Enhancing Calibration for Future CMB Observations: The COSMOCal project Approach

by Alessia Ritacco (Lab. Physique Subatomique Cosmologie (LPSC), Univ. Joseh Fourier, Grenoble I)

Tuesday Apr 1, 2025, 11:00 AM → 12:00 PM Europe/Paris

Salle des séminaires (IAP)

Detecting the imprint of primordial gravitational waves encoded in the polarization of the cosmic
microwave background is the greatest challenge of observational cosmology. This search is driving
spectacular advances in microwave instrumentation, but the increased sensitivity of the observations
also requires more precise calibration of the data. Further difficulties arise from the fact that the
cosmological signal is weak compared to the Galactic foreground emission. Advanced statistical
methods have been developed to identify the cosmological signal from complex data, but additional
information is needed to break degeneracy in the analysis. An independent calibration of the 
polarization performances, free from models of the cosmological and Galactic microwave sky emission, is essential. 
To address this critical need, we propose to build a calibration source to be installed as a guest payload 
on a geostationary satellite, scheduled for launch by EUTELSAT by 2030.
This is the scope of the COSMOCal project, and it will be the focus of my presentation.