Polarized Synchrotron Foreground Assessment for CMB Experiments

Abstract

Polarized Galactic synchrotron emission is an undesirable foreground for cosmic microwave background experiments observing at frequencies <150 GHz. We perform a combined analysis of observational data at 1.4, 2.3, 23, 30, and 33 GHz to quantify the spatial variation of the polarized synchrotron spectral index, β pol, on ∼3.°5 scales. We compare results from different data combinations to address limitations and inconsistencies present in these public data, and form a composite map of β pol. Data quality masking leaves 44% sky coverage (73% for ∣b∣ > 45°). Generally −3.2 < β pol ≲ −3 in the inner Galactic plane and spurs, but the Fan Region in the outer galaxy has a flatter index. We find a clear spectral index steepening with increasing latitude south of the Galactic plane with Δβ pol = 0.4, and a smaller steepening of 0.25 in the north. Near the south Galactic pole the polarized synchrotron spectral index is β pol ≈ −3.4. Longitudinal spectral index variations of Δβ pol ∼ 0.1 about the latitudinal mean are also detected. Within the BICEP2/Keck survey footprint, we find consistency with a constant value, β pol = −3.25 ± 0.04 (statistical) ±0.02 (systematic). We compute a map of the frequency at which synchrotron and thermal dust emission contribute equally to the total polarized foreground. The limitations and inconsistencies among data sets encountered in this work make clear the value of additional independent surveys at multiple frequencies, especially between 10 and 20 GHz, provided these surveys have sufficient sensitivity and control of instrumental systematic errors.