Measurement and Modeling of Polarized Atmosphere at the South Pole with SPT-3G

Abstract We present the detection and characterization of fluctuations in linearly polarized emission from the atmosphere above the South Pole. These measurements make use of data from the SPT-3G receiver on the South Pole Telescope in three frequency bands centered at 95, 150, and 220 GHz. We use the cross-correlation between detectors to produce an unbiased estimate of the power in Stokes I , Q , and U parameters on large angular scales. Our results are consistent with the polarized signal being produced by the combination of Rayleigh scattering of thermal radiation from the ground and thermal emission from a population of horizontally aligned ice crystals with an anisotropic distribution described by Kolmogorov turbulence. The measured spatial scaling, frequency scaling, and elevation dependence of the polarized emission are explained by this model. Polarized atmospheric emission has the potential to significantly impact observations on the large angular scales being targeted by searches for inflationary B-mode CMB polarization. We present the distribution of measured angular power spectrum amplitudes in Stokes Q and I for 4 yr of Austral winter observations, which can be used to simulate the impact of atmospheric polarization and intensity fluctuations at the South Pole on a specified experiment and observation strategy. We present a mitigation strategy that involves both downweighting significantly contaminated observations and subtracting a polarized atmospheric signal from the 150 GHz band maps. In observations with the SPT-3G instrument, the polarized atmospheric signal is a well-understood and subdominant contribution to the measured noise after implementing the mitigation strategies described here.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2025-03-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada35d
Citations
5
Primary Topic
Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
6.50

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Measurement and Modeling of Polarized Atmosphere at the South Pole with SPT-3G

V. Novosad, K. Fichman, E. Hivon, N. W. Halverson et al.
5 citations
The Astrophysical Journal
Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
6.50
article

Measurement and Modeling of Polarized Atmosphere at the South Pole with SPT-3G

V. Novosad, K. Fichman, E. Hivon, N. W. Halverson, J. Stephen, Karen Lévy, K. Prabhu, Z. Ahmed, E. Schiappucci, Abhishek S. Maniyar, A. Coerver, S. Guns, C. L. Reichardt, F. Kéruzoré, T. Cecil, J. E. Carlstrom, K. R. Dibert, B. Thorne, P. A. R. Ade, M. Archipley, A. J. Anderson, F. Guidi, B. Ansarinejad, M. Rahimi, J. D. Vieira, L. Bryant, T.-L. Chou, C. Tandoi, M. Millea, P. Paschos, J. A. Sobrin, B. A. Benson, K. Benabed, E. Camphuis, Y. Wan, L. E. Bleem, K. L. Thompson, Kedar A. Phadke, K. R. Ferguson, T. Natoli, G. P. Holder, Z. Pan, F. R. Bouchet, C. Chang, J. E. Ruhl, C. Tucker, R. W. Gardner, A. T. Lee, M. A. Dobbs, A. Doussot, P. Chaubal, A. Foster, Chang Feng, C. Umiltà, P. M. Chichura, L. Balkenhol, D. Dutcher, T. M. Crawford, C. Daley, Cynthia Trendafilova, N. Goeckner-Wald, J. Montgomery, G. Wang, N. Whitehorn, T. de Haan, J. C. Hood, Y. Omori, C.-L. Kuo, N. Huang, F. Bianchini, W. L. Holzapfel, G. I. Noble, S. Takakura, A. N. Bender, A. Hryciuk, R. Gualtieri, W. Everett, A. E. Gambrel, A. Rahlin, Alexander W. Pollak, Darcy Barron, Arati Chokshi, A. A. Stark, W. L. K. Wu, M. Rouble, J. A. Zebrowski, K. Kornoelje, A. Vitrier, Akihiro Suzuki, Fan Ge, S. Galli, A. E. Lowitz, F. Menanteau, G. Smecher, M. R. Young, Y. Nakato, L. Knox, V. Yefremenko, S. Padin, M. Korman, C. Lu, Wei Quan, A. Cukierman, A. R. Khalife, E. S. Martsen
article en
5 citations

Abstract

Abstract We present the detection and characterization of fluctuations in linearly polarized emission from the atmosphere above the South Pole. These measurements make use of data from the SPT-3G receiver on the South Pole Telescope in three frequency bands centered at 95, 150, and 220 GHz. We use the cross-correlation between detectors to produce an unbiased estimate of the power in Stokes I , Q , and U parameters on large angular scales. Our results are consistent with the polarized signal being produced by the combination of Rayleigh scattering of thermal radiation from the ground and thermal emission from a population of horizontally aligned ice crystals with an anisotropic distribution described by Kolmogorov turbulence. The measured spatial scaling, frequency scaling, and elevation dependence of the polarized emission are explained by this model. Polarized atmospheric emission has the potential to significantly impact observations on the large angular scales being targeted by searches for inflationary B-mode CMB polarization. We present the distribution of measured angular power spectrum amplitudes in Stokes Q and I for 4 yr of Austral winter observations, which can be used to simulate the impact of atmospheric polarization and intensity fluctuations at the South Pole on a specified experiment and observation strategy. We present a mitigation strategy that involves both downweighting significantly contaminated observations and subtracting a polarized atmospheric signal from the 150 GHz band maps. In observations with the SPT-3G instrument, the polarized atmospheric signal is a well-understood and subdominant contribution to the measured noise after implementing the mitigation strategies described here.

The Astrophysical JournalVol. 982(1)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, University of Chicago, Space Telescope Science Institute, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
6.50
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.