Abstract
Abstract We analyze simulated maps of the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) experiment and recover a nearly cosmic variance limited estimate of the reionization optical depth τ. We use a power spectrum-based likelihood to simultaneously clean foregrounds and estimate cosmological parameters in multipole space. Using software specifically designed to constrain τ, the amplitude of scalar fluctuations A s , and the tensor-to-scalar ratio r, we demonstrate that the CLASS experiment will be able to estimate τ within a factor of two of the cosmic variance limit allowed by full-sky cosmic microwave background polarization measurements. Additionally, we discuss the role of CLASS’s τ constraint in conjunction with gravitational lensing of the CMB on obtaining a ≳4σ measurement of the sum of the neutrino masses.
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