Galactic Science with the LiteBIRD satellite: Spectral characterization of diffuse Galactic polarized emission at the angular power spectrum level

arXiv:2607.20080 · astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.CO · Submitted 2026-07-22 · Read on arXiv

S. Vinzl, J. Aumont, L. Vacher, R. T. Génova-Santos, D. Adak, A. Rizzieri, H. Akamatsu, E. Allys, A. Anand, C. Baccigalupi, M. Ballardini, A. J. Banday, R. B. Barreiro, N. Bartolo, S. Basak, A. Basyrov, M. Bersanelli, N. Brancadori, T. Brinckmann, E. Calabrese, P. Campeti, A. Carones, F. Carralot, F. J. Casas, J. Chandran, M. Citran, F. Columbro, A. Coppolecchia, P. de Bernardis, E. de la Hoz, M. De Lucia, S. Della Torre, C. Dickinson, P. Diego-Palazuelos, K. Ebisawa, H. K. Eriksen, J. Errard, F. Finelli, C. Franceschet, U. Fuskeland, G. Galloni, M. Galloway, M. Gerbino, M. Gervasi, T. Ghigna, S. Giardiello, E. Gjerløw, M. Gomes, S. E. Harper, L. T. Hergt, E. Hivon, H. Ishino, K. Kikuno, K. Kohri, N. Krachmalnicoff, L. Lamagna, M. Lattanzi, C. Leloup, F. Levrier, A. I. Lonappan, M. López-Caniego, G. Luzzi, D. Maino, V. Maranchery, S. Masi, S. Matarrese, T. Matsumura, S. Micheli, M. Migliaccio, M. Monelli, L. Montier, G. Morgante, L. Mousset, R. Nagata, T. Namikawa, P. Natoli, A. Occhiuzzi, L. Pagano, A. Paiella, D. Paoletti, G. Pascual-Cisneros, G. Patanchon, V. Pavlidou, V. Pelgrims, F. Piacentini, G. Piccirilli, M. Pinchera, G. Polenta, L. Porcelli, M. Remazeilles, J. A. Rubiño-Martín, M. Ruiz-Granda, Y. Sakurai, L. Salvati, J. Sanghavi, V. Sauvage, Y. Sekimoto, M. Shiraishi, S. Stellati, R. M. Sullivan, R. Takahashi, A. Tartari, K. Tassis, K. Tateoka, L. Terenzi, M. Tomasi, M. Tristram, B. van Tent, P. Vielva, G. Weymann-Despres, E. J. Wollack

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astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.CO

Submitted: 2026-07-22

Comments: 38 pages, 19 figures. Prepared for submission to JCAP

Code: https://github.com/galsci/pysm

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: Detection of primordial B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from tensor perturbations generated during inflation is a major scientific goal of future CMB missions.

Terminology

Abstract

Detection of primordial B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from tensor perturbations generated during inflation is a major scientific goal of future CMB missions. Its success will strongly depend on the characterization of polarized foregrounds, a challenge that the LiteBIRD satellite aims to tackle with its 15 frequency bands ranging from 40 to 402 GHz. In this work, we forecast the ability of LiteBIRD to characterize polarized dust and synchrotron emission in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM), at the angular power spectrum level. From simulated LiteBIRD intensity and polarization maps with different foreground complexities, we compute cross-frequency angular power spectra and fit them to dust and synchrotron spectral energy distributions, which are modeled by a modified black body and a power law, respectively. We find that LiteBIRD will be able to measure the dust temperature, dust and synchrotron spectral indices and spatial correlation with dispersions as low as sigma(T d) about0.2 K, sigma(beta d) about0.006, sigma(beta s) about0.04 and sigma(rho) about10-2, as well as to detect and quantify deviations from the proposed parametric model due to variations of the emission properties in the three dimensions of our Galaxy. Additionally, LiteBIRD is likely to rule out the power-law model of polarized foreground angular power spectra suggested by Planck data. It will also be able to detect differences in the values of beta d, T d, and beta s between E modes, B modes, and intensity in the diffuse ISM for the first time, highlighting the joint variations of the physical conditions and the magnetic field structure across the Galaxy. We conclude that in addition to detailed studies of CMB polarization, LiteBIRD will open a new window onto the physical conditions governing the ISM of the Milky Way.

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