Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Maximum Likelihood Analysis Of Systematic Errors In Interferometric Observations Of The Cosmic Microwave Background, Le Zhang, Ata Karakci, Paul M. Sutter, Emory F. Bunn, Andrei Korotkov, Peter Timbie, Gregory S. Tucker, Benjamin D. Wandelt

Physics Faculty Publications

We investigate the impact of instrumental systematic errors in interferometric measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization power spectra. We simulate interferometric CMB observations to generate mock visibilities and estimate power spectra using the statistically optimal maximum likelihood technique. We define a quadratic error measure to determine allowable levels of systematic error that does not induce power spectrum errors beyond a given tolerance. As an example, in this study we focus on differential pointing errors. The effects of other systematics can be simulated by this pipeline in a straightforward manner. We find that, in order to accurately …