# Publications by Maximilian Abitbol

## The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR4 maps and cosmological parameters

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics IOP Publishing 2020 (2020) 047

E Calabrese, L Maurin, S Naess, MH Abitbol, GE Addison, JE Austermann, R Bean, DT Becker, SM Bruno, V Calafut, F Carrero, GE Chesmore, H-M Cho, SK Choi, SE Clark, NF Cothard, D Crichton, KT Crowley, O Darwish, R Datta, EV Denison, MJ Devlin, SM Duff, AJ Duivenvoorden, T Essinger-Hileman

<p>We present new arcminute-resolution maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background temperature and polarization anisotropy from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, using data taken from 2013&ndash;2016 at 98 and 150 GHz. The maps cover more than 17,000 deg<sup>2</sup>, the deepest 600 deg<sup>2</sup>&nbsp;with noise levels below&nbsp;10&mu;K-arcmin. We use the power spectrum derived from almost 6,000 deg<sup>2</sup>&nbsp;of these maps to constrain cosmology. The ACT data enable a measurement of the angular scale of features in both the divergence-like polarization and the temperature anisotropy, tracing both the velocity and density at last-scattering. From these one can derive the distance to the last-scattering surface and thus infer the local expansion rate,&nbsp;<em>H</em><sub>0</sub>. By combining ACT data with large-scale information from&nbsp;<em>WMAP</em>&nbsp;we measure&nbsp;<em>H</em><sub>0</sub>=67.6&plusmn;&nbsp;1.1&nbsp;km/s/Mpc, at 68% confidence, in excellent agreement with the independently-measured&nbsp;<em>Planck</em>&nbsp;satellite estimate (from ACT alone we find&nbsp;<em>H</em><sub>0</sub>=67.9&plusmn;&nbsp;1.5&nbsp;km/s/Mpc). The&nbsp;&Lambda;CDM model provides a good fit to the ACT data, and we find no evidence for deviations: both the spatial curvature, and the departure from the standard lensing signal in the spectrum, are zero to within 1&sigma;; the number of relativistic species, the primordial Helium fraction, and the running of the spectral index are consistent with&nbsp;&Lambda;CDM predictions to within 1.5&ndash;2.2&sigma;. We compare ACT,&nbsp;<em>WMAP</em>, and&nbsp;<em>Planck</em>&nbsp;at the parameter level and find good consistency; we investigate how the constraints on the correlated spectral index and baryon density parameters readjust when adding CMB large-scale information that ACT does not measure. The DR4 products presented here will be publicly released on the NASA Legacy Archive for Microwave Background Data Analysis.</p>

## The EBEX Balloon-borne Experiment-Detectors and Readout

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT SERIES 239 (2018) ARTN 8

M Abitbol, AM Aboobaker, P Ade, D Araujo, F Aubin, C Baccigalupi, C Bao, D Chapman, J Didier, M Dobbs, SM Feeney, C Geach, W Grainger, S Hanany, K Helson, S Hillbrand, G Hilton, J Hubmayr, K Irwin, A Jaffe, B Johnson, T Jones, J Klein, A Korotkov, A Lee, L Levinson, M Limon, K MacDermid, AD Miller, M Milligan, K Raach, B Reichborn-Kjennerud, C Reintsema, I Sagiv, G Smecher, GS Tucker, B Westbrook, K Young, K Zilic, EBEX Collaboration

## Development of Multi-chroic MKIDs for Next-Generation CMB Polarization Studies

JOURNAL OF LOW TEMPERATURE PHYSICS 193 (2018) 103-112

BR Johnson, D Flanigan, MH Abitbol, PAR Ade, S Bryan, H-M Cho, R Datta, P Day, S Doyle, K Irwin, G Jones, D Li, P Mauskopf, H McCarrick, J McMahon, A Miller, G Pisano, Y Song, H Surdi, C Tucker

## Constraining the Anomalous Microwave Emission Mechanism in the S140 Star-forming Region with Spectroscopic Observations between 4 and 8GHz at the Green Bank Telescope

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL 864 (2018) ARTN 97

MH Abitbol, BR Johnson, G Jones, C Dickinson, S Harper

## Design and performance of dual-polarization lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors for millimeter-wave polarimetry

ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS 610 (2018) ARTN A45

H McCarrick, G Jones, BR Johnson, MH Abitbol, PAR Ade, S Bryan, P Day, T Essinger-Hileman, D Flanigan, HG Leduc, M Limon, P Mauskopf, A Miller, C Tucker

## Rethinking CMB foregrounds: Systematic extension of foreground parametrizations

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 472 (2017) 1195-1213

J Chluba, JC Hill, M ABITBOL

© 2018 The Author(s). Future high-sensitivity measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and energy spectrum will be limited by our understanding and modelling of foregrounds. Not only does more information need to be gathered and combined, but also novel approaches for the modelling of foregrounds, commensurate with the vast improvements in sensitivity, have to be explored. Here, we study the inevitable effects of spatial averaging on the spectral shapes of typical foreground components, introducing a moment approach, which naturally extends the list of foreground parameters that have to be determined through measurements or constrained by theoretical models. Foregrounds are thought of as a superposition of individual emitting volume elements along the line of sight and across the sky, which then are observed through an instrumental beam. The beam and line-of-sight averages are inevitable. Instead of assuming a specific model for the distributions of physical parameters, our method identifies natural new spectral shapes for each foreground component that can be used to extract parameter moments (e.g. mean, dispersion, cross terms, etc.). The method is illustrated for the superposition of power laws, free-free spectra, grey-body and modified blackbody spectra, but can be applied to more complicated fundamental spectral energy distributions. Here, we focus on intensity signals but the method can be extended to the case of polarized emission. The averaging process automatically produces scale-dependent spectral shapes and the moment method can be used to propagate the required information across scales in power spectrum estimates. The approach is not limited to applications to CMB foregrounds, but could also be useful for the modelling of X-ray emission in clusters of galaxies.

## Prospects for measuring cosmic microwave background spectral distortions in the presence of foregrounds

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 471 (2017) 1126-1140

MH Abitbol, J Chluba, JC Hill, BR Johnson

© 2018 The Author(s). Measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectral distortions have profound implications for our understanding of physical processes taking place over a vast window in cosmological history. Foreground contamination is unavoidable in such measurements and detailed signal-foreground separation will be necessary to extract cosmological science. In this paper, we present Markov chain Monte Carlo based spectral distortion detection forecasts in the presence of Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds for a range of possible experimental configurations, focusing on the Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) as a fiducial concept. We consider modifications to the baseline PIXIE mission (operating ≃ 12 months in distortion mode), searching for optimal configurations using a Fisher approach. Using only spectral information, we forecast an extended PIXIE mission to detect the expected average nonrelativistic and relativistic thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich distortions at high significance (194s and 11s, respectively), even in the presence of foregrounds. The ΛCDM Silk damping μ- type distortion is not detected without additional modifications of the instrument or external data. Galactic synchrotron radiation is the most problematic source of contamination in this respect, an issue that could be mitigated by combining PIXIE data with future ground-based observations at low frequencies (v ≲ 15-30 GHz). Assuming moderate external information on the synchrotron spectrum, we project an upper limit of |μ| < 3.6 × 10-7 (95 per cent c.l.), slightly more than one order of magnitude above the fiducial ΛCDM signal from the damping of small-scale primordial fluctuations, but a factor of ≃250 improvement over the current upper limit from COBE/Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer. This limit could be further reduced to |μ| < 9.4 × 10-8 (95 per cent c.l.) with more optimistic assumptions about extra low-frequency information and would rule out many alternative inflation models and provide new constraints on decaying particle scenarios.

## High quality factor manganese-doped aluminum lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors sensitive to frequencies below 100 GHz

APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 110 (2017) ARTN 222601

G Jones, BR Johnson, MH Abitbol, PAR Ade, S Bryan, H-M Cho, P Day, D Flanigan, KD Irwin, D Li, P Mauskopf, H McCarrick, A Miller, YR Song, C Tucker

## Magnetic field dependence of the internal quality factor and noise performance of lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors

APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 109 (2016) ARTN 143503

D Flanigan, BR Johnson, MH Abitbol, S Bryan, R Cantor, P Day, G Jones, P Mauskopf, H McCarrick, A Miller, J Zmuidzinas

## Polarization sensitive Multi-Chroic MKIDs

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 9914 (2016)

BR Johnson, D Flanigan, MH Abitbol, PAR Ade, S Bryan, HM Cho, R Datta, P Day, S Doyle, K Irwin, G Jones, S Kernasovskiy, D Li, P Mauskopf, H McCarrick, J McMahon, A Miller, G Pisano, Y Song, H Surdi, C Tucker

© 2016 SPIE. We report on the development of scalable prototype microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) arrays tailored for future multi-kilo-pixel experiments that are designed to simultaneously characterize the polarization properties of both the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Galactic dust emission. These modular arrays are composed of horn-coupled, polarization-sensitive MKIDs, and each pixel has four detectors: two polarizations in two spectral bands between 125 and 280 GHz. A horn is used to feed each array element, and a planar orthomode transducer, composed of two waveguide probe pairs, separates the incoming light into two linear po- larizations. Diplexers composed of resonant-stub band-pass filters separate the radiation into 125 to 170 GHz and 190 to 280 GHz pass bands. The millimeter-wave power is ultimately coupled to a hybrid co-planar waveguide microwave kinetic inductance detector using a novel, broadband circuit developed by our collaboration. Elec- tromagnetic simulations show the expected absorption efficiency of the detector is approximately 90%. Array fabrication will begin in the summer of 2016.

## Development of dual-polarization LEKIDs for CMB observations

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 9914 (2016)

H McCarrick, MH Abitbol, PAR Ade, P Barry, S Bryan, G Che, P Day, S Doyle, D Flanigan, BR Johnson, G Jones, HG LeDuc, M Limon, P Mauskopf, A Miller, C Tucker, J Zmuidzinas

© 2016 SPIE. We discuss the design considerations and initial measurements from arrays of dual-polarization, lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) nominally designed for cosmic microwave background (CMB) studies. The detectors are horn-coupled, and each array element contains two single-polarization LEKIDs, which are made from thin-film aluminum and optimized for a single spectral band centered on 150 GHz. We are developing two array architectures, one based on 160 micron thick silicon wafers and the other based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers with a 30 micron thick device layer. The 20-element test arrays (40 LEKIDs) are characterized with both a linearly-polarized electronic millimeter wave source and a thermal source. We present initial measurements including the noise spectra, noise-equivalent temperature, and responsivity. We discuss future testing and further design optimizations to be implemented.

## Foreground-induced biases in CMB polarimeter self-calibration

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 457 (2016) 1796-1803

MH Abitbol, JC Hill, BR Johnson

© 2016 The Authors. Precise polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) require accurate knowledge of the instrument orientation relative to the sky frame used to define the cosmological Stokes parameters. Suitable celestial calibration sources that could be used to measure the polarimeter orientation angle are limited, so current experiments commonly 'self-calibrate.' The self-calibration method exploits the theoretical fact that the EB and TB cross-spectra of the CMB vanish in the standard cosmological model, so any detected EB and TB signals must be due to systematic errors. However, this assumption neglects the fact that polarized Galactic foregrounds in a given portion of the sky may have non-zero EB and TB cross-spectra. If these foreground signals remain in the observations, then they will bias the self-calibrated telescope polarization angle and produce a spurious B-mode signal. In this paper, we estimate the foreground-induced bias for various instrument configurations and then expand the self-calibration formalism to account for polarized foreground signals. Assuming the EB correlation signal for dust is in the range constrained by angular power spectrum measurements from Planck at 353 GHz (scaled down to 150 GHz), then the bias is negligible for high angular resolution experiments, which have access to CMB-dominated high ℓ modes with which to self-calibrate. Low-resolution experiments observing particularly dusty sky patches can have a bias as large as 0.° 5. A miscalibration of this magnitude generates a spurious BB signal corresponding to a tensor-to-scalar ratio of approximately r ~ 2 × 10-3, within the targeted range of planned experiments.

## Photon noise from chaotic and coherent millimeter-wave sources measured with horn-coupled, aluminum lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors

APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 108 (2016) ARTN 083504

D Flanigan, H McCarrick, G Jones, BR Johnson, MH Abitbol, P Ade, D Araujo, K Bradford, R Cantor, G Che, P Day, S Doyle, CB Kjellstrand, H Leduc, M Limon, V Luu, P Mauskopf, A Miller, T Mroczkowski, C Tucker, J Zmuidzinas

## MEASURING the LARGEST ANGULAR SCALE CMB B-MODE POLARIZATION with GALACTIC FOREGROUNDS on A CUT SKY

Astrophysical Journal 814 (2015)

DJ Watts, D Larson, TA Marriage, MH Abitbol, JW Appel, CL Bennett, DT Chuss, JR Eimer, T Essinger-Hileman, NJ Miller, K Rostem, EJ Wollack

© 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We consider the effectiveness of foreground cleaning in the recovery of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization sourced by gravitational waves for tensor-to-scalar ratios in the range 0 < r < 0.1. Using the planned survey area, frequency bands, and sensitivity of the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS), we simulate maps of Stokes Q and U parameters at 40, 90, 150, and 220 GHz, including realistic models of the CMB, diffuse Galactic thermal dust and synchrotron foregrounds, and Gaussian white noise. We use linear combinations (LCs) of the simulated multifrequency data to obtain maximum likelihood estimates of r, the relative scalar amplitude s, and LC coefficients. We find that for 10,000 simulations of a CLASS-like experiment using only measurements of the reionization peak (ℓ ≤ 23), there is a 95% C.L. upper limit of r < 0.017 in the case of no primordial gravitational waves. For simulations with r = 0.01, we recover at 68% C.L.r = 0.012-0.006+0.011 The reionization peak corresponds to a fraction of the multipole moments probed by CLASS, and simulations including 30 ≤ ℓ ≤ 100 further improve our upper limits to r < 0.008 at 95% C.L. ( r = 0.010-0.004+0.004 for primordial gravitational waves with r = 0.01). In addition to decreasing the current upper bound on r by an order of magnitude, these foreground-cleaned low multipole data will achieve a cosmic variance limited measurement of the E-mode polarizations reionization peak.

## THE ATACAMA COSMOLOGY TELESCOPE: A MEASUREMENT OF THE 600 < l < 8000 COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND POWER SPECTRUM AT 148 GHz

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL 722 (2010) 1148-1161

JW Fowler, V Acquaviva, PAR Ade, P Aguirre, M Amiri, JW Appel, LF Barrientos, ES Battistelli, JR Bond, B Brown, B Burger, J Chervenak, S Das, MJ Devlin, SR Dicker, WB Doriese, J Dunkley, R Duenner, T Essinger-Hileman, RP Fisher, A Hajian, M Halpern, M Hasselfield, C Hernandez-Monteagudo, GC Hilton, M Hilton, AD Hincks, R Hlozek, KM Huffenberger, DH Hughes, JP Hughes, L Infante, KD Irwin, R Jimenez, JB Juin, M Kaul, J Klein, A Kosowsky, JM Lau, M Limon, Y-T Lin, RH Lupton, TA Marriage, D Marsden, K Martocci, P Mauskopf, F Menanteau, K Moodley, H Moseley, CB Netterfield, MD Niemack, MR Nolta, LA Page, L Parker, B Partridge, H Quintana, B Reid, N Sehgal, J Sievers, DN Spergel, ST Staggs, DS Swetz, ER Switzer, R Thornton, H Trac, C Tucker, L Verde, R Warne, G Wilson, E Wollack, Y Zhao

## A minimal power-spectrum-based moment expansion for CMB B-mode searches

ArXiv (0)

S Azzoni, MH Abitbol, D Alonso, A Gough, N Katayama, T Matsumura

The characterization and modeling of polarized foregrounds has become a critical issue in the quest for primordial $B$-modes. A typical method to proceed is to factorize and parametrize the spectral properties of foregrounds and their scale dependence (i.e. assuming that foreground spectra are well described everywhere by their sky average). Since in reality foreground properties vary across the Galaxy, this assumption leads to inaccuracies in the model that manifest themselves as biases in the final cosmological parameters (in this case the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$). This is particularly relevant for surveys over large fractions of the sky, such as the Simons Observatory (SO), where the spectra should be modeled over a distribution of parameter values. Here we propose a method based on the existing moment expansion'' approach to address this issue in a power-spectrum-based analysis that is directly applicable in ground-based multi-frequency data. Additionally, the method uses only a small set of parameters with simple physical interpretation, minimizing the impact of foreground uncertainties on the final $B$-mode constraints. We validate the method using SO-like simulated observations, recovering an unbiased estimate of the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ with standard deviation $\sigma(r)\simeq0.003$, compatible with official forecasts. When applying the method to the public BICEP2/Keck data, we find an upper bound $r<0.06$ ($95\%\,{\rm C.L.}$), compatible with the result found by BICEP2/Keck when parametrizing spectral index variations through a scale-independent frequency decorrelation parameter. We also discuss the formal similarities between the power spectrum-based moment expansion and methods used in the analysis of CMB lensing.

## The Simons Observatory: Bandpass and polarization-angle calibration requirements for B-mode searches

ArXiv (0)

MH Abitbol, D Alonso, SM Simon, J Lashner, KT Crowley, AM Ali, S Azzoni, C Baccigalupi, D Barron, ML Brown, E Calabrese, J Carron, Y Chinone, J Chluba, G Coppi, KD Crowley, M Devlin, J Dunkley, J Errard, V Fanfani, N Galitzki, M Gerbino, JC Hill, BR Johnson, B Jost, B Keating, N Krachmalnicoff, A Kusaka, AT Lee, T Louis, MS Madhavacheril, H McCarrick, J McMahon, PD Meerburg, F Nati, H Nishino, LA Page, D Poletti, G Puglisi, MJ Randall, A Rotti, J Spisak, A Suzuki, GP Teply, C Vergès, EJ Wollack, Z Xu, M Zannoni

We quantify the calibration requirements for systematic uncertainties on bandpasses and polarization angles for next-generation ground-based observatories targeting the large-angle $B$-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background, with a focus on the Simons Observatory (SO). We explore uncertainties on bandpass gain calibration, center frequencies, and polarization angles, including the frequency variation of the latter across the bandpass. We find that bandpass calibration factors and center frequencies must be known to percent levels or less to avoid biases on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ on the order of $\Delta r\sim10^{-3}$, in line with previous findings. Polarization angles must be calibrated to the level of a few tenths of a degree, while their frequency variation between the edges of the band must be known to ${\cal O}(10)$ degrees. Given the tightness of these calibration requirements, we explore the level to which residual uncertainties on these systematics would affect the final constraints on $r$ if included in the data model and marginalized over. We find that the additional parameter freedom does not degrade the final constraints on $r$ significantly, broadening the error bar by ${\cal O}(10\%)$ at most. We validate these results by reanalyzing the latest publicly available data from the BICEP2 / Keck Array collaboration within an extended parameter space covering both cosmological, foreground and systematic parameters. Finally, our results are discussed in light of the instrument design and calibration studies carried out within SO.

## Inpainting CMB maps using Partial Convolutional Neural Networks

ArXiv (0)

G Montefalcone, MH Abitbol, D Kodwani, RDP Grumitt

We present a novel application of partial convolutional neural networks (PCNN) that can inpaint masked images of the cosmic microwave background. The network can reconstruct both the maps and the power spectra to a few percent for circular and irregularly shaped masks covering up to ~10% of the image area. By performing a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test we show that the reconstructed maps and power spectra are indistinguishable from the input maps and power spectra at the 99.9% level. Moreover, we show that PCNNs can inpaint maps with regular and irregular masks to the same accuracy. This should be particularly beneficial to inpaint irregular masks for the CMB that come from astrophysical sources such as galactic foregrounds. The proof of concept application shown in this paper shows that PCNNs can be an important tool in data analysis pipelines in cosmology.

## New Horizons in Cosmology with Spectral Distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background

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N Aghanim, Y Ali-Haimoud, M Alvarez, K Basu, B Bolliet, C Burigana, PD Bernardis, J Delabrouille, E Dimastrogiovanni, F Finelli, D Fixsen, L Hart, C Hernandez-Monteagudo, J Hill, A Kogut, K Kohri, J Lesgourgues, S Mukherjee, A Ravenni, M Remazeilles, A Rotti, J Rubino-Martin, J Silk, R Sunyaev, E Switzer

Voyage 2050 White Paper highlighting the unique science opportunities using spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). CMB spectral distortions probe many processes throughout the history of the Universe. Precision spectroscopy, possible with existing technology, would provide key tests for processes expected within the cosmological standard model and open an enormous discovery space to new physics. This offers unique scientific opportunities for furthering our understanding of inflation, recombination, reionization and structure formation as well as dark matter and particle physics. A dedicated experimental approach could open this new window to the early Universe in the decades to come, allowing us to turn the long-standing upper distortion limits obtained with COBE/FIRAS some 25 years ago into clear detections of the expected standard distortion signals.

## CMB Spectral Distortions: Status and Prospects

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A Kogut, M Abitbol, J Chluba, J Delabrouille, D Fixsen, J Hill, S Patil, A Rotti

Departures of the energy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from a perfect blackbody probe a fundamental property of the universe -- its thermal history. Current upper limits, dating back some 25 years, limit such spectral distortions to 50 parts per million and provide a foundation for the Hot Big Bang model of the early universe. Modern upgrades to the 1980's-era technology behind these limits enable three orders of magnitude or greater improvement in sensitivity. The standard cosmological model provides compelling targets at this sensitivity, spanning cosmic history from the decay of primordial density perturbations to the role of baryonic feedback in structure formation. Fully utilizing this sensitivity requires concurrent improvements in our understanding of competing astrophysical foregrounds. We outline a program using proven technologies capable of detecting the minimal predicted distortions even for worst-case foreground scenarios.