Effects of reionization on the Cosmic Microwave Background

by Garrelt Mellema (Stockholm Observatory)

Tuesday 31 Oct 2006, 13:15 → 14:00 Europe/Stockholm

FB52

The epoch of reionization is expected to leave various types of imprints on the CMB signal. Thomson scattering against electrons boosts the polarization signal at the largest scales (typically characterized with the Thomson optical depth), but the patchy nature of reionization will also leave small scale polarization fluctuations, and will generate extra B-mode signal. Anisotropies in the total power will be caused by the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. I discuss these effects and show predictions for them based on our simulations of large scale reionization, and the connection with redshifted 21cm observations.