REVIEW 19 cited by
The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE): A Nulling Polarimeter for Cosmic Microwave Background Observations
Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.
This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.
SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event
T0 review · schema-true
One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.
pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp
Signed reviews
read the original abstract
The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) is an Explorer-class mission to measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background. The instrument consists of a polarizing Michelson interferometer configured as a nulling polarimeter to measure the difference spectrum between orthogonal linear polarizations from two co-aligned beams. Either input can view the sky or a temperature-controlled absolute reference blackbody calibrator. PIXIE will map the absolute intensity and linear polarization (Stokes I, Q, and U parameters) over the full sky in 400 spectral channels spanning 2.5 decades in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 um wavelength). Multi-moded optics provide background-limited sensitivity using only 4 detectors, while the highly symmetric design and multiple signal modulations provide robust rejection of potential systematic errors. The principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10^{-3} at 5 standard deviations. The rich PIXIE data set will also constrain physical processes ranging from Big Bang cosmology to the nature of the first stars to physical conditions within the interstellar medium of the Galaxy.
Forward citations
Cited by 19 Pith papers
-
Inverse-Scattering Reconstruction of Inflation from Scalar and Tensor Primordial Spectra
An inverse-scattering method reconstructs inflationary potentials from primordial power spectra using Jost functions derived from the Mukhanov-Sasaki equation.
-
Hidden-sector accretion and warped black-string seeds for high-redshift supermassive black holes
A warped 5D geometry with hidden-sector accretion produces growing Schwarzschild/Vaidya black-hole seeds on our brane via a common horizon intersection.
-
Isocurvature Induced Gravitational Waves at Pulsar Timing Arrays
The work shows that free-streaming dark radiation isocurvature produces a qualitatively different gravitational wave spectrum than cold dark matter isocurvature and derives constraints on isocurvature power spectra ar...
-
Not-quite-primordial black holes
Modest small-scale density fluctuations can make halos at z>200 where CMB radiation suppresses molecular cooling, letting gas collapse directly into black hole seeds that match JWST counts.
-
Revisiting Constraints on Resonant Axion-Photon Conversions from CMB Spectral Distortions
Resonant conversion of CMB photons into axions in a primordial magnetic field creates a characteristic spectral distortion, and the updated calculations tighten axion-photon coupling constraints and reach previously u...
-
The Glow of Axion Quark Nugget Dark Matter: (IV) CMB Spectral and Anisotropy Signatures
Axion quark nugget dark matter would create a μ-type CMB spectral distortion near 6×10⁻⁸ with y near 2×10⁻⁹, detectable by proposed missions, while leaving CMB anisotropies essentially unchanged.
-
QCD Axion on Hilltop by a Phase Shift of $\pi$
A heavy axion inflaton can shift the QCD axion potential by π, placing the QCD axion at the hilltop and allowing f_a ≳ 3×10^9 GeV to explain all dark matter.
-
All-sky modeling of Galactic emission at radio and microwave frequencies
The authors produce a new all-sky Galactic emission model with synchrotron amplitude at 4.76 GHz roughly twice the Planck 2015 value, derived via Commander fitting to recent radio and microwave surveys.
-
Joint probes of dark matter annihilation from neutrino detectors and CMB targets
Joint analysis of neutrino detectors and CMB observables can constrain dark matter annihilation into neutrinos for MeV-GeV masses.
-
Waterfall phase in supersymmetric hybrid inflation
Waterfall-phase e-foldings in R-symmetric SUSY hybrid inflation can produce a PTA-compatible scalar-induced gravitational wave background and, in SU(5), dilute monopoles to observable levels.
-
From Fluctuation to Polarization: Imprints of $O(1-10)\, \mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ Curvature Perturbations in CMB B-modes from Scalar-Induced Gravitational Waves
Scalar-induced gravitational waves from small-scale curvature perturbations can imprint detectable CMB B-mode polarization, giving future experiments a new window on the primordial power spectrum at k ~ 1-10 Mpc^-1.
-
Constraining self-interacting ultrahigh-energy muon neutrinos by cosmic microwave background spectral distortion
Scalar-mediated scattering of PeV muon neutrinos on the cosmic neutrino background injects photon energy that distorts the CMB, giving coupling bounds g_nu_mu of about 10^-4 to 10^-5 with projected PIXIE sensitivities...
-
What new physics can we extract from inflation using the ACT DR6 and DESI DR2 Observations?
A slow-roll forecast for five non-minimally coupled inflation models in the (ns, αs, βs) plane, claiming future CMB missions will exclude quartic Hilltop and some D-brane scenarios.
-
Microwave Spectro-Polarimetry of Matter and Radiation across Space and Time
This white paper proposes a large space mission combining a polarized imager, a filter-bank spectrometer, and absolute spectrometers to map the microwave sky from 10 to 2000 GHz and probe cosmology across cosmic time.
-
A comparison between Galactic magnetic field models and polarized synchrotron emission with C-BASS at 4.76 GHz and S-PASS at 2.3 GHz
Comparison of Galactic magnetic field models to polarized synchrotron observations shows good agreement on angles but poor match on intensity, indicating local foreground structures must be incorporated.
-
New Horizons in Cosmology with Spectral Distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background
A white paper advocating for a CMB spectral distortion mission to detect predicted mu, y, and recombination signals and probe inflation, dark matter, and particle physics.
-
The Cosmic Microwave Background: Spectral Distortions
A review of CMB spectral distortion theory and prospects, covering the standard y and mu distortions, guaranteed Lambda-CDM signals, and future spectrometer experiments.
-
Update on the Physics of the Cosmic Microwave Background (2015-2025)
A status review of CMB science 2015-2025: the six-parameter ΛCDM model still fits the power spectra, primordial B-modes remain undetected with r < 0.036, and the Hubble tension persists at over 5σ.
-
Searches for stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds
A pedagogical review of methods to detect stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds, centered on cross-correlation and a Bayesian mixture search for binary black hole mergers.
Discussion (0). Continue with ORCID to comment.