Statistical simulations of the dust foreground to CMB polarization

Understand

The characterization of the dust polarization foreground to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is a necessary step towards the detection of the B-mode signal associated with primordial gravitational waves.

• We present a method to simulate maps of polarized dust emission on the sphere, similarly to what is done for the CMB anisotropies.
• This method builds on the understanding of Galactic polarization stemming from the analysis of Planck data.
• It relates the dust polarization sky to the structure of the Galactic magnetic field and its coupling with interstellar matter and turbulence.