The Large-Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE)

• Published in: SPIE Proceedings, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
• Main Authors: Aiola, S, Amico, G, Battaglia, P, Battistelli, E, Baù, A, de Bernardis, P, Bersanelli, M, Boscaleri, A, Cavaliere, F, Coppolecchia, A, Cruciani, A, Cuttaia, F, D'Addabbo A, D'Alessandro, G, De Gregori, S, Del Torto, F, De Petris, M, Fiorineschi, L, Franceschet, C, Franceschi, E, Gervasi, M, Goldie, D, Gregorio, A, Haynes, V, Krachmalnicoff, N, Lamagna, L, Maffei, B, Maino, D, Masi, S, Mennella, A, Morgante, G, NATI, FEDERICO, Ng, M W, Pagano, L, Passerini, A, Peverini, O, Piacentini, F, Piccirillo, L, Pisano, G, Ricciardi, S, Rissone, P, Romeo, G, Salatino, M, Sandri, M, Schillaci, A, Stringhetti, L, Tartari, A, Tascone, R, Terenzi, L, Tomasi, M, Tommasi, E, Villa, F, Virone, G, Withington, S, Zacchei, A, Zannoni, M
• Other Authors: McLean, IS, Ramsay, SK, Takami, H, D'Addabbo, A, Nati, F, Ng, M
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering 2012
• Subjects: CMB; Cosmology; Polarimetry; millimeter; sub-millimeter; stratospheric balloon; Settore PHYS-05/A - Astrofisica; cosmologia e scienza dello spazio; Curl; polar night
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10281/38921; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926095

The LSPE is a balloon-borne mission aimed at measuring the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at large angular scales, and in particular to constrain the curl component of CMB polarization (B-modes) produced by tensor perturbations generated during cosmic inflation, in the very ea...