The Distortion of the Cosmic Microwave Background Spectrum Due to Intergalactic Dust

Abstract

Infrared emission from intergalactic dust might compromise the ability of future experiments to detect subtle spectral distortions in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the early Universe. We provide the first estimate of foreground contamination of the CMB signal due to diffuse dust emission in the intergalactic medium. We use models of the extragalactic background light to calculate the intensity of intergalactic dust emission and find that emission by intergalactic dust at redshifts z<0.5 exceeds the sensitivity of the planned Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) to CMB spectral distortions by 1-3 orders of magnitude. We place an upper limit of 0.23% on the contribution to the far-infrared background from intergalactic dust emission.