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Kyoshi Nishijima

Bio: Kyoshi Nishijima is an academic researcher from Tokai University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Neutrino & Super-Kamiokande. The author has an hindex of 41, co-authored 96 publications receiving 14293 citations.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
Y. Fukuda1, T. Hayakawa1, E. Ichihara1, Kunio Inoue1, K. Ishihara1, H. Ishino1, Yoshitaka Itow1, Takaaki Kajita1, J. Kameda1, S. Kasuga1, Ken-ichiro Kobayashi1, Yohei Kobayashi1, Yusuke Koshio1, M. Miura1, Masayuki Nakahata1, S. Nakayama1, A. Okada1, Ko Okumura1, N. Sakurai1, Masato Shiozawa1, Yoshihiro Suzuki1, Y. Takeuchi1, Y. Totsuka1, Shinya Yamada1, M. Earl2, Alec Habig2, E. Kearns2, M. D. Messier2, Kate Scholberg2, J. L. Stone2, Lawrence Sulak2, C. W. Walter2, M. Goldhaber3, T. Barszczxak4, D. Casper4, W. Gajewski4, P. G. Halverson4, J. Hsu4, W. R. Kropp4, L. R. Price4, Frederick Reines4, Michael B. Smy4, Henry W. Sobel4, Mark R. Vagins4, K. S. Ganezer5, W. E. Keig5, R. W. Ellsworth6, S. Tasaka7, J. W. Flanagan8, A. Kibayashi8, John G. Learned8, S. Matsuno8, V. J. Stenger8, D. Takemori8, T. Ishii, Junichi Kanzaki, T. Kobayashi, S. Mine, K. Nakamura, K. Nishikawa, Yuichi Oyama, A. Sakai, Makoto Sakuda, Osamu Sasaki, S. Echigo9, M. Kohama9, A. T. Suzuki9, Todd Haines4, Todd Haines10, E. Blaufuss11, B. K. Kim11, R. Sanford11, R. Svoboda11, M. L. Chen12, Z. Conner13, Z. Conner12, J. A. Goodman12, G. W. Sullivan12, J. Hill14, C. K. Jung14, K. Martens14, C. Mauger14, C. McGrew14, E. Sharkey14, B. Viren14, C. Yanagisawa14, W. Doki15, Kazumasa Miyano15, H. Okazawa15, C. Saji15, M. Takahata15, Y. Nagashima16, M. Takita16, Takashi Yamaguchi16, Minoru Yoshida16, Soo-Bong Kim17, M. Etoh18, K. Fujita18, Akira Hasegawa18, Takehisa Hasegawa18, S. Hatakeyama18, T. Iwamoto18, M. Koga18, Tomoyuki Maruyama18, Hiroshi Ogawa18, J. Shirai18, A. Suzuki18, F. Tsushima18, Masatoshi Koshiba1, M. Nemoto19, Kyoshi Nishijima19, T. Futagami20, Y. Hayato20, Y. Kanaya20, K. Kaneyuki20, Y. Watanabe20, D. Kielczewska21, D. Kielczewska4, R. A. Doyle22, J. S. George22, A. L. Stachyra22, L. Wai22, L. Wai23, R. J. Wilkes22, K. K. Young22 
Abstract: We present an analysis of atmospheric neutrino data from a 33.0 kton yr (535-day) exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector. The data exhibit a zenith angle dependent deficit of muon neutrinos which is inconsistent with expectations based on calculations of the atmospheric neutrino flux. Experimental biases and uncertainties in the prediction of neutrino fluxes and cross sections are unable to explain our observation. The data are consistent, however, with two-flavor ${\ensuremath{ u}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}{\ensuremath{ u}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}$ oscillations with ${sin}^{2}2\ensuremath{\theta}g0.82$ and $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}l\ensuremath{\Delta}{m}^{2}l6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1{0}^{\ensuremath{-}3}\mathrm{eV}{}^{2}$ at 90% confidence level.

3,784 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Y. Fukuda1, M. Ishitsuka1, Yoshitaka Itow1, Takaaki Kajita1, J. Kameda1, K. Kaneyuki1, K. Kobayashi1, Yusuke Koshio1, M. Miura1, S. Moriyama1, Masayuki Nakahata1, S. Nakayama1, A. Okada1, N. Sakurai1, Masato Shiozawa1, Yoshihiro Suzuki1, H. Takeuchi1, Y. Takeuchi1, T. Toshito1, Y. Totsuka1, Shoichi Yamada1, Shantanu Desai2, M. Earl2, E. Kearns2, M. D. Messier2, Kate Scholberg2, Kate Scholberg3, J. L. Stone2, L. R. Sulak2, C. W. Walter2, M. Goldhaber4, T. Barszczak5, David William Casper5, W. Gajewski5, W. R. Kropp5, S. Mine5, D. W. Liu5, L. R. Price5, M. B. Smy5, Henry W. Sobel5, M. R. Vagins5, Todd Haines5, D. Kielczewska5, K. S. Ganezer6, W. E. Keig6, R. W. Ellsworth7, S. Tasaka8, A. Kibayashi, John G. Learned, S. Matsuno, D. Takemori, Y. Hayato, T. Ishii, Takashi Kobayashi, Koji Nakamura, Y. Obayashi, Y. Oyama, A. Sakai, Makoto Sakuda, M. Kohama9, Atsumu Suzuki9, T. Inagaki10, Tsuyoshi Nakaya10, K. Nishikawa10, E. Blaufuss11, S. Dazeley11, R. Svoboda11, J. A. Goodman12, G. Guillian12, G. W. Sullivan12, D. Turcan12, Alec Habig13, J. Hill14, C. K. Jung14, K. Martens14, K. Martens15, Magdalena Malek14, C. Mauger14, C. McGrew14, E. Sharkey14, B. Viren14, C. Yanagisawa14, C. Mitsuda16, K. Miyano16, C. Saji16, T. Shibata16, Y. Kajiyama17, Y. Nagashima17, K. Nitta17, M. Takita17, Minoru Yoshida17, Heekyong Kim18, Soo-Bong Kim18, J. Yoo18, H. Okazawa, T. Ishizuka19, M. Etoh20, Y. Gando20, Takehisa Hasegawa20, Kunio Inoue20, K. Ishihara20, Tomoyuki Maruyama20, J. Shirai20, A. Suzuki20, Masatoshi Koshiba1, Y. Hatakeyama21, Y. Ichikawa21, M. Koike21, Kyoshi Nishijima21, H. Fujiyasu22, Hirokazu Ishino22, M. Morii22, Y. Watanabe22, U. Golebiewska23, S. C. Boyd24, A. L. Stachyra24, R. J. Wilkes24, B. Lee 
TL;DR: Solar neutrino measurements from 1258 days of data from the Super-Kamiokande detector are presented and the recoil electron energy spectrum is consistent with no spectral distortion.
Abstract: Solar neutrino measurements from 1258days of data from the Super-Kamiokande detector are presented. The measurements are based on recoil electrons in the energy range 5.0{endash}20.0MeV. The measured solar neutrino flux is 2.32{+-}0.03(stat){sup +0.08}{sub {minus}0.07}(syst){times}10{sup 6} cm{sup {minus}2}s{sup {minus}1} , which is 45.1{+-}0.5(stat ){sup +1.6}{sub {minus}1.4}(syst) % of that predicted by the BP2000 SSM. The day vs night flux asymmetry ({Phi}{sub n}{minus}{Phi}{sub d})/ {Phi}{sub average} is 0.033{+-}0.022(stat){sup +0.013}{sub {minus}0.012}(syst) . The recoil electron energy spectrum is consistent with no spectral distortion. For the hep neutrino flux, we set a 90% C.L.upper limit of 40{times}10{sup 3} cm{sup {minus}2}s{sup {minus}1} , which is 4.3times the BP2000 SSM prediction.

878 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Y. Ashie1, J. Hosaka1, K. Ishihara1, Yoshitaka Itow1, J. Kameda1, Yusuke Koshio1, A. Minamino1, C. Mitsuda1, M. Miura1, Shigetaka Moriyama1, Masayuki Nakahata1, Toshio Namba1, R. Nambu1, Y. Obayashi1, Masato Shiozawa1, Yoshihiro Suzuki1, Y. Takeuchi1, K. Taki1, Shinya Yamada1, M. Ishitsuka1, Takaaki Kajita1, K. Kaneyuki1, Shoei Nakayama1, A. Okada1, Ko Okumura1, C. Saji1, Y. Takenaga1, S. Clark2, Shantanu Desai2, E. Kearns2, S. Likhoded2, J. L. Stone2, L. R. Sulak2, W. Wang2, M. Goldhaber3, David William Casper4, J. P. Cravens4, W. Gajewski4, W. R. Kropp4, D. W. Liu4, S. Mine4, Michael B. Smy4, Henry W. Sobel4, C. W. Sterner4, Mark R. Vagins4, K. S. Ganezer5, John Hill5, W. E. Keig5, J. S. Jang6, J. Y. Kim6, I. T. Lim6, Kate Scholberg7, C. W. Walter7, R. W. Ellsworth8, S. Tasaka9, G. Guillian, A. Kibayashi, John G. Learned, S. Matsuno, D. Takemori, M. D. Messier10, Y. Hayato, A. K. Ichikawa, T. Ishida, T. Ishii, T. Iwashita, Takashi Kobayashi, T. Maruyama11, Koji Nakamura, K. Nitta, Yuichi Oyama, Makoto Sakuda12, Y. Totsuka, Atsumu Suzuki13, Masaya Hasegawa14, K. Hayashi14, I. Kato14, H. Maesaka14, Taichi Morita14, Tsuyoshi Nakaya14, K. Nishikawa14, T. Sasaki14, S. Ueda14, Shoji Yamamoto14, Todd Haines4, Todd Haines15, S. Dazeley16, S. Hatakeyama16, R. Svoboda16, E. Blaufuss17, J. A. Goodman17, G. W. Sullivan17, D. Turcan17, Alec Habig18, Y. Fukuda19, C. K. Jung20, T. Kato20, Katsuhiro Kobayashi20, Magdalena Malek20, C. Mauger20, C. McGrew20, A. Sarrat20, E. Sharkey20, C. Yanagisawa20, T. Toshito21, Kazumasa Miyano22, N. Tamura22, J. Ishii23, Y. Kuno23, Minoru Yoshida23, S. B. Kim24, J. Yoo24, H. Okazawa, T. Ishizuka25, Y. Choi26, H. Seo26, Y. Gando27, Takehisa Hasegawa27, Kunio Inoue27, J. Shirai27, A. Suzuki27, Masatoshi Koshiba1, Y. Nakajima28, Kyoshi Nishijima28, T. Harada29, Hirokazu Ishino29, Y. Watanabe29, D. Kielczewska4, D. Kielczewska30, J. Zalipska30, H. G. Berns31, R. Gran31, K. K. Shiraishi31, A. L. Stachyra31, K. Washburn31, R. J. Wilkes31 
TL;DR: In this article, a combined analysis of fully-contained, partially-contained and upward-going muon atmospheric neutrino data from a 1489 d exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector is presented.
Abstract: We present a combined analysis of fully-contained, partially-contained and upward-going muon atmospheric neutrino data from a 1489 d exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector. The data samples span roughly five decades in neutrino energy, from 100 MeV to 10 TeV. A detailed Monte Carlo comparison is described and presented. The data is fit to the Monte Carlo expectation, and is found to be consistent with neutrino oscillations of {nu}{sub {mu}}{r_reversible}{nu}{sub {tau}} with sin{sup 2}2{theta}>0.92 and 1.5x10{sup -3}<{delta}m{sup 2}<3.4x10{sup -3} eV{sup 2} at 90% confidence level.

701 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
S. Fukuda1, Y. Fukuda1, M. Ishitsuka1, Yoshitaka Itow1, Takaaki Kajita1, J. Kameda1, K. Kaneyuki1, K. Kobayashi1, Yusuke Koshio1, M. Miura1, S. Moriyama1, Masayuki Nakahata1, S. Nakayama1, Toshio Namba1, A. Okada1, N. Sakurai1, Masato Shiozawa1, Yoshihiro Suzuki1, H. Takeuchi1, Y. Takeuchi1, Y. Totsuka1, Shoichi Yamada1, Shantanu Desai2, M. Earl2, E. Kearns2, M. D. Messier2, J. L. Stone2, L. R. Sulak2, C. W. Walter2, M. Goldhaber3, T. Barszczak4, David William Casper4, W. Gajewski4, W. R. Kropp4, S. Mine4, D. W. Liu4, M. B. Smy4, Henry W. Sobel4, M. R. Vagins4, A. M. Gago5, K. S. Ganezer5, W. E. Keig5, R. W. Ellsworth6, S. Tasaka7, A. Kibayashi8, John G. Learned8, S. Matsuno8, D. Takemori8, Y. Hayato9, T. Ishii9, Takashi Kobayashi9, T. Maruyama9, Koji Nakamura9, Y. Obayashi1, Y. Obayashi9, Y. Oyama9, Makoto Sakuda9, Minoru Yoshida9, M. Kohama10, T. Iwashita10, Atsumu Suzuki10, A. K. Ichikawa11, A. K. Ichikawa9, T. Inagaki11, I. Kato11, Tsuyoshi Nakaya11, K. Nishikawa11, Todd Haines4, Todd Haines12, S. Dazeley13, S. Hatakeyama13, R. Svoboda13, E. Blaufuss14, M. L. Chen14, J. A. Goodman14, G. Guillian14, G. W. Sullivan14, D. Turč14, Kate Scholberg15, Alec Habig16, M. Ackermann17, J. Hill17, C. K. Jung17, Magdalena Malek17, K. Martens17, C. Mauger17, C. McGrew17, E. Sharkey17, B. Viren17, B. Viren3, C. Yanagisawa17, T. Toshito18, C. Mitsuda19, K. Miyano19, C. Saji19, T. Shibata19, Y. Kajiyama20, Y. Nagashima20, K. Nitta20, M. Takita20, Hyosun Kim21, S. B. Kim21, J. Yoo21, H. Okazawa, T. Ishizuka22, M. Etoh23, Y. Gando23, Takehisa Hasegawa23, Kunio Inoue23, K. Ishihara23, J. Shirai23, A. Suzuki23, Masatoshi Koshiba1, Y. Hatakeyama24, Y. Ichikawa24, M. Koike24, Kyoshi Nishijima24, Hirokazu Ishino25, Mikio Morii25, R. Nishimura25, Y. Watanabe25, D. Kielczewska26, D. Kielczewska4, H. G. Berns27, S. C. Boyd27, A. L. Stachyra27, R. J. Wilkes27 
TL;DR: In this paper, a number of different fits to solar neutrino mixing and mass square difference were performed using 1496 days of Super-Kamiokande-I's solar NE data.

680 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Y. Fukuda1, T. Hayakawa1, E. Ichihara1, Kunio Inoue1, K. Ishihara1, H. Ishino1, Yoshitaka Itow1, Takaaki Kajita1, J. Kameda1, S. Kasuga1, K. Kobayashi1, Yohei Kobayashi1, Yusuke Koshio1, K. Martens1, M. Miura1, Masayuki Nakahata1, S. Nakayama1, A. Okada1, M. Oketa1, Ko Okumura1, M. Ota1, N. Sakurai1, Masato Shiozawa1, Yasunari Suzuki1, Y. Takeuchi1, Y. Totsuka1, Shinya Yamada1, M. Earl2, Alec Habig2, J. T. Hong2, E. Kearns2, S. B. Kim3, S. B. Kim2, M. Masuzawa2, M. D. Messier2, Kate Scholberg2, J. L. Stone2, L. R. Sulak2, C. W. Walter2, M. Goldhaber4, T. Barszczak5, W. Gajewski5, P. G. Halverson5, J. Hsu5, W. R. Kropp5, L. R. Price5, Frederick Reines5, H. W. Sobel5, Mark R. Vagins5, K. S. Ganezer6, W. E. Keig6, R. W. Ellsworth7, S. Tasaka8, J. W. Flanagan9, A. Kibayashi9, John G. Learned9, S. Matsuno9, V. J. Stenger9, D. Takemori9, T. Ishii, Junichi Kanzaki, T. Kobayashi, K. Nakamura, K. Nishikawa, Yuichi Oyama, A. Sakai, Makoto Sakuda, Osamu Sasaki, S. Echigo10, M. Kohama10, A. T. Suzuki10, Todd Haines5, Todd Haines11, E. Blaufuss12, R. Sanford12, R. Svoboda12, M. L. Chen13, Z. Conner14, Z. Conner13, J. A. Goodman13, G. W. Sullivan13, Masaki Mori15, Masaki Mori1, J. Hill16, C. K. Jung16, C. Mauger16, C. McGrew16, E. Sharkey16, B. Viren16, C. Yanagisawa16, W. Doki17, T. Ishizuka18, T. Ishizuka17, Y. Kitaguchi17, H. Koga17, Kazumasa Miyano17, H. Okazawa17, C. Saji17, M. Takahata17, A. Kusano19, Y. Nagashima19, M. Takita19, T. Yamaguchi19, Minoru Yoshida19, M. Etoh20, K. Fujita20, Akira Hasegawa20, Takehisa Hasegawa20, S. Hatakeyama20, T. Iwamoto20, T. Kinebuchi20, M. Koga20, T. Maruyama20, Hiroshi Ogawa20, A. Suzuki20, F. Tsushima20, Masatoshi Koshiba1, M. Nemoto21, Kyoshi Nishijima21, T. Futagami22, Y. Hayato22, Y. Kanaya22, K. Kaneyuki22, Y. Watanabe22, D. Kielczewska23, D. Kielczewska5, R. A. Doyle24, J. S. George24, A. L. Stachyra24, L. Wai24, J. Wilkes24, K. K. Young24 
TL;DR: The first results of the solar neutrino flux measurement from Super-Kamiokande are presented in this article, where the results are obtained from data taken between 31 May 1996, and 23 June 1997.
Abstract: The first results of the solar neutrino flux measurement from Super-Kamiokande are presented. The results shown here are obtained from data taken between 31 May 1996, and 23 June 1997. Using our measurement of recoil electrons with energies above 6.5 MeV, we infer the total flux of ${}^{8}\mathrm{B}$ solar neutrinos to be $2.42\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.06(\mathrm{stat}{)}_{\ensuremath{-}0.07}^{+0.10}(\mathrm{syst})\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}\mathrm{cm}{}^{\ensuremath{-}2}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. This result is consistent with the Kamiokande measurement and is 36% of the flux predicted by the BP95 solar model. The flux is also measured in 1.5 month subsets and shown to be consistent with a constant rate.

677 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
Claude Amsler1, Michael Doser2, Mario Antonelli, D. M. Asner3  +173 moreInstitutions (86)
TL;DR: This biennial Review summarizes much of particle physics, using data from previous editions.

12,798 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) 5-year data were used to constrain the physics of cosmic inflation via Gaussianity, adiabaticity, the power spectrum of primordial fluctuations, gravitational waves, and spatial curvature.
Abstract: The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) 5-year data provide stringent limits on deviations from the minimal, six-parameter Λ cold dark matter model. We report these limits and use them to constrain the physics of cosmic inflation via Gaussianity, adiabaticity, the power spectrum of primordial fluctuations, gravitational waves, and spatial curvature. We also constrain models of dark energy via its equation of state, parity-violating interaction, and neutrino properties, such as mass and the number of species. We detect no convincing deviations from the minimal model. The six parameters and the corresponding 68% uncertainties, derived from the WMAP data combined with the distance measurements from the Type Ia supernovae (SN) and the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) in the distribution of galaxies, are: Ω b h 2 = 0.02267+0.00058 –0.00059, Ω c h 2 = 0.1131 ± 0.0034, ΩΛ = 0.726 ± 0.015, ns = 0.960 ± 0.013, τ = 0.084 ± 0.016, and at k = 0.002 Mpc-1. From these, we derive σ8 = 0.812 ± 0.026, H 0 = 70.5 ± 1.3 km s-1 Mpc–1, Ω b = 0.0456 ± 0.0015, Ω c = 0.228 ± 0.013, Ω m h 2 = 0.1358+0.0037 –0.0036, z reion = 10.9 ± 1.4, and t 0 = 13.72 ± 0.12 Gyr. With the WMAP data combined with BAO and SN, we find the limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r 1 is disfavored even when gravitational waves are included, which constrains the models of inflation that can produce significant gravitational waves, such as chaotic or power-law inflation models, or a blue spectrum, such as hybrid inflation models. We obtain tight, simultaneous limits on the (constant) equation of state of dark energy and the spatial curvature of the universe: –0.14 < 1 + w < 0.12(95%CL) and –0.0179 < Ω k < 0.0081(95%CL). We provide a set of WMAP distance priors, to test a variety of dark energy models with spatial curvature. We test a time-dependent w with a present value constrained as –0.33 < 1 + w 0 < 0.21 (95% CL). Temperature and dark matter fluctuations are found to obey the adiabatic relation to within 8.9% and 2.1% for the axion-type and curvaton-type dark matter, respectively. The power spectra of TB and EB correlations constrain a parity-violating interaction, which rotates the polarization angle and converts E to B. The polarization angle could not be rotated more than –59 < Δα < 24 (95% CL) between the decoupling and the present epoch. We find the limit on the total mass of massive neutrinos of ∑m ν < 0.67 eV(95%CL), which is free from the uncertainty in the normalization of the large-scale structure data. The number of relativistic degrees of freedom (dof), expressed in units of the effective number of neutrino species, is constrained as N eff = 4.4 ± 1.5 (68%), consistent with the standard value of 3.04. Finally, quantitative limits on physically-motivated primordial non-Gaussianity parameters are –9 < f local NL < 111 (95% CL) and –151 < f equil NL < 253 (95% CL) for the local and equilateral models, respectively.

5,904 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The current status of particle dark matter, including experimental evidence and theoretical motivations, including direct and indirect detection techniques, is discussed in this paper. But the authors focus on neutralinos in models of supersymmetry and Kaluza-Klein dark matter in universal extra dimensions.

4,614 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the neutralino is considered as a superpartner in many supersymmetric theories, and the cosmological abundance of neutralino and the event rates for both direct and indirect detection schemes are discussed.
Abstract: There is almost universal agreement among astronomers that most of the mass in the Universe and most of the mass in the Galactic halo is dark. Many lines of reasoning suggest that the dark matter consists of some new, as yet undiscovered, weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP). There is now a vast experimental effort being surmounted to detect WIMPS in the halo. The most promising techniques involve direct detection in low-background laboratory detectors and indirect detection through observation of energetic neutrinos from annihilation of WIMPs that have accumulated in the Sun and/or the Earth. Of the many WIMP candidates, perhaps the best motivated and certainly the most theoretically developed is the neutralino, the lightest superpartner in many supersymmetric theories. We review the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model and discuss prospects for detection of neutralino dark matter. We review in detail how to calculate the cosmological abundance of the neutralino and the event rates for both direct- and indirect-detection schemes, and we discuss astrophysical and laboratory constraints on supersymmetric models. We isolate and clarify the uncertainties from particle physics, nuclear physics, and astrophysics that enter at each step in the calculation. We briefly review other related dark-matter candidates and detection techniques.

2,047 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented a model of polarized foreground emission that captures the large angular scale characteristics of the microwave sky and analyzed the 3-year full-sky maps of the polarization and cosmological implications.
Abstract: The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has mapped the entire sky in five frequency bands between 23 and 94 GHz with polarization-sensitive radiometers. We present 3 year full-sky maps of the polarization and analyze them for foreground emission and cosmological implications. These observations open up a new window for understanding how the universe began and help set a foundation for future observations. WMAP observes significant levels of polarized foreground emission due to both Galactic synchrotron radiation and thermal dust emission. Synchrotron radiation is the dominant signal at l < 50 and ν 40 GHz, while thermal dust emission is evident at 94 GHz. The least contaminated channel is at 61 GHz. We present a model of polarized foreground emission that captures the large angular scale characteristics of the microwave sky. After applying a Galactic mask that cuts 25.7% of the sky, we show that the high Galactic latitude rms polarized foreground emission, averaged over l = 4-6, ranges from ≈5 μK at 22 GHz to 0.6 μK at 61 GHz. By comparison, the levels of intrinsic CMB polarization for a ΛCDM model with an optical depth of τ = 0.09 and assumed tensor-to-scalar ratio r = 0.3 are ≈0.3 μK for E-mode polarization and ≈0.1 μK for B-mode polarization. To analyze the maps for CMB polarization at l < 16, we subtract a model of the foreground emission that is based primarily on a scaling WMAP's 23 GHz map. In the foreground-corrected maps, we detect l(l + 1)C/2π = 0.086 ± 0.029 (μK)2. This is interpreted as the result of rescattering of the CMB by free electrons released during reionization at zr = 10.9 for a model with instantaneous reionization. By computing the likelihood of just the EE data as a function of τ we find τ = 0.10 ± 0.03. When the same EE data are used in the full six-parameter fit to all WMAP data (TT, TE, EE), we find τ = 0.09 ± 0.03. Marginalization over the foreground subtraction affects this value by δτ < 0.01. We see no evidence for B modes, limiting them to l(l + 1)C/2π = -0.04 ± 0.03 (μK)2. We perform a template fit to the E-mode and B-mode data with an approximate model for the tensor scalar ratio. We find that the limit from the polarization signals alone is r < 2.2 (95% CL), where r is evaluated at k = 0.002 Mpc-1. This corresponds to a limit on the cosmic density of gravitational waves of ΩGWh2 < 5 × 10-12. From the full WMAP analysis, we find r < 0.55 (95% CL) corresponding to a limit of ΩGWh2 < 1 × 10-12 (95% CL). The limit on r is approaching the upper bound of predictions for some of the simplest models of inflation, r ~ 0.3.

1,969 citations