scholarly journals Planck intermediate results

2017 ◽  
Vol 599 ◽  
pp. A51 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
N. Aghanim ◽  
M. Ashdown ◽  
J. Aumont ◽  
C. Baccigalupi ◽  
...  

The characterization of the Galactic foregrounds has been shown to be the main obstacle in thechallenging quest to detect primordial B-modes in the polarized microwave sky. We make use of the Planck-HFI 2015 data release at high frequencies to place new constraints on the properties of the polarized thermal dust emission at high Galactic latitudes. Here, we specifically study the spatial variability of the dust polarized spectral energy distribution (SED), and its potential impact on the determination of the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r. We use the correlation ratio of the CBBℓ angular power spectra between the 217 and 353 GHz channels as a tracer of these potential variations, computed on different high Galactic latitude regions, ranging from 80% to 20% of the sky. The new insight from Planck data is a departure of the correlation ratio from unity that cannot be attributed to a spurious decorrelation due to the cosmic microwave background, instrumental noise, or instrumental systematics. The effect is marginally detected on each region, but the statistical combination of all the regions gives more than 99% confidence for this variation in polarized dust properties. In addition, we show that the decorrelation increases when there is a decrease in the mean column density of the region of the sky being considered, and we propose a simple power-law empirical model for this dependence, which matches what is seen in the Planck data. We explore the effect that this measured decorrelation has on simulations of the BICEP2-Keck Array/Planck analysis and show that the 2015 constraints from these data still allow a decorrelation between the dust at 150 and 353 GHz that is compatible with our measured value. Finally, using simplified models, we show that either spatial variation of the dust SED or of the dust polarization angle are able to produce decorrelations between 217 and 353 GHz data similar to the values we observe in the data.

Author(s):  
Yuto Minami

Abstract We study a strategy to determine miscalibrated polarization angles of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments using the observed $EB$ polarization power spectra of CMB and Galactic foreground emission. We apply the methodology of Y. Minami et al. (Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2019, 083E02, 2019), developed for full-sky observations to ground-based experiments such as Simons Observatory. We take into account the $E$-to-$B$ leakage and $\ell$-to-$\ell$ covariance due to partial sky coverage using the public code NaMaster. We show that our method yields an unbiased estimate of miscalibrated angles. Our method also enables simultaneous determination of miscalibrated angles and the intrinsic $EB$ power spectrum of polarized dust emission when the latter is proportional to $\sqrt{C_\ell^{EE}C_\ell^{BB}}$ and $C_\ell^{BB}$ is proportional to $C_\ell^{EE}$.


2018 ◽  
Vol 618 ◽  
pp. A166 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Krachmalnicoff ◽  
E. Carretti ◽  
C. Baccigalupi ◽  
G. Bernardi ◽  
S. Brown ◽  
...  

We have analyzed the southern sky emission in linear polarization at 2.3 GHz as observed by the S -band Polarization All Sky Survey (S-PASS). Our purpose is to study the properties of the diffuse Galactic polarized synchrotron as a contaminant to B-mode observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. We studied the angular distribution of the S-PASS signal at intermediate and high Galactic latitudes by means of the polarization angular power spectra. The power spectra, computed in the multipole interval 20 ≤ ℓ ≤ 1000, show a decay of the spectral amplitude as a function of multipole for ℓ ≲ 200, typical of the diffuse emission. At smaller angular scales, power spectra are dominated by the radio point source radiation. We find that, at low multipoles, spectra can be approximated by a power law CℓEE,BB ∝ ℓα, with α ≃ −3, and characterized by a B-to-E ratio of about 0.5. We measured the polarized synchrotron spectral energy distribution (SED) in harmonic space, by combining S-PASS power spectra with low frequency WMAP and Planck ones, and by fitting their frequency dependence in six multipole bins, in the range 20 ≤ ℓ ≤ 140. Results show that the recovered SED, in the frequency range 2.3–33 GHz, is compatible with a power law with βs = −3.22 ± 0.08, which appears to be constant over the considered multipole range and in the different Galactic cuts. Combining the S-PASS total polarized intensity maps with those coming from WMAP and Planck we derived a map of the synchrotron spectral index βs at angular resolution of 2° on about 30% of the sky. The recovered βs distribution peaks at the value around −3.2. It exibits an angular power spectrum which can be approximated with a power law Cℓ ∝ ℓγ with γ ≃ −2.6. We also measured a significant spatial correlation between synchrotron and thermal dust signals, as traced by the Planck 353 GHz channel. This correlation reaches about 40% on the larger angular scales, decaying considerably at the degree scales. Finally, we used the S-PASS maps to assess the polarized synchrotron contamination to CMB observations of the B-modes at higher frequencies. We divided the sky in small patches (with fsky ≃ 1%) and find that, at 90 GHz, the minimal contamination, in the cleanest regions of the sky, is at the level of an equivalent tensor-to-scalar ratio rsynch ≃ 10−3. Moreover, by combining S-PASS data with Planck 353 GHz observations, we recover a map of the minimum level of total polarized foreground contamination to B-modes, finding that there is no region of the sky, at any frequency, where this contamination lies below equivalent tenor-to-scalar ratio rFG ≃ 10−3. This result confirms the importance of observing both high and low frequency foregrounds in CMB B-mode measurements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 642 ◽  
pp. A217
Author(s):  
B. Regaldo-Saint Blancard ◽  
F. Levrier ◽  
E. Allys ◽  
E. Bellomi ◽  
F. Boulanger

The statistical characterization of the diffuse magnetized interstellar medium (ISM) and Galactic foregrounds to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) poses a major challenge. To account for their non-Gaussian statistics, we need a data analysis approach capable of efficiently quantifying statistical couplings across scales. This information is encoded in the data, but most of it is lost when using conventional tools, such as one-point statistics and power spectra. The wavelet scattering transform (WST), a low-variance statistical descriptor of non-Gaussian processes introduced in data science, opens a path towards this goal. To establish the methodology, we applied the WST to noise-free maps of dust polarized thermal emission computed from a numerical simulation of magnetohydrodynamical turbulence in the diffuse ISM. We analyzed normalized complex Stokes maps and maps of the polarization fraction and polarization angle. The WST yields a few thousand coefficients; some of them measure the amplitude of the signal at a given scale, and the others characterize the couplings between scales and orientations. The dependence on orientation can be fitted with the reduced wavelet scattering transform (RWST), an angular model introduced in previous works for total intensity maps. The RWST provides a statistical description of the polarization maps, quantifying their multiscale properties in terms of isotropic and anisotropic contributions. It allowed us to exhibit the dependence of the map structure on the orientation of the mean magnetic field and to quantify the non-Gaussianity of the data. We also used RWST coefficients, complemented by additional constraints, to generate random synthetic maps with similar statistics. Their agreement with the original maps demonstrates the comprehensiveness of the statistical description provided by the RWST. This work is a step forward in the analysis of observational data and the modeling of CMB foregrounds. We also release PyWST, a public Python package to perform WST and RWST analyses of two-dimensional data.


2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Jurkić ◽  
D. Kotnik-Karuza

Abstractthe ISO infrared spectra and the SAAO long-term JHKL photometry of RR Tel in the epochs during minimum obscuration are studied in order to construct a circumstellar dust model. the spectral energy distribution in the near- and the mid-IR spectral range (1–15 μm) was obtained for an epoch without the pronounced dust obscuration. the DUSTY code was used to solve the radiative transfer through the dust and to determine the circumstellar dust properties of the inner dust regions around the Mira component. Dust temperature, maximum grain size, dust density distribution, mass-loss rate, terminal wind velocity and optical depth are determined. the spectral energy distribution and the long-term JHKL photometry during an epoch of minimum obscuration show almost unattenuated stellar source and strong dust emission which cannot be explained by a single dust shell model. We propose a two-component model consisting of an optically thin circmustellar dust shell and optically thick dust outside the line of sight in some kind of a flattened geometry, which is responsible for most of the observed dust thermal emission.


1997 ◽  
Vol 180 ◽  
pp. 365-365
Author(s):  
B. E. Reddy ◽  
M. Parthasarathy

CCD imaging and BVRI photometry of 14 IRAS sources with far-IR colours similar to planetary nebulae and post-AGB stars are presented. Also results of optical and near-IR spectroscopy of 10 of these candidates are given. Based on the spectral energy distribution from 0.4 μm to 100 μm, the sample of program stars are put into two groups. The sources IRAS 08187-1905, IRAS 05238-0626 and IRAS 17086-2403 present similar flux distributions. These three sources have detached cold dust components with dust radii Rd ≈ 1000 R∗. The low infrared variability of theses sources suggests that the intense mass loss has been ceased. All three sources are at high galactic latitude (1>9°) suggesting that these are old low-mass evolved stars. In the IRAS colour-colour diagram of Likkel et al (1991) these sources fall in the region where most of the stars are evolved stars and PNe but without CO detection. This is consistent with at least one source IRAS 17086-2403, in which OH and CO molecular features are not detected. The far-IR excess, non-variability and high latitude of these objects suggest that these are post-AGB supergiants, slowly evolving towards planetary nebula phase.


2017 ◽  
Vol 604 ◽  
pp. A52 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bracco ◽  
P. Palmeirim ◽  
Ph. André ◽  
R. Adam ◽  
P. Ade ◽  
...  

The characterization of dust properties in the interstellar medium is key for understanding the physics and chemistry of star formation. Mass estimates are crucial to determine gravitational collapse conditions for the birth of new stellar objects in molecular clouds. However, most of these estimates rely on dust models that need further observational constraints to capture the relevant parameter variations depending on the local environment: from clouds to prestellar and protostellar cores. We present results of a new study of dust emissivity changes based on millimeter continuum data obtained with the NIKA camera at the IRAM-30 m telescope. Observing dust emission at 1.15 mm and 2 mm allows us to constrain the dust emissivity index, β, in the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of the dust spectral energy distribution far from its peak emission, where the contribution of other parameters (i.e. dust temperature) is more important. Focusing on the Taurus molecular cloud, one of the most famous low-mass star-forming regions in the Gould Belt, we analyze the emission properties of several distinct objects in the B213 filament. This subparsec-sized region is of particular interest since it is characterized by a collection ofevolutionary stages of early star formation: three prestellar cores, two Class 0/I protostellar cores and one Class II object. We are therefore able to compare dust properties among a sequence of sources that likely derive from the same parent filament. By means of the ratio of the two NIKA channel maps, we show that in the Rayleigh-Jeans approximation, βRJ varies among the objects: it decreases from prestellar cores (βRJ ~ 2) to protostellar cores (βRJ ~ 1) and the Class II object (βRJ ~ 0). For one prestellar and two protostellar cores, we produce a robust study using available Herschel data to constrain the dust temperature of the sources. By using the Abel transform inversion technique we derive accurate radial temperature profiles that allow us to obtain radial β profiles. We find systematic spatial variations of β in the protostellar cores that are not observed in the prestellar core. While in the former case β decreases toward the center (with β varying between 1 and 2), in the latter it remains constant (β = 2.4 ± 0.3). Moreover, the dust emissivity index appears anticorrelated with the dust temperature. We discuss the implication of these results in terms of dust grain evolution between pre- and protostellar cores.


2019 ◽  
Vol 631 ◽  
pp. A38 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Lianou ◽  
P. Barmby ◽  
A. A. Mosenkov ◽  
M. Lehnert ◽  
O. Karczewski

Aims. We derived the dust properties for 753 local galaxies and examine how these relate to some of their physical properties. We present the derived dust emission properties, including model spectral energy distribution (SEDs), star formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses, as well as their relations. Methods. We modelled the global dust-SEDs for 753 galaxies, treated statistically as an ensemble within a hierarchical Bayesian dust-SED modelling approach, so as to derive their infrared (IR) emission properties. To create the observed dust-SEDs, we used a multi-wavelength set of observations, ranging from near-IR to far-IR-to-submillimeter wavelengths. The model-derived properties are the dust masses (Mdust), the average interstellar radiation field intensities (Uav), the mass fraction of very small dust grains (“QPAH” fraction), as well as their standard deviations. In addition, we used mid-IR observations to derive SFR and stellar masses, quantities independent of the dust-SED modelling. Results. We derive distribution functions of the properties for the galaxy ensemble and as a function of galaxy type. The mean value of Mdust for the early-type galaxies (ETGs) is lower than that for the late-type and irregular galaxies (LTGs and Irs, respectively), despite ETGs and LTGs having stellar masses spanning across the whole range observed. The Uav and “QPAH” fraction show no difference among different galaxy types. When fixing Uav to the Galactic value, the derived “QPAH” fraction varies across the Galactic value (0.071). The specific SFR increases with galaxy type, while this is not the case for the dust-specific SFR (SFR/Mdust), showing an almost constant star formation efficiency per galaxy type. The galaxy sample is characterised by a tight relationship between the dust mass and the stellar mass for the LTGs and Irs, while ETGs scatter around this relation and tend towards smaller dust masses. While the relation indicates that Mdust may fundamentally be linked to M⋆, metallicity and Uav are the second parameter driving the scatter, which we investigate in a forthcoming work. We used the extended Kennicutt–Schmidt (KS) law to estimate the gas mass and the gas-to-dust mass ratio (GDR). The gas mass derived from the extended KS law is on average ∼20% higher than that derived from the KS law, and a large standard deviation indicates the importance of the average star formation present to regulate star formation and gas supply. The average GDR for the LTGs and Irs is 370, and including the ETGs gives an average of 550.


Author(s):  
Yuto Minami ◽  
Hiroki Ochi ◽  
Kiyotomo Ichiki ◽  
Nobuhiko Katayama ◽  
Eiichiro Komatsu ◽  
...  

Abstract We show that the cosmic birefringence and miscalibrated polarization angles can be determined simultaneously by cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments using the cross-correlation between $E$- and $B$-mode polarization data. This is possible because the polarization angles of the CMB are rotated by both the cosmic birefringence and miscalibration effects, whereas those of the Galactic foreground emission are rotated only by the latter. Our method does not require prior knowledge of the $E$- and $B$-mode power spectra of the foreground emission, but uses only the knowledge of the CMB polarization spectra. Specifically, we relate the observed $EB$ correlation to the difference between the observed$E$- and $B$-mode spectra in the sky, and use different multipole dependences of the CMB (given by theory) and foreground spectra (given by data) to derive the likelihood for the miscalibration angle $\alpha$ and the birefringence angle $\beta$. We show that a future satellite mission similar to LiteBIRD can determine $\beta$ with a precision of 10 arcmin.


2020 ◽  
Vol 633 ◽  
pp. A47 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Hocdé ◽  
N. Nardetto ◽  
E. Lagadec ◽  
G. Niccolini ◽  
A. Domiciano de Souza ◽  
...  

Context. The infrared (IR) excess of classical Cepheids is seldom studied and poorly understood despite observational evidence and the potential for its contribution to induce systematics on the period-luminosity (PL) relation used in the calibration of the extragalactic distance scale. Aims. This study aims to understand the physical origin of the IR excess found in the spectral energy distribution (SED) of 5 Cepheids: RS Pup (P = 41.46d), ζ Gem (P = 10.15d), η Aql (P = 7.18d), V Cen (P = 5.49d) and SU Cyg (P = 3.85d). Methods. A time series of atmospheric models along the pulsation cycle were fitted to a compilation of data, including optical and near-IR photometry, Spitzer spectra (secured at a specific phase), interferometric angular diameters, effective temperature estimates, and radial velocity measurements. Herschel images in two bands were also analyzed qualitatively. In this fitting process, based on the SPIPS algorithm, a residual was found in the SED, whatever the pulsation phase, and for wavelengths larger than about 1.2 μm, which corresponds to the so-determined infrared excess of Cepheids. This IR excess was then corrected from interstellar medium absorption in order to infer the presence (or absence) of dust shells and was, ultimately, used in order to fit a model for a shell of ionized gas. Results. For all Cepheids, we find a continuum IR excess increasing up to approximately −0.1 magnitudes at 30 μm, which cannot be explained by a hot or cold dust model of CircumStellar Environment (CSE). However, a weak but significant dust emission at 9.7 μm is found for ζ Gem, η Aql and RS Pup, while clear interstellar clouds are seen in the Herschel images for V Cen and RS Pup. We show, for the first time, that the IR excess of Cepheids can be explained by free–free emission from a thin shell of ionized gas, with a thickness of ≃15% of the star radius, a mass of 10−9−10−7M⊙ and a temperature ranging between 3500 and 4500 K. Conclusions. The presence of a thin shell of ionized gas around Cepheids must be tested with interferometers operating in the visible or mid-IR, or using radio telescopes. The impact of such CSEs of ionized gas on the PL relation of Cepheids also calls for further investigation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S292) ◽  
pp. 259-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Onaka

AbstractInfrared (IR) observations provide significant information on the lifecycle of dust grains in the interstellar medium (ISM), which is crucial for the understanding of the evolution of matter in the universe. The IR spectral energy distribution (SED) of the dust emission tells us the relative abundance of sub-micron grains, very small grains, and carriers of the unidentified infrared (UIR) emission bands, since they emit the far-IR, the mid-IR, and the UIR bands from the near- to mid-IR, respectively. On the other hand, the UIR emission bands themselves offer a useful means to probe the physical conditions from which the band emission arises because each band is assigned to a specific C-H or C-C vibration mode and because its relative intensity should reflect the properties of the band carriers and the physical conditions of the environment. Here the two diagnostic methods using IR observations are briefly described together with examples of the observational results. Implications for the dust lifecycle are also discussed.


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