A Measurement of the CMB <EE> Spectrum from the 2003 Flight of BOOMERANG

• Published in: The Astrophysical Journal
• Main Authors: Montroy, T. E., Bock, J. J., Crill, B. P., Hivon, E., Jones, W. C., Lange, A. E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Astronomical Society 2006
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://authors.library.caltech.edu/24258/; https://authors.library.caltech.edu/24258/1/MONapj06b.pdf; https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20110629-150937119

We report measurements of the CMB polarization power spectra from the 2003 January Antarctic flight of BOOMERANG. The primary results come from 6 days of observation of a patch covering 0.22% of the sky centered near R.A. = 82°.5, decl. = -45°. The observations were made using four pairs of polarization-sensitive bolometers operating in bands centered at 145 GHz. Using two independent analysis pipelines, we measure a nonzero <EE> signal in the range 201 < l < 1000 with a significance of 4.8 σ, a 2 σ upper limit of 8.6 μK^2 for any contribution, and a 2 σ upper limit of 7.0 μK^2 for the <EB> spectrum. Estimates of foreground intensity fluctuations and the nondetection of and <EB> signals rule out any significant contribution from Galactic foregrounds. The results are consistent with a ΛCDM cosmology seeded by adiabatic perturbations. We note that this is the first detection of CMB polarization with bolometric detectors.