The joint analysis of galaxy-galaxy lensing and galaxy clustering is a promising method for inferring the growth function of large-scale structure. Anticipating a near future application of this ...analysis to Dark Energy Survey (DES) measurements of galaxy positions and shapes, we develop a practical approach to modeling the assumptions and systematic effects affecting the joint analysis of small-scale galaxy-galaxy lensing and large-scale galaxy clustering. Introducing parameters that characterize the halo occupation distribution (HOD), photometric redshift uncertainties, and shear measurement errors, we study how external priors on different subsets of these parameters affect our growth constraints. Degeneracies within the HOD model, as well as between the HOD and the growth function, are identified as the dominant source of complication, with other systematic effects being subdominant. The impact of HOD parameters and their degeneracies necessitate the detailed joint modeling of the galaxy sample that we employ. We conclude that DES data will provide powerful constraints on the evolution of structure growth in the Universe, conservatively/optimistically constraining the growth function to 7.9%/4.8% with its first-year data that cover over 1000 square degrees, and to 3.9%/2.3% with its full five-year data that will survey 5000 square degrees, including both statistical and systematic uncertainties.
We measure the cross-correlation between weak lensing of galaxy images and of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The effects of gravitational lensing on different sources will be correlated if ...the lensing is caused by the same mass fluctuations. We use galaxy shape measurements from 139 deg(2) of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification data and overlapping CMB lensing from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck. The DES source galaxies have a median redshift of z(med) similar to 0.7, while the CMB lensing kernel is broad and peaks at z similar to 2. The resulting cross-correlation is maximally sensitive to mass fluctuations at z similar to 0.44. Assuming the Planck 2015 best-fitting cosmology, the amplitude of the DESxSPT cross-power is found to be A(SPT) = 0.88 +/- 0.30 and that from DESxPlanck to be A(Planck) = 0.86 +/- 0.39, where A = 1 corresponds to the theoretical prediction. These are consistent with the expected signal and correspond to significances of 2.9 sigma and 2.2 sigma, respectively. We demonstrate that our results are robust to a number of important systematic effects including the shear measurement method, estimator choice, photo-z uncertainty and CMB lensing systematics. We calculate a value of A = 1.08 +/- 0.36 for DESxSPT when we correct the observations with a simple intrinsic alignment model. With three measurements of this cross-correlation now existing in the literature, there is not yet reliable evidence for any deviation from the expected LCDM level of cross-correlation. We provide forecasts for the expected signal-to-noise ratio of the combination of the five-year DES survey and SPT-3G.
We present results from and the analysis of data from MAXIPOL, a balloon-borne experiment designed to measure the polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). MAXIPOL is the first CMB ...experiment to obtain results using a rotating half-wave plate as a rapid polarization modulator. We report results from observations of a sky area of 8 deg^2 with 10-arcmin resolution, providing information up to l~700. We use a maximum-likelihood method to estimate maps of the Q and U Stokes parameters from the demodulated time streams, and then both Bayesian and frequentist approaches to compute the EE, EB, and BB power spectra. Detailed formalisms of the analyses are given. A variety of tests show no evidence for systematic errors. The Bayesian analysis gives weak evidence for an EE signal. The EE power is 55^{+51}_{-45} \mu K^2 at the 68% confidence level for l=151-693. Its likelihood function is asymmetric and skewed positive such that with a uniform prior the probability of a positive EE power is 96%. The powers of EB and BB signals at the 68% confidence level are 18^{+27}_{-34} \mu K^2 and -31^{+31}_{-19} \mu K^2 respectively and thus consistent with zero. The upper limit of the BB-mode at the 95% confidence level is 9.5 \mu K. Results from the frequentist approach are in agreement within statistical errors. These results are consistent with the current concordance LCDM model.
We discuss MAXIPOL, a bolometric balloon-borne experiment designed to measure the E-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB). MAXIPOL is the first bolometric CMB ...experiment to observe the sky using rapid polarization modulation. To build MAXIPOL, the CMB temperature anisotropy experiment MAXIMA was retrofitted with a rotating half-wave plate and a stationary analyzer. We describe the instrument, the observations, the calibration and the reduction of data collected with twelve polarimeters operating at 140 GHz and with a FWHM beam size of 10 arcmin. We present maps of the Q and U Stokes parameters of an 8 deg^2 region of the sky near the star Beta Ursae Minoris. The power spectra computed from these maps give weak evidence for an EE signal. The maximum-likelihood amplitude of l(l+1)C^{EE}_{l}/(2 pi) is 55_{-45}^{+51} uK^2 (68%), and the likelihood function is asymmetric and skewed positive such that with a uniform prior the probability that the amplitude is positive is 96%. This result is consistent with the expected concordance LCDM amplitude of 14 uK^2. The maximum likelihood amplitudes for l(l+1)C^{BB}_{l}/(2 pi) and \(\ell(\ell+1)C^{EB}_{\ell}/2\pi\) are -31_{-19}^{+31} and 18_{-34}^{+27} uK^2 (68%), respectively, which are consistent with zero. All of the results are for one bin in the range 151 < l < 693. Tests revealed no residual systematic errors in the time or map domain. A comprehensive discussion of the analysis of the data is presented in a companion paper.
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