5,474 research outputs found
Effects of Foreground Contamination on the Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Measured by MAP
We study the effects of diffuse Galactic, far-infrared extragalactic source,
and radio point source emission on the cosmic microwave background (CMB)
anisotropy data anticipated from the MAP experiment. We focus on the
correlation function and genus statistics measured from mock MAP
foreground-contaminated CMB anisotropy maps generated in a spatially-flat
cosmological constant dominated cosmological model. Analyses of the simulated
MAP data at 90 GHz (0.3 deg FWHM resolution smoothed) show that foreground
effects on the correlation function are small compared with cosmic variance.
However, the Galactic emission, even just from the region with |b| > 20 deg,
significantly affects the topology of CMB anisotropy, causing a negative genus
shift non-Gaussianity signal. Given the expected level of cosmic variance, this
effect can be effectively reduced by subtracting existing Galactic foreground
emission models from the observed data. IRAS and DIRBE far-infrared
extragalactic sources have little effect on the CMB anisotropy. Radio point
sources raise the amplitude of the correlation function considerably on scales
below 0.5 deg. Removal of bright radio sources above a 5 \sigma detection limit
effectively eliminates this effect. Radio sources also result in a positive
genus curve asymmetry (significant at 2 \sigma) on 0.5 deg scales. Accurate
radio point source data is essential for an unambiguous detection of CMB
anisotropy non-Gaussianity on these scales. Non-Gaussianity of cosmological
origin can be detected from the foreground-subtracted CMB anisotropy map at the
2 \sigma level if the measured genus shift parameter |\Delta\nu| >= 0.02 (0.04)
or if the measured genus asymmetry parameter |\Delta g| >= 0.03 (0.08) on a 0.3
(1.0) deg FWHM scale.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for Publication in Astrophysical
Journal (Some sentences and figures modified
Detecting Pulsars with Interstellar Scintillation in Variance Images
Pulsars are the only cosmic radio sources known to be sufficiently compact to
show diffractive interstellar scintillations. Images of the variance of radio
signals in both time and frequency can be used to detect pulsars in large-scale
continuum surveys using the next generation of synthesis radio telescopes. This
technique allows a search over the full field of view while avoiding the need
for expensive pixel-by-pixel high time resolution searches. We investigate the
sensitivity of detecting pulsars in variance images. We show that variance
images are most sensitive to pulsars whose scintillation time-scales and
bandwidths are close to the subintegration time and channel bandwidth.
Therefore, in order to maximise the detection of pulsars for a given radio
continuum survey, it is essential to retain a high time and frequency
resolution, allowing us to make variance images sensitive to pulsars with
different scintillation properties. We demonstrate the technique with
Murchision Widefield Array data and show that variance images can indeed lead
to the detection of pulsars by distinguishing them from other radio sources.Comment: 8 papes, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
An experimental route to spatiotemporal chaos in an extended 1D oscillators array
We report experimental evidence of the route to spatiotemporal chaos in a
large 1D-array of hotspots in a thermoconvective system. Increasing the driving
force, a stationary cellular pattern becomes unstable towards a mixed pattern
of irregular clusters which consist of time-dependent localized patterns of
variable spatiotemporal coherence. These irregular clusters coexist with the
basic cellular pattern. The Fourier spectra corresponding to this
synchronization transition reveals the weak coupling of a resonant triad. This
pattern saturates with the formation of a unique domain of great spatiotemporal
coherence. As we further increase the driving force, a supercritical
bifurcation to a spatiotemporal beating regime takes place. The new pattern is
characterized by the presence of two stationary clusters with a characteristic
zig-zag geometry. The Fourier analysis reveals a stronger coupling and enables
to find out that this beating phenomena is produced by the splitting of the
fundamental spatiotemporal frequencies in a narrow band. Both secondary
instabilities are phase-like synchronization transitions with global and
absolute character. Far beyond this threshold, a new instability takes place
when the system is not able to sustain the spatial frequency splitting,
although the temporal beating remains inside these domains. These experimental
results may support the understanding of other systems in nature undergoing
similar clustering processes.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure
Energy conditions in f(R) gravity and Brans-Dicke theories
The equivalence between f(R) gravity and scalar-tensor theories is invoked to
study the null, strong, weak and dominant energy conditions in Brans-Dicke
theory. We consider the validity of the energy conditions in Brans-Dicke theory
by invoking the energy conditions derived from a generic f(R) theory. The
parameters involved are shown to be consistent with an accelerated expanding
universe.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, to appear in IJMP
A critical role for Cadherin6B in regulating avian neural crest emigration
Neural crest cells originate in the dorsal neural tube but subsequently undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), delaminate, and migrate to diverse locations in the embryo where they contribute to a variety of derivatives. Cadherins are a family of cellâcell adhesion molecules expressed in a broad range of embryonic tissues, including the neural tube. In particular, cadherin6B (Cad6B) is expressed in the dorsal neural tube prior to neural crest emigration but is then repressed by the transcription factor Snail2, expressed by premigratory and early migrating cranial neural crest cells. To examine the role of Cad6B during neural crest EMT, we have perturbed Cad6B protein levels in the cranial neural crest-forming region and have examined subsequent effects on emigration and migration. The results show that knock-down of Cad6B leads to premature neural crest cell emigration, whereas Cad6B overexpression disrupts migration. Our data reveal a novel role for Cad6B in controlling the proper timing of neural crest emigration and delamination from the neural tube of the avian embryo
The Topology of Large Scale Structure in the 1.2 Jy IRAS Redshift Survey
We measure the topology (genus) of isodensity contour surfaces in volume
limited subsets of the 1.2 Jy IRAS redshift survey, for smoothing scales
\lambda=4\hmpc, 7\hmpc, and 12\hmpc. At 12\hmpc, the observed genus
curve has a symmetric form similar to that predicted for a Gaussian random
field. At the shorter smoothing lengths, the observed genus curve shows a
modest shift in the direction of an isolated cluster or ``meatball'' topology.
We use mock catalogs drawn from cosmological N-body simulations to investigate
the systematic biases that affect topology measurements in samples of this size
and to determine the full covariance matrix of the expected random errors. We
incorporate the error correlations into our evaluations of theoretical models,
obtaining both frequentist assessments of absolute goodness-of-fit and Bayesian
assessments of models' relative likelihoods. We compare the observed topology
of the 1.2 Jy survey to the predictions of dynamically evolved, unbiased,
gravitational instability models that have Gaussian initial conditions. The
model with an , power-law initial power spectrum achieves the best
overall agreement with the data, though models with a low-density cold dark
matter power spectrum and an power-law spectrum are also consistent. The
observed topology is inconsistent with an initially Gaussian model that has
, and it is strongly inconsistent with a Voronoi foam model, which has a
non-Gaussian, bubble topology.Comment: ApJ submitted, 39 pages, LaTeX(aasms4), 12 figures, 1 Tabl
Extended quantum conditional entropy and quantum uncertainty inequalities
Quantum states can be subjected to classical measurements, whose
incompatibility, or uncertainty, can be quantified by a comparison of certain
entropies. There is a long history of such entropy inequalities between
position and momentum. Recently these inequalities have been generalized to the
tensor product of several Hilbert spaces and we show here how their derivations
can be shortened to a few lines and how they can be generalized. All the
recently derived uncertainty relations utilize the strong subadditivity (SSA)
theorem; our contribution relies on directly utilizing the proof technique of
the original derivation of SSA.Comment: 4 page
Non-Gaussianity from Self-Ordering Scalar Fields
The Universe may harbor relics of the post-inflationary epoch in the form of
a network of self-ordered scalar fields. Such fossils, while consistent with
current cosmological data at trace levels, may leave too weak an imprint on the
cosmic microwave background and the large-scale distribution of matter to allow
for direct detection. The non-Gaussian statistics of the density perturbations
induced by these fields, however, permit a direct means to probe for these
relics. Here we calculate the bispectrum that arises in models of self-ordered
scalar fields. We find a compact analytic expression for the bispectrum,
evaluate it numerically, and provide a simple approximation that may be useful
for data analysis. The bispectrum is largest for triangles that are aligned
(have edges ) as opposed to the local-model
bispectrum, which peaks for squeezed triangles (), and
the equilateral bispectrum, which peaks at . We
estimate that this non-Gaussianity should be detectable by the Planck satellite
if the contribution from self-ordering scalar fields to primordial
perturbations is near the current upper limit.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
CMB Temperature Polarization Correlation and Primordial Gravitational Waves
We examine the use of the CMB's TE cross correlation power spectrum as a
complementary test to detect primordial gravitational waves (PGWs). The first
method used is based on the determination of the lowest multipole, ,
where the TE power spectrum, , first changes sign. The second
method uses Wiener filtering on the CMB TE data to remove the density
perturbations contribution to the TE power spectrum. In principle this leaves
only the contribution of PGWs. We examine two toy experiments (one ideal and
another more realistic) to see their ability to constrain PGWs using the TE
power spectrum alone. We found that an ideal experiment, one limited only by
cosmic variance, can detect PGWs with a ratio of tensor to scalar metric
perturbation power spectra at 99.9% confidence level using only the TE
correlation. This value is comparable with current constraints obtained by WMAP
based on the upper limits to the B-mode amplitude. We demonstrate
that to measure PGWs by their contribution to the TE cross correlation power
spectrum in a realistic ground based experiment when real instrumental noise is
taken into account, the tensor-to-scalar ratio, , should be approximately
three times larger.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, version matches published version. Combined
with 0710.365
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