Weak lensing of the CMB

TL;DR

This paper reviews the weak gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background, discussing its unique features, statistical properties, reconstruction methods, and recent observational progress.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of CMB lensing, emphasizing its distinct aspects and recent advances in detection and analysis techniques.

Findings

Discussion of the unique aspects of CMB lensing compared to galaxy lensing

Description of quadratic maximum-likelihood estimators for lensing reconstruction

Review of recent detections and future observational prospects

Abstract

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) represents a unique source for the study of gravitational lensing. It is extended across the entire sky, partially polarized, located at the extreme distance of z=1100, and is thought to have the simple, underlying statistics of a Gaussian random field. Here we review the weak lensing of the CMB, highlighting the aspects which differentiate it from the weak lensing of other sources, such as galaxies. We discuss the statistics of the lensing deflection field which remaps the CMB, and the corresponding effect on the power spectra. We then focus on methods for reconstructing the lensing deflections, describing efficient quadratic maximum-likelihood estimators and delensing. We end by reviewing recent detections and observational prospects.