a Ground-based CMB Polarization Experiment, POLARBEAR",

abstract = "The polarization of the atmosphere has been a long-standing concern for ground-based experiments targeting cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. Ice crystals in upper tropospheric clouds scatter thermal radiation from the ground and produce a horizontally polarized signal. We report a detailed analysis of the cloud signal using a ground-based CMB experiment, Polarbear, located at the Atacama desert in Chile and observing at 150 GHz. We observe horizontally polarized temporal increases of low-frequency fluctuations ({"}polarized bursts,{"} hereafter) of ≲0.1 K when clouds appear in a webcam monitoring the telescope and the sky. The hypothesis of no correlation between polarized bursts and clouds is rejected with >24σ statistical significance using three years of data. We consider many other possibilities including instrumental and environmental effects, and find no reasons other than clouds that can explain the data better. We also discuss the impact of the cloud polarization on future ground-based CMB polarization experiments.",

keywords = "atmospheric effects, cosmic background radiation, cosmology: observations, polarization, scattering",

author = "S. Takakura and Aguilar-Faundez, {M. A.O.} and Y. Akiba and K. Arnold and C. Baccigalupi and D. Barron and D. Beck and F. Bianchini and D. Boettger and J. Borrill and K. Cheung and Y. Chinone and T. Elleflot and J. Errard and G. Fabbian and C. Feng and N. Goeckner-Wald and T. Hamada and M. Hasegawa and M. Hazumi and L. Howe and D. Kaneko and N. Katayama and B. Keating and R. Keskitalo and T. Kisner and N. Krachmalnicoff and A. Kusaka and Lee, {A. T.} and Lowry, {L. N.} and Matsuda, {F. T.} and May, {A. J.} and Y. Minami and M. Navaroli and H. Nishino and L. Piccirillo and D. Poletti and G. Puglisi and Reichardt, {C. L.} and Y. Segawa and M. Silva-Feaver and P. Siritanasak and A. Suzuki and O. Tajima and S. Takatori and D. Tanabe and Teply, {G. P.} and C. Tsai",

note = "Funding Information: S.Takakura was supported by Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Research Fellow JP14J01662 and JP18J02133. The POLAR-BEAR project is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grants No.AST-0618398 and No.AST-1212230. The James Ax Observatory operates in the Parque Astron{\'o}mico Atacama in northern Chile under the auspices of the Comisi{\'o}n Nacional de Investigaci{\'o}n Cient{\'i}fica y Tecnol{\'o}gica de Chile (CONICYT). The APEX PWV was obtained from the APEX Weather Query Form of the ESO Science Archive Facility. This research used resources of the Central Computing System, owned and operated by the Computing Research Center at KEK, the HPCI system (Project ID:hp150132), and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science User Facility supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No.DE-AC02-05CH11231. Kavli IPMU was supported by World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, Japan. This work was supported by MEXT KAKENHI grant No.21111002, JP15H05891, and JP18H05539, JSPS KAKENHI grant No.JP26220709, JP26800125, and JP16K21744, and the JSPS Core-to-Core Program. M.A. acknowledges support from CONICYT UC Berkeley-Chile Seed Grant (CLAS fund) Number 77047, Fondecyt project 1130777 and 1171811, DFI postgraduate scholarship program and DFI Postgraduate Competitive Fund for Support in the Attendance to Scientific Events. C.B., N.K., and D.P. acknowledge support from the RADIOFOREGROUNDS project (radioforegrounds.eu), funded by the European Commission{\textquoteright}s H2020 Research Infrastructures under the Grant Agreement 687312, the INDARK INFN Initiative and the COSMOS network of the Italian Space Agency (cosmosnet.it). F.B. and C.R. acknowledge support from an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT150100074). D.Boettger gratefully acknowledges support from grant ALMA CONICYT 31140004. G.F. acknowledges the support of the CNES postdoctoral program. Work at LBNL was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under U.S. Department of Energy Contract No.DE-AC02-05CH11231. A.K. acknowledges the support by JSPS Leading Initiative for Excellent Young Researchers (LEADER). F.M. acknowledges JSPS International Research Fellowship (grant No. JP17F17025). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.",

year = "2019",

month = jan,

day = "10",

doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/aaf381",

language = "English",

volume = "870",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

issn = "0004-637X",

publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Measurements of Tropospheric Ice Clouds with a Ground-based CMB Polarization Experiment, POLARBEAR

AU - Takakura, S.

AU - Aguilar-Faundez, M. A.O.

AU - Akiba, Y.

AU - Arnold, K.

AU - Baccigalupi, C.

AU - Barron, D.

AU - Beck, D.

AU - Bianchini, F.

AU - Boettger, D.

AU - Borrill, J.

AU - Cheung, K.

AU - Chinone, Y.

AU - Elleflot, T.

AU - Errard, J.

AU - Fabbian, G.

AU - Feng, C.

AU - Goeckner-Wald, N.

AU - Hamada, T.

AU - Hasegawa, M.

AU - Hazumi, M.

AU - Howe, L.

AU - Kaneko, D.

AU - Katayama, N.

AU - Keating, B.

AU - Keskitalo, R.

AU - Kisner, T.

AU - Krachmalnicoff, N.

AU - Kusaka, A.

AU - Lee, A. T.

AU - Lowry, L. N.

AU - Matsuda, F. T.

AU - May, A. J.

AU - Minami, Y.

AU - Navaroli, M.

AU - Nishino, H.

AU - Piccirillo, L.

AU - Poletti, D.

AU - Puglisi, G.

AU - Reichardt, C. L.

AU - Segawa, Y.

AU - Silva-Feaver, M.

AU - Siritanasak, P.

AU - Suzuki, A.

AU - Tajima, O.

AU - Takatori, S.

AU - Tanabe, D.

AU - Teply, G. P.

AU - Tsai, C.

N1 - Funding Information: S.Takakura was supported by Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Research Fellow JP14J01662 and JP18J02133. The POLAR-BEAR project is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grants No.AST-0618398 and No.AST-1212230. The James Ax Observatory operates in the Parque Astronómico Atacama in northern Chile under the auspices of the Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica de Chile (CONICYT). The APEX PWV was obtained from the APEX Weather Query Form of the ESO Science Archive Facility. This research used resources of the Central Computing System, owned and operated by the Computing Research Center at KEK, the HPCI system (Project ID:hp150132), and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science User Facility supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No.DE-AC02-05CH11231. Kavli IPMU was supported by World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, Japan. This work was supported by MEXT KAKENHI grant No.21111002, JP15H05891, and JP18H05539, JSPS KAKENHI grant No.JP26220709, JP26800125, and JP16K21744, and the JSPS Core-to-Core Program. M.A. acknowledges support from CONICYT UC Berkeley-Chile Seed Grant (CLAS fund) Number 77047, Fondecyt project 1130777 and 1171811, DFI postgraduate scholarship program and DFI Postgraduate Competitive Fund for Support in the Attendance to Scientific Events. C.B., N.K., and D.P. acknowledge support from the RADIOFOREGROUNDS project (radioforegrounds.eu), funded by the European Commission’s H2020 Research Infrastructures under the Grant Agreement 687312, the INDARK INFN Initiative and the COSMOS network of the Italian Space Agency (cosmosnet.it). F.B. and C.R. acknowledge support from an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT150100074). D.Boettger gratefully acknowledges support from grant ALMA CONICYT 31140004. G.F. acknowledges the support of the CNES postdoctoral program. Work at LBNL was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under U.S. Department of Energy Contract No.DE-AC02-05CH11231. A.K. acknowledges the support by JSPS Leading Initiative for Excellent Young Researchers (LEADER). F.M. acknowledges JSPS International Research Fellowship (grant No. JP17F17025). Publisher Copyright: © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

PY - 2019/1/10

Y1 - 2019/1/10

N2 - The polarization of the atmosphere has been a long-standing concern for ground-based experiments targeting cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. Ice crystals in upper tropospheric clouds scatter thermal radiation from the ground and produce a horizontally polarized signal. We report a detailed analysis of the cloud signal using a ground-based CMB experiment, Polarbear, located at the Atacama desert in Chile and observing at 150 GHz. We observe horizontally polarized temporal increases of low-frequency fluctuations ("polarized bursts," hereafter) of ≲0.1 K when clouds appear in a webcam monitoring the telescope and the sky. The hypothesis of no correlation between polarized bursts and clouds is rejected with >24σ statistical significance using three years of data. We consider many other possibilities including instrumental and environmental effects, and find no reasons other than clouds that can explain the data better. We also discuss the impact of the cloud polarization on future ground-based CMB polarization experiments.

AB - The polarization of the atmosphere has been a long-standing concern for ground-based experiments targeting cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. Ice crystals in upper tropospheric clouds scatter thermal radiation from the ground and produce a horizontally polarized signal. We report a detailed analysis of the cloud signal using a ground-based CMB experiment, Polarbear, located at the Atacama desert in Chile and observing at 150 GHz. We observe horizontally polarized temporal increases of low-frequency fluctuations ("polarized bursts," hereafter) of ≲0.1 K when clouds appear in a webcam monitoring the telescope and the sky. The hypothesis of no correlation between polarized bursts and clouds is rejected with >24σ statistical significance using three years of data. We consider many other possibilities including instrumental and environmental effects, and find no reasons other than clouds that can explain the data better. We also discuss the impact of the cloud polarization on future ground-based CMB polarization experiments.

KW - atmospheric effects

KW - cosmic background radiation

KW - cosmology: observations

KW - polarization

KW - scattering

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060243001&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85060243001&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/aaf381

DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aaf381

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85060243001

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 870

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 2

M1 - 102

ER -

Measurements of Tropospheric Ice Clouds with a Ground-based CMB Polarization Experiment, POLARBEAR

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