The large scale polarization explorer (LSPE) for CMB measurements: performance forecast

• Published in: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
• Main Authors: Addamo, G., Ade, P. A.R., Baccigalupi, C., Baldini, A. M., Battaglia, P. M., Battistelli, E. S., Baù, A., de Bernardis, P., Bersanelli, M., Biasotti, M., Boscaleri, A., Caccianiga, B., Caprioli, S., Cavaliere, F., Cei, F., Cleary, K. A., Columbro, F., Coppi, G., Coppolecchia, A., Cuttaia, F., D'Alessandro, G., De Gasperis, G., De Petris, M., Fafone, V., Farsian, F., Ferrari Barusso, L., Fontanelli, F., Franceschet, C., Gaier, T. C., Galli, L., Gatti, F., Genova-Santos, R., Gerbino, M., Gervasi, M., Ghigna, T., Grosso, D., Gruppuso, A., Gualtieri, R., Incardona, F., Jones, M. E., Kangaslahti, P., Krachmalnicoff, N., Lamagna, L., Lattanzi, M., López-Caraballo, C. H., Lumia, M., Mainini, R., Maino, D., Mandelli, S., Maris, M., Masi, S., Matarrese, S., May, A., Mele, L., Mena, P., Mennella, A., Molina, R., Molinari, D., Morgante, G., Natale, U., Nati, F., Natoli, P., Pagano, L., Paiella, A., Panico, F., Paonessa, F., Paradiso, S., Passerini, A., Perez-de-Taoro, M., Peverini, O. A., Pezzotta, F., Piacentini, F., Piccirillo, L., Pisano, G., Polenta, G., Poletti, D., Presta, G., Realini, S., Reyes, N., Rocchi, A., Rubino-Martin, J. A., Sandri, M., Sartor, S., Schillaci, A., Signorelli, G., Siri, B., Soria, M., Spinella, F., Tapia, V., Tartari, A., Taylor, A. C., Terenzi, L., Tomasi, M., Tommasi, E., Tucker, C., Vaccaro, D., Vigano, D. M., Villa, F., Virone, G., Vittorio, N., Volpe, A., Watkins, R. E.J., Zacchei, A., Zannoni, M.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Arctic
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1823606; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1823606; https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2021/08/008

The measurement of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation is one of the current frontiers in cosmology. In particular, the detection of the divergence-free component of the polarization field, the B-mode component, reveals the presence of gravitational waves in the early Universe. The detection of such component is at the moment the most promising technique to probe the inflationary theory describing the very early evolution of the Universe. The measurement of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation is one of the current frontiers in cosmology. In particular, the detection of the primordial divergence-free component of the polarization field, the B-mode, could reveal the presence of gravitational waves in the early Universe. The detection of such a component is at the moment the most promising technique to probe the inflationary theory describing the very early evolution of the Universe. We present the updated performance forecast of the Large Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE), a program dedicated to the measurement of the CMB polarization. LSPE is composed of two instruments: LSPE-Strip, a radiometer-based telescope on the ground in Tenerife-Teide observatory, and LSPE-SWIPE (Short-Wavelength Instrument for the Polarization Explorer) a bolometer-based instrument designed to fly on a winter arctic stratospheric long-duration balloon. The program is among the few dedicated to observation of the Northern Hemisphere, while most of the international effort is focused into ground-based observation in the Southern Hemisphere. Measurements are currently scheduled in Winter 2022/23 for LSPE-SWIPE, with a flight duration up to 15 days, and in Summer 2022 with two years observations for LSPE-Strip. In this work, we describe the main features of the two instruments, identifying the most critical aspects of the design, in terms of impact on the performance forecast. We estimate the expected sensitivity of each instrument and propagate their combined observing power ...