Rayleigh scattering: blue sky thinking for future CMB observations

TL;DR

Rayleigh scattering introduces frequency-dependent features in the CMB, offering new observational opportunities for future missions to probe recombination physics and primordial perturbations.

Contribution

This paper provides new numerical calculations of Rayleigh scattering effects on CMB temperature and polarization spectra, highlighting their detectability and scientific potential.

Findings

Rayleigh scattering causes detectable frequency-dependent CMB anisotropies.

Future CMB missions can measure Rayleigh cross-spectra with high precision.

Rayleigh signal can test recombination physics and primordial perturbations.

Abstract

Rayleigh scattering from neutral hydrogen during and shortly after recombination causes the CMB anisotropies to be significantly frequency dependent at high frequencies. This may be detectable with Planck, and would be a strong signal in any future space-based CMB missions. The later peak of the Rayleigh visibility compared to Thomson scattering gives an increased large-scale CMB polarization signal that is a greater than 4% effect for observed frequencies greater than 500GHz. There is a similar magnitude suppression on small scales from additional damping. Due to strong correlation between the Rayleigh and primary signal, measurement of the Rayleigh component is limited by noise and foregrounds, not cosmic variance of the primary CMB, and should observable over a wide range of angular scales at frequencies between roughly 200GHz and 800GHz. I give new numerical calculations of the temperature and polarization power spectra, and show that future CMB missions could measure the temperature Rayleigh cross-spectrum at high precision, detect the polarization from Rayleigh scattering, and also accurately determine the cross-spectra between the Rayleigh temperature signal and primary polarization. The Rayleigh scattering signal may provide a powerful consistency check on recombination physics. In principle it can be used to measure additional horizon-scale primordial perturbation modes at recombination, and distinguish a significant tensor mode B-polarization signal from gravitational lensing at the power spectrum level.