Polarized beams and the things they've seen Modelling optical systematics for CMB polarisation experiments
by
FB53
AlbaNova Main Building
Abstract
In this thesis, I describe several advances in modelling sources of systematic error associated with microwave telescope optics. Microwave telescopes observing the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are a key tool in establishing and furthering the LCDM model of cosmology. In the near future, several telescopes will observe the polarized variations of the CMB with unprecedented sensitivity to search for traces of cosmic inflation and the epoch of reionization. My research questioned how various optical non-idealities would affect the accuracy of these experiments. In particular, my collaborators and I have examined potential systematics related to the beam/point spread function, the half-wave plate (a polarization modulator), and thermal ground emission. Our modelling efforts have relied on expanding the beamconv software library and on the GRASP beam simulation software.
