LiteBIRD, a Japanese satellite to study the cosmic microwave background

LiteBIRD, a Japanese satellite to study the cosmic microwave background https://danielmarin.naukas.com/files/2018/11/Captura-de-pantalla-265-1024x522.png

LiteBIRD, a Japanese satellite to study the cosmic microwave background







            

					

                                

                                


                                
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is one of the main proofs that the Universe started with the Big Bang. Thanks to him and his anisotropies we can also calculate the proportion of dark energy and matter that exists in our Universe. The CMB has been studied in detail by several space missions: COBE (1989, which confirmed the anisotropies), Wilkinson WMAP (2001) and Planck (2009). In particular, the data from Planck, an ESA satellite, are still under analysis today. But you can still extract more information from the CMB, especially everything related to the polarization of it. Although there are several experiments on the ground with this objective, a satellite allows to cover the entire sky and increase the signal-to-noise ratio.

LiteBIRD (JAXA).

The next project to observe the CMB from space is the Japanese LiteBIRD satellite, which will study the B modes of the cosmic microwave background. Or, what is the same, the footprint left by the period of inflation in the CMB. Unlike land-based projects, LiteBIRD (Lite (Light) Satellite for the Studies of B-mode Polarization and Inflation from Cosmic Background Radiation Detection) will observe a huge range of angular sizes. It is a relatively high budget mission - $ 300 million - by the standards of the Japanese space agencies JAXA and ISAS and, if approved, will take off in 2026 or 2027 aboard an H3 rocket. You must observe the CMB from the Lagrange L2 point of the Earth-Sun system during a primary mission of three years.



Coverage of the angular scale of the mission (JAXA).

Frequency coverage of LiteBIRD instruments (JAXA).

The satellite will have a mass of 2.2 tons and two solar panels that will generate 2.5 kilowatts. The sensors will have a sensitivity of 3 microkelvin and their advanced radiometers will cover a frequency band of 34 to 448 gigahertz in fifteen main bands by means of two instruments: the LFT (Low Frequency Telescope) and the HFT (High Frequency Telescope), the latter built in collaboration with ESA. LiteBIRD was proposed by JAXA in 2015 after NASA showed interest at the end of 2014 (NASA agreed to supply the detectors and the optical cooling system that will reach temperatures of 0.1 K). Phase A of preliminary studies began in 2016 and it will be announced shortly if the mission is selected or not.

Elements of LiteBIRD (JAXA).

Parts of the satellite (JAXA).

Detectors of the LFT instrument (JAXA).

LiteBIRD is not the only satellite project to study the CMB that can take off during the next years (there we have CORE, PICO or PIXIE), but it is perhaps the most developed and the one with the highest international participation (NASA and ESA) ). The main obstacle of LiteBIRD and other projects to observe the CMB from space is the competition of terrestrial instruments, which are less expensive. But, after all, nobody said that detecting the traces of inflation would come out cheap.

References:



http://litebird.jp/

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1801.06987.pdf







                                

										                                

			

 

            

                        

                        

                

                        

                

                    

    

                        

                        

					

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