The Python Sky Model: software for simulating the Galactic microwave sky

TL;DR

The Python Sky Model is a user-friendly software tool that simulates Galactic microwave sky maps, including various emission components and polarization, to support the design of CMB experiments.

Contribution

It provides an accessible Python-based simulation code incorporating multiple Galactic emission models and small-scale realizations, based on WMAP and Planck data.

Findings

Simulates Galactic emission components at microwave frequencies.

Includes polarization and small-scale features.

Supports experiment design with realistic sky maps.

Abstract

We present a numerical code to simulate maps of Galactic emission in intensity and polarization at microwave frequencies, aiding in the design of Cosmic Microwave Background experiments. This Python code builds on existing efforts to simulate the sky by providing an easy-to-use interface and is based on publicly available data from the WMAP and Planck satellite missions. We simulate synchrotron, thermal dust, free-free, and anomalous microwave emission over the whole sky, in addition to the Cosmic Microwave Background, and include a set of alternative prescriptions for the frequency dependence of each component that are consistent with current data. We also present a prescription for adding small-scale realizations of these components at resolutions greater than current all-sky measurements. The code is available at https://github.com/bthorne93/PySM_public.