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We present an overview of the design and status of the POLARBEAR-2 and the Simons Array experiments. POLARBEAR-2 is a Cosmic Microwave Background polarimetry experiment which aims to characterize the arc-minute angular scale B-mode signal from weak gravitational lensing and search for the degree angular scale B-mode signal from inflationary gravitational waves. The receiver has a 365 mm diameter focal plane cooled to 270 milli-Kelvin. The focal plane is filled with 7,588 dichroic lenslet-antenna coupled polarization sensitive Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometric pixels that are sensitive to 95 GHz and 150 GHz bands simultaneously. The TES bolometers are read-out by SQUIDs with 40 channel frequency domain multiplexing. Refractive optical elements are made with high purity alumina to achieve high optical throughput. The receiver is designed to achieve noise equivalent temperature of 5.8 µK CMB √ s in each frequency band. POLARBEAR-2 will deploy in 2016 in the Atacama desert in Chile. The Simons Array is a project to further increase sensitivity by deploying three POLARBEAR-2 type receivers. The Simons Array will cover 95 GHz, 150 GHz and 220 GHz frequency bands for foreground control. The Simons Array will be able to constrain tensor-to-scalar ratio and sum of neutrino masses to σ (r) = 6 × 10 −3 at r = 0.1 and ∑ m ν (σ = 1) to 40 meV.

Inflation is the leading theory of the first instant of the universe. Inflation, which postulates that the universe underwent a period of rapid expansion an instant after its birth, provides convincing explanation for cosmological observations. Recent advancements in detector technology have opened opportunities to explore primordial gravitational waves generated by the inflation through "B-mode" (divergent-free) polarization pattern embedded in the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies. If detected, these signals would provide strong evidence for inflation, point to the correct model for inflation, and open a window to physics at ultra-high energies.LiteBIRD is a satellite mission with a goal of detecting degree-and-larger-angular-scale B-mode polarization. Lite-BIRD will observe at the second Lagrange point with a 400 mm diameter telescope and 2,622 detectors. It will survey the entire sky with 15 frequency bands from 40 to 400 GHz to measure and subtract foregrounds.The U.S. LiteBIRD team is proposing to deliver sub-Kelvin instruments that include detectors and readout electronics. A lenslet-coupled sinuous antenna array will cover low-frequency bands (40 GHz to 235 GHz) with four frequency arrangements of trichroic pixels. An orthomode-transducer-coupled corrugated horn array will cover high-frequency bands (280 GHz to 402 GHz) with three types of single frequency detectors. The detectors will be made with Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers cooled to a 100 milli-Kelvin base temperature by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. The TES bolometers will be read out using digital frequency multiplexing with Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) amplifiers. Up to 78 bolometers will be multiplexed with a single SQUID amplier.We report on the sub-Kelvin instrument design and ongoing developments for the LiteBIRD mission.

LiteBIRD the Lite (Light) satellite for the study of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection, is a space mission for primordial cosmology and fundamental physics. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) selected LiteBIRD in May 2019 as a strategic large-class (L-class) mission, with an expected launch in the late 2020s using JAXA’s H3 rocket. LiteBIRD is planned to orbit the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point L2, where it will map the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization over the entire sky for three years, with three telescopes in 15 frequency bands between 34 and 448 GHz, to achieve an unprecedented total sensitivity of 2.2 μK-arcmin, with a typical angular resolution of 0.5○ at 100 GHz. The primary scientific objective of LiteBIRD is to search for the signal from cosmic inflation, either making a discovery or ruling out well-motivated inflationary models. The measurements of LiteBIRD will also provide us with insight into the quantum nature of gravity and other new physics beyond the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. We provide an overview of the LiteBIRD project, including scientific objectives, mission and system requirements, operation concept, spacecraft and payload module design, expected scientific outcomes, potential design extensions and synergies with other projects. Subject Index LiteBIRD cosmic inflation, cosmic microwave background, B-mode polarization, primordial gravitational waves, quantum gravity, space telescope

Gravitational lensing due to the large-scale distribution of matter in the cosmos distorts the primordial Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and thereby induces new, small-scale B -mode polarization. This signal carries detailed information about the distribution of all the gravitating matter between the observer and CMB last scattering surface. We report the first direct evidence for polarization lensing based on purely CMB information, from using the four-point correlations of even-and odd-parity E -and B -mode polarization mapped over ∼ 30 square degrees of the sky measured by the Polarbear experiment. These data were analyzed using a blind analysis framework and checked for spurious systematic contamination using null tests and simulations. Evidence for the signal of polarization lensing and lensing B -modes is found at 4.2σ (stat.+sys.) significance. The amplitude of matter fluctuations is measured with a precision of 27%, and is found to be consistent with the Lambda Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model. This measurement demonstrates 2 a new technique, capable of mapping all gravitating matter in the Universe, sensitive to the sum of neutrino masses, and essential for cleaning the lensing B -mode signal in searches for primordial gravitational waves.Introduction: As Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) photons traverse the Universe, their paths are gravitationally deflected by large-scale structures. By measuring the resulting changes in the statistical properties of the CMB anisotropies, maps of this gravitational lensing deflection, which traces large-scale structure, can be reconstructed. Gravitational lensing of the CMB has been detected in the CMB temperature anisotropy in several ways: in the smoothing of the acoustic peaks of the temperature power spectrum [1-3], in cross-correlations with tracers of the large-scale matter distribution [4][5][6][7][8][9][10], and in the four-point correlation function of CMB temperature maps [11][12][13][14].The South Pole Telescope (SPT) collaboration recently reported a detection of lensed polarization using the cross-correlation between maps of CMB polarization and sub-mm maps of galaxies from Herschel/SPIRE [15]. A companion paper to this one has also shown the evidence of the CMB lensing-Cosmic Infrared Background crosscorrelation results using Polarbear data [16], finding good agreement with the SPT measurements. This crosscorrelation is immune to several instrumental systematic effects but the cosmological interpretation of this measurement requires assumptions about the relation of submm galaxies to the underlying mass distribution [17].In this Letter, we present the first direct evidence for gravitational lensing of the polarized CMB using data from the Polarbear experiment. We present power spectra of the lensing deflection field for two four-point estimators using only CMB polarization data, and tests for spurious systematic contamination of these estimators. We combine the two estimators to increase the signal-to-noise of the lensing detection.CMB lens...