The removal of artificially generated polarization in SHARP maps

We characterize the problem of artificial polarization for the Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Polarimeter (SHARP) through the use of simulated data and observations made at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). These erroneous, artificial polarization signals are introduced into the data through misalignments in the bolometer subarrays and by pointing drifts present during the data-taking procedure. An algorithm is outlined here to address this problem and correct for it, provided that one can measure the degree of the subarray misalignments and telescope pointing drifts. Tests involving simulated sources of Gaussian intensity profile indicate that the level of introduced artificial polarization is highly dependent on the angular size of the source. Despite this, the correction algorithm is effective at removing up to 60% of the artificial polarization during these tests. The analysis of Jupiter data taken in 2006 January and 2007 February indicates a mean polarization of 1:44% ± 0:04% and 0:95% ± 0:09%, respectively. The application of the correction algorithm yields mean reductions in the polarization of approximately 0.15% and 0.03% for the 2006 and 2007 data sets, respectively.