Steven J. Benton
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View article: Analysis of Polarized Dust Emission Using Data from the First Flight of SPIDER
Analysis of Polarized Dust Emission Using Data from the First Flight of SPIDER Open
Using data from the first flight of Spider and from the Planck High Frequency Instrument, we probe the properties of polarized emission from interstellar dust in the Spider observing region. Component-separation algorithms operating in bot…
View article: Thermal architecture for a cryogenic super-pressure balloon payload: design and development of the Taurus flight cryostat
Thermal architecture for a cryogenic super-pressure balloon payload: design and development of the Taurus flight cryostat Open
We describe the cryogenic system being developed for Taurus: a super-pressure balloon-borne microwave polarimeter scheduled to fly in 2027. The Taurus cryogenic system consists of a 660L liquid helium cryostat which achieves a base tempera…
View article: Modeling optical systematics for the Taurus CMB experiment
Modeling optical systematics for the Taurus CMB experiment Open
We simulate a variety of optical systematics for Taurus, a balloon-borne cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarisation experiment, to assess their impact on large-scale E -mode polarisation measurements and constraints of the optical dept…
View article: In-flight performance of SPIDER's 280 GHz receivers
In-flight performance of SPIDER's 280 GHz receivers Open
SPIDER is a balloon-borne instrument designed to map the cosmic microwave background at degree-angular scales in the presence of Galactic foregrounds. Spider has mapped a large sky area in the Southern Hemisphere using more than 2000 trans…
View article: Analysis of Polarized Dust Emission Using Data from the First Flight of SPIDER
Analysis of Polarized Dust Emission Using Data from the First Flight of SPIDER Open
Using data from the first flight of SPIDER and from Planck HFI, we probe the properties of polarized emission from interstellar dust in the SPIDER observing region. Component separation algorithms operating in both the spatial and harmonic…
View article: SuperBIT Superpressure Flight Instrument Overview and Performance: Near-diffraction-limited Astronomical Imaging from the Stratosphere
SuperBIT Superpressure Flight Instrument Overview and Performance: Near-diffraction-limited Astronomical Imaging from the Stratosphere Open
SuperBIT was a 0.5 m near-UV to near-infrared wide-field telescope that launched on a NASA superpressure balloon into the stratosphere from New Zealand for a 45-night flight. SuperBIT acquired multiband images of galaxy clusters to study t…
View article: From SuperBIT to GigaBIT: Informing next-generation balloon-borne telescope design with Fine Guidance System flight data
From SuperBIT to GigaBIT: Informing next-generation balloon-borne telescope design with Fine Guidance System flight data Open
The Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) is a near-diffraction-limited 0.5m telescope that launched via NASA's super-pressure balloon technology on April 16, 2023. SuperBIT achieved precise pointing control through the…
View article: Evidence for Spatially Distinct Galactic Dust Populations
Evidence for Spatially Distinct Galactic Dust Populations Open
We present an implementation of a Bayesian mixture model using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo techniques to search for the spatial separation of Galactic dust populations. Utilizing intensity measurements from the Planck High Frequency Instrument…
View article: Instrument Overview of Taurus: A Balloon-borne CMB and Dust Polarization Experiment
Instrument Overview of Taurus: A Balloon-borne CMB and Dust Polarization Experiment Open
Taurus is a balloon-borne cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment optimized to map the E-mode polarization and Galactic foregrounds at the largest angular scales ($\ell$ $\lt$ 30) and improve measurements of the optical depth to reion…
View article: Modeling optical systematics for the Taurus CMB experiment
Modeling optical systematics for the Taurus CMB experiment Open
We simulate a variety of optical systematics for Taurus, a balloon-borne cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarisation experiment, to assess their impact on large-scale E-mode polarisation measurements and constraints of the optical depth…
View article: Thermal architecture for a cryogenic super-pressure balloon payload: design and development of the Taurus flight cryostat
Thermal architecture for a cryogenic super-pressure balloon payload: design and development of the Taurus flight cryostat Open
We describe the cryogenic system being developed for Taurus: a super-pressure balloon-borne microwave polarimeter scheduled to fly in 2027. The Taurus cryogenic system consists of a 660 L liquid helium cryostat which achieves a base temper…
View article: Instrument overview of Taurus: a balloon-borne CMB and dust polarization experiment
Instrument overview of Taurus: a balloon-borne CMB and dust polarization experiment Open
Taurus is a balloon-borne cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment optimized to map the E-mode polarization and Galactic foregrounds at the largest angular scales (ℓ < 30) and improve measurements of the optical depth to reionization (…
View article: Data Downloaded via Parachute from a NASA Super-Pressure Balloon
Data Downloaded via Parachute from a NASA Super-Pressure Balloon Open
In April 2023, the superBIT telescope was lifted to the Earth’s stratosphere by a helium-filled super-pressure balloon to acquire astronomical imaging from above (99.5% of) the Earth’s atmosphere. It was launched from New Zealand and then,…
View article: Evidence for Spatial Separation of Galactic Dust Populations
Evidence for Spatial Separation of Galactic Dust Populations Open
We present an implementation of a Bayesian mixture model using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) techniques to search for spatial separation of Galactic dust populations. Utilizing intensity measurements from Planck High Frequency Instrument (…
View article: Lensing in the Blue. II. Estimating the Sensitivity of Stratospheric Balloons to Weak Gravitational Lensing
Lensing in the Blue. II. Estimating the Sensitivity of Stratospheric Balloons to Weak Gravitational Lensing Open
The Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope ( SuperBIT ) is a diffraction-limited, wide-field, 0.5 m, near-infrared to near-ultraviolet observatory designed to exploit the stratosphere’s space-like conditions. SuperBIT ’s 2023 scienc…
View article: Lensing in the Blue II: Estimating the Sensitivity of Stratospheric Balloons to Weak Gravitational Lensing
Lensing in the Blue II: Estimating the Sensitivity of Stratospheric Balloons to Weak Gravitational Lensing Open
The Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) is a diffraction-limited, wide-field, 0.5 m, near-infrared to near-ultraviolet observatory designed to exploit the stratosphere's space-like conditions. SuperBIT's 2023 science f…
View article: Weak Lensing in the Blue: A Counter-intuitive Strategy for Stratospheric Observations
Weak Lensing in the Blue: A Counter-intuitive Strategy for Stratospheric Observations Open
The statistical power of weak lensing measurements is principally driven by the number of high-redshift galaxies whose shapes are resolved. Conventional wisdom and physical intuition suggest this is optimized by deep imaging at long (red o…
View article: A Simulation-based Method for Correcting Mode Coupling in CMB Angular Power Spectra
A Simulation-based Method for Correcting Mode Coupling in CMB Angular Power Spectra Open
Modern cosmic microwave background (CMB) analysis pipelines regularly employ complex time-domain filters, beam models, masking, and other techniques during the production of sky maps and their corresponding angular power spectra. However, …
View article: A Constraint on Primordial B-modes from the First Flight of the Spider Balloon-borne Telescope
A Constraint on Primordial B-modes from the First Flight of the Spider Balloon-borne Telescope Open
We present the first linear polarization measurements from the 2015 long-duration balloon flight of Spider , which is an experiment that is designed to map the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on degree angular scales.…
View article: Publisher’s Note: “Robust diffraction-limited near-infrared-to-near-ultraviolet wide-field imaging from stratospheric balloon-borne Platforms—Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope performance” [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 91, 034501 (2020)]
Publisher’s Note: “Robust diffraction-limited near-infrared-to-near-ultraviolet wide-field imaging from stratospheric balloon-borne Platforms—Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope performance” [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 91, 034501 (2020)] Open
First Page
View article: Design and pre-flight performance of SPIDER 280 GHz receivers
Design and pre-flight performance of SPIDER 280 GHz receivers Open
In this work we describe upgrades to the Spider balloon-borne telescope in preparation for its second flight, currently planned for December 2021. The Spider instrument is optimized to search for a primordial B-mode polarization signature …
View article: Download by parachute: retrieval of assets from high altitude balloons
Download by parachute: retrieval of assets from high altitude balloons Open
We present a publicly-available toolkit of flight-proven hardware and software to retrieve 5 TB of data or small physical samples from a stratospheric balloon platform. Before launch, a capsule is attached to the balloon, and rises with it…
View article: Submillimeter Polarization Spectrum of the Carina Nebula
Submillimeter Polarization Spectrum of the Carina Nebula Open
Linear polarization maps of the Carina Nebula were obtained at 250, 350, and 500 μm during the 2012 flight of the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol). These measurements are combined with Planck …
View article: Overview, design, and flight results from SuperBIT: a high-resolution, wide-field, visible-to-near-UV balloon-borne astronomical telescope
Overview, design, and flight results from SuperBIT: a high-resolution, wide-field, visible-to-near-UV balloon-borne astronomical telescope Open
Balloon-borne astronomy is a unique tool that allows for a level of image stability and significantly reduced atmospheric interference without the often prohibitive cost and long development time-scale that are characteristic of space-born…
View article: Overview, design, and flight results from SuperBIT: a high-resolution, wide-field, visible-to-near-UV balloon-borne astronomical telescope
Overview, design, and flight results from SuperBIT: a high-resolution, wide-field, visible-to-near-UV balloon-borne astronomical telescope Open
Balloon-borne astronomy is a unique tool that allows for a level of image stability and significantly reduced atmospheric interference without the often prohibitive cost and long development time-scale that are characteristic of space-born…
View article: BICEP2 / <i>Keck Array</i> IX: New bounds on anisotropies of CMB polarization rotation and implications for axionlike particles and primordial magnetic fields
BICEP2 / <i>Keck Array</i> IX: New bounds on anisotropies of CMB polarization rotation and implications for axionlike particles and primordial magnetic fields Open
We present the strongest constraints to date on anisotropies of cosmic\nmicrowave background (CMB) polarization rotation derived from 150 GHz data\ntaken by the BICEP2/Keck Array CMB experiments up to and including the 2014\nobserving seas…
View article: The relation between the column density structures and the magnetic field orientation in the Vela C molecular complex
The relation between the column density structures and the magnetic field orientation in the Vela C molecular complex Open
We statistically evaluated the relative orientation between gas column density structures, inferred from Herschel submillimetre observations, and the magnetic field projected on the plane of sky, inferred from polarized thermal emission of…
View article: The design and development of a high-resolution visible-to-near-UV\n telescope for balloon-borne astronomy: SuperBIT
The design and development of a high-resolution visible-to-near-UV\n telescope for balloon-borne astronomy: SuperBIT Open
Balloon-borne astronomy is unique in that it allows for a level of image\nstability, resolution, and optical backgrounds that are comparable to\nspace-borne systems due to greatly reduced atmospheric interference, but at a\nfraction of the…