Talk:QUIET

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A fact from QUIET appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 28 May 2008.
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[edit] Q/U: frequency or polarization?

The article currently says "QUIET stands for Q/U Imaging ExperimenT, where Q and U are two microwave bands used for measurements. While the U band was changed to the W band during the design, the acronym remains." Is this definitely correct (i.e. is there a reference for it)? Another interpretation of the name would be the Stokes parameters Q and U, which is what the experiment will observe (along with the total intensity, I assume). Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 17:09, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

  • A very good point. Q and U as Stokes parameters makes more sense, especially since the Q and U bands overlap. I got the information from one of the papers available on the QUIET web site, but I might have mis-interpreted it. LouScheffer (talk) 18:40, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
  • I re-read the original source documents, and I see no explanation, so I'm afraid I supplied my own interpretation. Everywhere else Q/U is used, it refers to the Stokes parameters. So I'll take the explanation of the acronym out. Perhaps an email to one of the PIs can confirm the Stokes interpretation. LouScheffer (talk) 19:03, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
  • One of the paper authors, Keith Vanderlinde [kvand@uchicago.edu], confirms that the Q/U stands for the Stokes parameters, not the microwave bands. LouScheffer (talk) 03:46, 29 May 2008 (UTC)