Constraints on cosmic birefringence using E-mode polarisation. Issue 8 (1st August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Abghari, Arefe; Sullivan, Raelyn M.; Hergt, Lukas T.; Scott, Douglas
• Is Part Of: Journal of cosmology and astroparticle physics. Volume 2022:Issue 8(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-08-01
• Subjects: CMBR polarisation -- CMBR theory -- cosmological parameters from CMBR; Cosmology -- Periodicals; Astrophysics -- Periodicals; 523.0105
• DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2022/08/033
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1475-7516

Abstract

Abstract: A birefringent universe could show itself through a rotation of the plane of polarisation of the cosmic microwave background photons. This is usually investigated using polarisation B modes. Here we point out an independent method for extracting the birefringence angle using only temperature and E -mode signals. We forecast that, with an ideal cosmic-variance-limited experiment, we could constrain a birefringence angle of 0.3° with 3 σ statistical significance, which is close to the current constraints using B modes. We explore how this method is affected by the systematic errors introduced by the polarisation efficiency. In the future, this could provide an additional way of checking any claimed B -mode derived birefringence signature.