The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE): mission design and science goals
Abstract The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) is an Explorer-class mission concept to measure the energy spectrum and linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). A single cryogenic Fourier transform spectrometer compares the sky to an external blackbody calibration target, measuring the Stokes I , Q , U parameters to levels ∼200 Jy/sr in each 2.65° diameter beam over the full sky, in each of 300 frequency channels from 28 GHz to 6 THz. With sensitivity over 1000 times greater than COBE/FIRAS, PIXIE opens a broad discovery space for the origin, contents, and evolution of the universe. Measurements of small distortions from a CMB blackbody spectrum provide a robust determination of the mean electron pressure and temperature in the universe while constraining processes including dissipation of primordial density perturbations, black holes, and the decay or annihilation of dark matter. Full-sky maps of linear polarization measure the optical depth to reionization at nearly the cosmic variance limit and constrain models of primordial inflation. Spectra with sub-percent absolute calibration spanning microwave to far-IR wavelengths provide a legacy data set for analyses including line intensity mapping of extragalactic emission and the cosmic infrared background amplitude and anisotropy. We describe the PIXIE instrument sensitivity, foreground subtraction, and anticipated science return from both the baseline 2-year mission and a potential extended mission.
Authors
- Leander Thiele (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2911-9163)
- Jacques Delabrouille (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7217-4689)
- David T. Chuss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0016-0533)
- Jens Chluba (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3725-6096)
- Alina Sabyr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3595-4384)
- Eric R. Switzer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2414-6886)
- Anthony R. Pullen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2091-8738)
- Brandon S. Hensley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7449-4638)
- A. Kogut (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9835-2351)
- Cora Dvorkin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1476-1241)
- Ioana A. Zelko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7588-976X)
- J. Colin Hill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9539-0835)
- Edward J. Wollack (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7567-4451)
- Aditya Rotti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4124-5226)
- Shamik Ghosh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7546-0509)
- Nabila Aghanim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6688-8992)
- D. J. Fixsen
- B. Maffei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2214-5329)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- International Computer Science Institute (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Harvard University Press (US)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Institute of Particle Physics (CA)
- Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (FR)
- Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CA)
- Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP)
- Flatiron Health (United States) (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
- Columbia University (US)
- Villanova University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
- Published
- 2025-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2025/04/020
- Citations
- 14
- Primary Topic
- Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 16.17
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- California Institute of Technology
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory