Testing the analytical blind separation method in simulated CMB polarization maps

Context. Multi-frequency observations are needed to separate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from foreground emission and accurately extract cosmological information from the data. The analytical blind separation (ABS) method is dedicated to extracting the CMB power spectrum from multi-frequency observations in the presence of contamination from astrophysical foreground emission and instrumental noise.Aims. In this study, we apply the ABS method to simulated sky maps as could be observed with a future space-borne survey in order to test its capability of determining the CMB polarization E- and B-mode power spectra.Methods. We present the ABS method performance on simulations for both a full-sky analysis and for an analysis concentrating on sky regions less impacted by Galactic foreground emission.Results. We discuss the origin and minimization of biases in the estimated CMB polarization angular power spectra. We find that the ABS method performs quite well for the analysis of full-sky observations at intermediate and small angular scales, in spite of strong foreground contamination. On the largest scales, extra work is still required to reduce biases of various origins and the impact of confusion between CMB E and B polarization for partial sky analyses.

Automated summary

In this study, the ABS method was applied to simulated sky maps to test its capability of determining the CMB polarization E- and B-mode power spectra. The method performed well for full-sky observations at intermediate and small angular scales, despite strong foreground contamination, but extra work is needed for partial sky analyses to reduce biases and confusion between CMB E and B polarization.