The BICEP Array CMB Polarimetry Experiment and Multicomponent Analysis

This talk gives an overview of the BICEP Array experimental design and its scientific goals with an emphasis on Galactic foreground measurement and separation. The BICEP Array is the latest experiment in the BICEP/Keck series, which leads the search for inflationary gravitational waves by measuring the characteristic "B-mode" polarization pattern. The full array will deploy over 30,000 detectors across six frequency bands to map the polarization of the CMB and separate out Galactic foregrounds.  This talk will cover how the search for signatures of cosmic inflation informed the instrument and observation strategy design. I will motivate the need for multicomponent analysis and discuss current and planned strategies for removing Galactic foregrounds, which limit the ability of CMB polarimetry experiments to constrain primordial gravitational waves from inflation. Special attention will be paid to the high-frequency receiver operating at 220/270GHz, which offers a unique window into the behavior of polarized Galactic dust and the Galactic magnetic field. 

See talks by Basu Thakur for an overview of the BICEP/Keck program and probing inflationary B-modes with small-aperture telescopes and Cheshire on deployment of the first BICEP Array receiver and the forecasting future BICEP/Keck sensitivity.