The LiteBIRD mission

Abstract

The LiteBIRD satellite (Lite satellite for the study of 𝐵-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection) will perform a measurement of the cosmic microwave background polarization anisotropies on large and intermediate angular scales. Its sensitivity and wide frequency coverage in 15 bands will enable unprecedented accuracy in the measurement and foreground cleaning of the signal in 𝐵-mode polarization and a cosmic-variance-limited measurement of the 𝐸-mode polarization. Such data will have deep implications for cosmology and fundamental physics. The determination of the energy scale of inflation and constraints on its dynamics from 𝐵-mode polarization will shed light on one of the most important phases in the history of the Universe and the fundamental physics it implies. LiteBIRD measurements will also deepen our knowledge of reionization, allowing us to reduce the largest uncertainty in standard cosmology after-Planck, as well as to target some other major cosmological signatures, for examples large-scale anomalies, parity-violating phenomena such as cosmic birefringence, and magnetism in the early Universe.