LiteBIRD Mission Overview after Mission Reformation

arXiv:2607.25285 · astro-ph.IM, astro-ph.CO · Submitted 2026-07-28 · Read on arXiv

LiteBIRD Collaboration, K. Aizawa, H. Akamatsu, R. Akizawa, E. Allys, A. Anand, D. Audley, J. Aumont, S. Azzoni, C. Baccigalupi, M. Ballardini, A. J. Banday, G. Barbieri Ripamonti, R. B. Barreiro, N. Bartolo, S. Basak, M. Bersanelli, A. Besnard, D. Blinov, F. Bouchet, F. Boulanger, N. Brancadori, T. Brinckmann, E. Calabrese, P. Campeti, A. Carones, F. Carralot, F. J. Casas, J. Chandran, Y. Chinone, M. Citran, F. Columbro, A. Coppolecchia, F. Cuttaia, P. Dal Bo, P. de Bernardis, T. de Haan, E. de la Hoz, M. De Lucia, M. De Petris, S. Della Torre, C. Dickinson, P. Diego-Palazuelos, J. J. Díaz García, T. Dotani, M. Douspis, K. Ebisawa, H. K. Eriksen, J. Errard, E. Ferreira, F. Finelli, C. Franceschet, R. Fujimoto, U. Fuskeland, G. Galloni, M. Galloway, M. Gerbino, M. Gervasi, R. T. Génova-Santos, T. Ghigna, S. Giardiello, E. Gjerløw, M. Gomes, A. Gruppuso, J. E. Gudmundsson, P. Hargrave, S. E. Harper, M. Hasegawa, M. Hazumi, S. Henrot-Versillé, L. T. Hergt, E. Hivon, K. Ichiki, K. Ikuma, T. L. Irikura, H. Ishino, B. Jost, R. Keskitalo, K. Kikuno, K. Kohri, E. Komatsu, L. Lamagna, M. Lattanzi, C. Leloup, M. Lembo, F. Levrier, J. Liu, A. I. Lonappan, M. López-Caniego, G. Luzzi, J. Macias-Perez, A. Maeda, B. Maffei, D. Maino, V. Maranchery, E. Martínez-González, S. Masi, S. Matarrese, F. T. Matsuda, T. Matsumura, S. Micheli, M. Migliaccio, M. Monelli, L. Montier, L. Mousset, S. Myozen, Y. Nagano, R. Nagata, K. Nagayoshi, M. Najafi, T. Namikawa, P. Natoli, F. Noviello, A. Occhiuzzi, K. Odagiri, S. Oguri, H. Ohsaki, S. Okumura, L. Pagano, A. Paiella, D. Paoletti, S. Paradiso, G. Pascual-Cisneros, G. Patanchon, V. Pavlidou, F. Piacentini, M. Piat, G. Piccirilli, M. Pinchera, G. Pisano, G. Polenta, L. Porcelli, F. S. Porter, M. Reinecke, M. Remazeilles, A. Rizzieri, J. A. Rubiño-Martín, M. Ruiz-Granda, Y. Sakurai, L. Salvati, J. Sanghavi, G. Savini, D. Scott, Y. Sekimoto, M. Shiraishi, G. Signorelli, S. Stellati, R. Stompor, R. M. Sullivan, R. Takahashi, R. Takaku, H. Takakura, Y. Takase, A. Tartari, K. Tassis, K. Tateoka, L. Terenzi, M. Tomasi, M. Tristram, M. Tsujimoto, D. Vaccaro, L. Vacher, B. van Tent, P. Vielva, S. Vinzl, K. Watanuki, D. J. Watts, I. K. Wehus, G. Weymann-Despres, B. Winter, E. J. Wollack, N. Y. Yamasaki, K. Yoshihara, A. Zacchei, M. Zannoni

astro-ph.IM, astro-ph.CO

Submitted: 2026-07-28

Comments: 11 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2026

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

The gist: LiteBIRD is a JAXA-led space mission designed to produce all-sky microwave polarization maps.

Terminology

Calibration — 6× in this paper · explained in 7 episodes
Aperture — 5× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
Anisotropy — 2× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
Gravitational Lensing — 2× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers — 2× in this paper
Verification — 2× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Consistency — 1× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science — 1× in this paper
K Joule-Thomson — 1× in this paper
Operational Ground Segment — 1× in this paper
Primordial Magnetic Fields — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Redundancy — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Science Ground Segment — 1× in this paper

Abstract

LiteBIRD is a JAXA-led space mission designed to produce all-sky microwave polarization maps. Its primary science goal is to test representative inflationary models by measuring the cosmic microwave background B-mode polarization generated by primordial gravitational waves, while also providing new insights into cosmology, particle physics, and astrophysics. The mission concept has been updated following the reformation activities initiated after the Mission Definition Review in 2024. The current concept preserves the central scientific objectives, while simplifying the payload configuration: a single telescope covers 12 frequency bands with band centers spanning 40 to 402 GHz, corresponding to an optical coverage of 34--448 GHz. The telescope is a cross-Dragone reflector with a 500 mm aperture diameter, cooled to approximately 5 K and coupled to transition-edge-sensor bolometer arrays operated at 0.1 K. LiteBIRD will observe from a Lissajous orbit around the Sun--Earth L2 point during a nominal 3-year survey. More specifically, the primary scientific objective is to achieve total uncertainty in the tensor-to-scalar ratio of delta r < 0.002 (68% C.L.), including contributions from foreground residuals, statistical uncertainties, instrumental systematics, and margin contingency. The corresponding map-noise requirements are specified separately for the low-, mid-, and high-frequency ranges over the reionization and recombination multipole ranges. This sensitivity makes LiteBIRD unique not only for inflationary science but also for a broad range of scientific investigations probing the history of both the early and late Universe, as well as for astrophysical processes, including Galactic science. This paper summarizes the scientific objectives, updated payload and instrument concepts, observation strategy, and ground segment plans.

Terminology

Abstract

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