LiteBIRD

Last updated
LiteBIRD
Mission typeSpace observation
Operator JAXA / ISAS
Website www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/missions/spacecraft/future/litebird.html
Mission durationPlanned: 3 years
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
Dry massApprox. 450 kg [1]
Power< 500 W [1]
Start of mission
Launch date2032 (planned) [2]
Rocket H3
Launch site Tanegashima LA-Y2
Contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Main
DiameterLFT: 40 cm [3]
HFT: 20 cm [3]
Focal length~1,100 mm [4]
Transponders
Capacity10 Gb/day [1]
Instruments
Superconducting polarimeters
Large-class Missions
←  MMX
 

LiteBIRD (Lite (Light) satellite for the studies of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection) is a planned small space observatory that aims to detect the footprint of the primordial gravitational wave on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in a form of polarization pattern called B-mode.

Contents

LiteBIRD and OKEANOS were the two finalists for Japan's second Large-Class Mission. [5] [6] In May 2019, LiteBIRD was selected by the Japanese space agency. [7] LiteBIRD is planned to be launched in 2032 with an H3 launch vehicle for three years of observations at the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point L2. [2] [8]

Overview

Cosmological inflation is the leading theory of the first instant of the universe, called the Big Bang theory. Inflation postulates that the universe underwent a period of rapid expansion an instant after its formation, and it provides a convincing explanation for cosmological observations. [3] Inflation predicts that primordial gravitational waves were created during the inflationary era, about 10−38 second after the beginning of the universe. [9] The primordial gravitational waves are expected to be imprinted in the CMB polarization map as special patterns, called the B-mode. [9] Measurements of polarization of the CMB radiation are considered as the best probe to detect the primordial gravitational waves, [10] that could bring a profound knowledge on how the Universe began, and may open a new era of testing theoretical predictions of quantum gravity, including those by the superstring theory. [9]

The science goal of LiteBIRD is to measure the CMB polarization over the entire sky with the sensitivity of δr <0.001, which allows testing the major single-field slow-roll inflation models experimentally. [1] [11] The design concept is being studied by an international team of scientists from Japan, U.S., Canada and Europe. [5] [12]

Telescopes

In order to separate CMB from the galactic emission, the measurements will cover 40 GHz to 400 GHz during a 3-year full sky survey using two telescopes on LiteBIRD. [3] [5] The Low Frequency Telescope (LFT) covers 40 GHz to 235 GHz, and the High Frequency Telescope (HFT) covers 280 GHz to 400 GHz. LFT has a 400 mm aperture Crossed-Dragone telescope, and HFT has a 200 mm aperture on-axis refractor with two silicon lenses. [3] [5] [13] The baseline design considers an array of 2,622 superconducting polarimetric detectors. [3] [13] The entire optical system will be cooled down to approximately 5 K (−268.15 °C; −450.67 °F) to minimize the thermal emission, [14] and the focal plane is cooled to 100 mK with a two-stage sub-Kelvin cooler. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmic microwave background</span> Trace radiation from the early universe

The cosmic microwave background is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. It is a remnant that provides an important source of data on the primordial universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dark. However, a sufficiently sensitive radio telescope detects a faint background glow that is almost uniform and is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other object. This glow is strongest in the microwave region of the radio spectrum. The accidental discovery of the CMB in 1965 by American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson was the culmination of work initiated in the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Large Millimeter Telescope</span>

The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) -officially Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano - is the world's largest single-aperture telescope in its frequency range, built for observing radio waves in the wave lengths from approximately 0.85 to 4 mm. It has an active surface with a diameter of 50 metres (160 ft) and 1,960 square metres (21,100 sq ft) of collecting area.

Clover would have been an experiment to measure the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background. It was approved for funding in late 2004, with the aim of having the full telescope operational by 2009. The project was jointly run by Cardiff University, Oxford University, the Cavendish Astrophysics Group and the University of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Pole Telescope</span> Telescope at the South Pole

The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10-metre (390 in) diameter telescope located at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica. The telescope is designed for observations in the microwave, millimeter-wave, and submillimeter-wave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, with the particular design goal of measuring the faint, diffuse emission from the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The first major survey with the SPT—designed to find distant, massive, clusters of galaxies through their interaction with the CMB, with the goal of constraining the dark energy equation of state—was completed in October 2011. In early 2012, a new camera (SPTpol) was installed on the SPT with even greater sensitivity and the capability to measure the polarization of incoming light. This camera operated from 2012–2016 and was used to make unprecedentedly deep high-resolution maps of hundreds of square degrees of the Southern sky. In 2017, the third-generation camera SPT-3G was installed on the telescope, providing nearly an order-of-magnitude increase in mapping speed over SPTpol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atacama Cosmology Telescope</span> Telescope in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) was a cosmological millimeter-wave telescope located on Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile. ACT made high-sensitivity, arcminute resolution, microwave-wavelength surveys of the sky in order to study the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), the relic radiation left by the Big Bang process. Located 40 km from San Pedro de Atacama, at an altitude of 5,190 metres (17,030 ft), it was one of the highest ground-based telescopes in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spider (polarimeter)</span>

Spider is a balloon-borne experiment designed to search for primordial gravitational waves imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Measuring the strength of this signal puts limits on inflationary theory.

The E and B Experiment (EBEX) will measure the cosmic microwave background radiation of a part of the sky during two sub-orbital (high-altitude) balloon flights. It is an experiment to make large, high-fidelity images of the CMB polarization anisotropies. By using a telescope which flies at over 42,000 metres high, it is possible to reduce the atmospheric absorption of microwaves to a minimum. This allows massive cost reduction compared to a satellite probe, though only a small part of the sky can be scanned and for shorter duration than a typical satellite mission such as WMAP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QUIET</span>

QUIET was an astronomy experiment to study the polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation. QUIET stands for Q/U Imaging ExperimenT. The Q/U in the name refers to the ability of the telescope to measure the Q and U Stokes parameters simultaneously. QUIET was located at an elevation of 5,080 metres at Llano de Chajnantor Observatory in the Chilean Andes. It began observing in late 2008 and finished observing in December 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BICEP and Keck Array</span> Series of cosmic microwave background experiments at the South Pole

BICEP and the Keck Array are a series of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. They aim to measure the polarization of the CMB; in particular, measuring the B-mode of the CMB. The experiments have had five generations of instrumentation, consisting of BICEP1, BICEP2, the Keck Array, BICEP3, and the BICEP Array. The Keck Array started observations in 2012 and BICEP3 has been fully operational since May 2016, with the BICEP Array beginning installation in 2017/18.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">POLARBEAR</span>

POLARBEAR is a cosmic microwave background polarization experiment located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile in the Antofagasta Region. The POLARBEAR experiment is mounted on the Huan Tran Telescope (HTT) at the James Ax Observatory in the Chajnantor Science Reserve. The HTT is located near the Atacama Cosmology Telescope on the slopes of Cerro Toco at an altitude of nearly 5,200 m (17,100 ft).

Calvin Barth Netterfield, known as Barth Netterfield, is a Canadian astrophysicist, and a Professor in the Department of Astronomy and the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto. He is a leading expert in the development of balloon-borne telescopes. These are astrophysical experiments that are lifted into the stratosphere by high-altitude balloons where they conduct observations that would be hindered by atmospheric interference if done on the ground. Netterfield is primarily known for his work in observational cosmology, specifically in developing instrumentation to observe the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Most notably, he was a key member of the instrument team for BOOMERANG, the experiment that made one of the first accurate determinations of the age, geometry, and mass-energy content of the universe. More recently, he has delved into the field of submillimetre astronomy and the physics of star formation, through his involvement with the BLAST telescope. Netterfield was featured prominently in BLAST!, a documentary film about the 2005 and 2006 flights of BLAST from Sweden and Antarctica.

The C-Band All Sky Survey (C-BASS) is a radio astronomy project that aims to map the entire sky in the C Band (5 GHz). It has been conducted on two radio telescopes, one operating in the Karoo in South Africa, the other at Owens Valley Radio Observatory in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NIRSpec</span> Spectrograph on the James Webb Space Telescope

The NIRSpec is one of the four scientific instruments flown on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The JWST is the follow-on mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and is developed to receive more information about the origins of the universe by observing infrared light from the first stars and galaxies. In comparison to HST, its instruments will allow looking further back in time and will study the so-called Dark Ages during which the universe was opaque, about 150 to 800 million years after the Big Bang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor</span> Microwave telescope array in Chile

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) is an array of microwave telescopes at a high-altitude site in the Atacama Desert of Chile as part of the Parque Astronómico de Atacama. The CLASS experiment aims to improve our understanding of cosmic dawn when the first stars turned on, test the theory of cosmic inflation, and distinguish between inflationary models of the very early universe by making precise measurements of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) over 65% of the sky at multiple frequencies in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simons Observatory</span> Observatory in Chile

The Simons Observatory is located in the high Atacama Desert in Northern Chile inside the Chajnator Science Preserve, at an altitude of 5,200 meters (17,000 ft). The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the Simons Array are located nearby and these experiments are currently making observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Their goals are to study how the universe began, what it is made of, and how it evolved to its current state. The Simons Observatory shares many of the same goals but aims to take advantage of advances in technology to make far more precise and diverse measurements. In addition, it is envisaged that many aspects of the Simons Observatory will be pathfinders for the future CMB-S4 array.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QUIJOTE Experiment</span>

The QUIJOTE CMB Experiment is an ongoing experiment started in November 2012, and led by Rafael Rebolo López, with the goal of characterizing the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and other galactic and extragalactic emission in the frequency range 10 to 40 GHz, at angular scales of 1°. These measurements will complement at low frequency and correct from galactic contamination those obtained by the Planck satellite from 2009 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crossed Dragone</span>

The Crossed Dragone Telescope is an off-axis telescope design consisting of a parabolic primary mirror and a large concave secondary mirror arranged so that the focal plane is at right angles to the incoming light. In this configuration the polarization of light is preserved through the optics.

In cosmological inflation, within the slow-roll paradigm, the Lyth argument places a theoretical upper bound on the amount of gravitational waves produced during inflation, given the amount of departure from the homogeneity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 LiteBIRD: a small satellite for the study of B-mode polarization and inflation from cosmic background radiation detection. M. Hazumi; J. Borrill; Y. Chinone; M. A. Dobbs; H. Fuke; A. Ghribi, aetal. Proceedings Volume 8442, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 844219 (2012). Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands 21 September 2012. doi:10.1117/12.926743
  2. 1 2 "The origin of the Universe will be unveiled by the LiteBIRD cryogenic satellite". Grenoble Alpes University . 3 July 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The LiteBIRD Satellite Mission – Sub-Kelvin Instrument. A. Suzuki, P. Ade, Y. Akiba, etal. arXive repository. Submitted: 15 March 2018.
  4. ↑ Mission design of LiteBIRD. T. Matsumura, Y Akiba, J. Borrill, etal. arXive repository. Filed: 12 November 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Concept design of the LiteBIRD satellite for CMB B-mode polarization. Y. Sekimoto; P. Ade; K. Arnold; J. Aumont; J. Austermann, etal. Proceedings Volume 10698, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 106981Y (2018) doi : 10.1117/12.2313432 Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 9 August 2018, Austin, Texas, United States.
  6. ↑ INVESTIGATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM DISK STRUCTURE DURING THE CRUISING PHASE OF THE SOLAR POWER SAIL MISSION. (PDF). T. Iwata, T. Okada, S. Matsuura, K. Tsumura, H. Yano, T. Hirai, A. Matsuoka, R. Nomura, D. Yonetoku, T. Mihara, Y. Kebukawa, M. ito, M. Yoshikawa, J. Matsu-moto, T. Chujo, and O. Mori. 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2018 (LPI Contrib. No. 2083).
  7. ↑ Goda, Roku (May 22, 2019). "宇宙最古の光、捉えられるか ＪＡＸＡ、衛星打ち上げへ". The Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-05-30.
  8. ↑ Montier, L. (10 July 2019). "LiteBIRD Overview" (PDF). IN2P3 . Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 LiteBird Science Archived 2020-02-12 at the Wayback Machine . JAZA/ISAS. Accessed 6 October 2018.
  10. ↑ LiteBIRD: Mission Overview and Focal Plane Layout. T. Matsumura, Y. Akiba, K. Arnold, J. Borrill, R. Chendra, etal. Journal of Low Temperature Physics. August 2016, Volume 184, Issue 3–4, pp 824–831.
  11. ↑ LiteBIRD: mission overview and design tradeoffs. T. Matsumura; Y. Akiba; J. Borrill; Y. Chinone, etal. Proceedings Volume 9143, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 91431F (2014) doi : 10.1117/12.2055794 Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2 August 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
  12. ↑ LiteBIRD - Team Members Archived 2018-10-07 at the Wayback Machine . JAXA/ISAS. Accessed: 8 October 2018.
  13. 1 2 LiteBIRD instrumentation Archived 2018-10-07 at the Wayback Machine . JAXA/ISAS. Accessed: 6 October 2018.
  14. ↑ Optical designing of LiteBIRD. Hajime Sugai; Shingo Kashima; Kimihiro Kimura; Tomotake Matsumura; Masanori Inoue; Makoto Ito; Toshiyuki Nishibori; Yutaro Sekimoto; Hirokazu Ishino; Yuki Sakurai; Hiroaki Imada; Takenori Fujii. Proceedings Volume 9904, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 99044H (2016) doi : 10.1117/12.2232008 Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. 29 July 2016.
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