Towards a free-free template for CMB foregrounds

A full-sky template map of the Galactic free-free foreground emission component is increasingly important for high sensitivity CMB experiments. We use the recently published \ha data of both the northern and southern skies as the basis for such a template. The first step is to correct the \ha maps for dust absorption using the 100 $\mu$m dust maps of Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davis (1998). We show that for a range of longitudes, the Galactic latitude distribution of absorption suggests that it is 33 per cent of the full extragalactic absorption. A reliable absorption-corrected \ha map can be produced for $\sim 95$ per cent of the sky; the area for which a template cannot be recovered is the Galactic plane area $|b| < 5^{\circ}$, $l=260^{\circ}-0^{\circ}-160^{\circ}$ and some isolated dense dust clouds at intermediate latitudes. The second step is to convert the dust-corrected \ha data into a predicted radio surface brightness. The free-free emission formula is revised to give an accurate expression (1 per cent) for the radio emission covering the frequency range 100 MHz to 100 GHz and the electron temperature range 3000 to 20000 K. The main uncertainty when applying this expression is the variation of electron temperature across the sky. The emission formula is verified in several extended H{\sc ii} regions using data in the range 408 to 2326 MHz. A full-sky free-free template map is presented at 30 GHz; the scaling to other frequencies is given. The Haslam et al. all-sky 408 MHz map of the sky can be corrected for this free-free component, which amounts to a $\approx 6$ per cent correction at intermediate and high latitudes....Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in M.N.R.A.S. High-resolution versions of figs 2,7 (in colour), 9 and 11 can be obtained from ftp://ftp.jb.man.ac.uk/pub/cdickins/ff_paper/FINAL_FIGURES

Composição racial e a avaliação da reação intradérmica de Montenegro em portadores da leishmaniose cutâneo-mucosa

Em um estudo retrospectivo, indivíduos com a forma mucosa da leishmaniose foram pareados (sexo, idade e ocupação) a outros pacientes com a forma cutânea em atividade, não demonstrando-se diferença significante da freqüência nos grupos raciais. Do mesmo modo, o teste intradérmico de Montenegro não se mostrou diferente nos diversos grupos raciais, entre os 96 pares de pacientes estudados. Uma maior enduração foi observada em pacientes com o acometimento mucoso quando comparado aos cutâneos. _______________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTIn a retrospective study patients with mucosal leishmaniasis were paired (as regards age sex and occupation) with patients with active cutaneous disease. No signijicant racial dijference could be detected. In the same way the Montenegro cutaneous reaction was not different in 96pairs ofpatients studied as regards different racial groupings. A larger indurated area was observed in patients with mucosal leishmaniasis compared with the cutaneous form

A determination of the Spectra of Galactic components observed by WMAP

WMAP data when combined with ancillary data on free-free, synchrotron and dust allow an improved understanding of the spectrum of emission from each of these components. Here we examine the sky variation at intermediate latitudes using a cross-correlation technique. In particular, we compare the observed emission in 15 selected sky regions to three ``standard'' templates. The free-free emission of the diffuse ionised gas is fitted by a well-known spectrum at K and Ka band, but the derived emissivity corresponds to a mean electron temperature of ~4000-5000K. This is inconsistent with estimates from galactic HII regions. The origin of the discrepancy is unclear. The anomalous emission associated with dust is clearly detected in most of the 15 fields studied; it correlates well with the Finkbeiner et al. model 8 predictions (FDS8) at 94 GHz, with an effective spectral index between 20 and 60GHz of -2.85. Furthermore, the emissivity varies by a factor of ~2 from cloud to cloud. A modestly improved fit to the anomalous dust at K-band is provided by modulating the template by an estimate of the dust colour temperature, specifically FDS8*T^n. We find a preferred value n~1.6. The synchrotron emission steepens between GHz frequencies and the WMAP bands. There are indications of spectral index variations across the sky but the current data are not precise enough to accurately quantify this from region to region. Our analysis of the WMAP data indicates strongly that the dust-correlated emission at the low WMAP frequencies has a spectrum which is compatible with spinning dust; we find no evidence for a synchrotron component correlated with dust (abridged).Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, revised version uses cross-correlation method rather than T-T method. Paper re-organised and sent back to refere

By-catch species susceptibilities and potential for survival in Algarve (southern Portugal) deep-water crustacean trawl fishery

Bottom trawling for crustaceans in Portuguese coastal waters is an important fishery in terms of revenue, despite its negative impacts on deep-sea ecosystems. This fishery catches large amounts of unwanted species that were discarded for various reasons before the introduction of the Landing Obligation, which banned the discarding of regulated species. However, where it can be demonstrated that a species has an acceptably high likelihood of survival, exemptions to this ban may be granted. In this study, time-to-mortality was used to estimate immediate mortality rates and identify important biological characteristics determining the susceptibility of 14 by-catch species. most with commercial interest (Conger conger, Galeus melastomus, Helicolenus dactylopterus, Lepidorhombus boscii, Lophius budegassa, Lophius piscatorius, Merluccius merluccius. Micromesistius poutassou, Mullus surmuletus, Phycis blennoides. Scyliorhinus canicula, Trigla lyra. Trachurus trachurus and Trachurus piciuratus). Species with potential to survive after the discarding process were identified and a short-term survival assessment of conger eel (Conger conger) was performed. The results suggest that species with scales, gas bladder and high metabolic rates have higher post-discard mortality. Size was a critical factor determining survival in some species, with smaller individuals dying faster. The short-term survival rate of conger eel was determined to be 84% (95% Cl: 75.5 to 93.3%). The methodology and results from this study can help identify species that may survive the discarding process and factors influencing their survival.MINOUW project - Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union - 634495info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Photometric Redshift Estimation Using Spectral Connectivity Analysis

The development of fast and accurate methods of photometric redshift estimation is a vital step towards being able to fully utilize the data of next-generation surveys within precision cosmology. In this paper we apply a specific approach to spectral connectivity analysis (SCA; Lee & Wasserman 2009) called diffusion map. SCA is a class of non-linear techniques for transforming observed data (e.g., photometric colours for each galaxy, where the data lie on a complex subset of p-dimensional space) to a simpler, more natural coordinate system wherein we apply regression to make redshift predictions. As SCA relies upon eigen-decomposition, our training set size is limited to ~ 10,000 galaxies; we use the Nystrom extension to quickly estimate diffusion coordinates for objects not in the training set. We apply our method to 350,738 SDSS main sample galaxies, 29,816 SDSS luminous red galaxies, and 5,223 galaxies from DEEP2 with CFHTLS ugriz photometry. For all three datasets, we achieve prediction accuracies on par with previous analyses, and find that use of the Nystrom extension leads to a negligible loss of prediction accuracy relative to that achieved with the training sets. As in some previous analyses (e.g., Collister & Lahav 2004, Ball et al. 2008), we observe that our predictions are generally too high (low) in the low (high) redshift regimes. We demonstrate that this is a manifestation of attenuation bias, wherein measurement error (i.e., uncertainty in diffusion coordinates due to uncertainty in the measured fluxes/magnitudes) reduces the slope of the best-fit regression line. Mitigation of this bias is necessary if we are to use photometric redshift estimates produced by computationally efficient empirical methods in precision cosmology.Comment: Resubmitted to MNRAS (11 pages, 8 figures

Anomalous Microwave Emission from the HII region RCW175

We present evidence for anomalous microwave emission in the RCW175 \hii region. Motivated by 33 GHz 13\arcmin resolution data from the Very Small Array (VSA), we observed RCW175 at 31 GHz with the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) at a resolution of 4\arcmin. The region consists of two distinct components, G29.0-0.6 and G29.1-0.7, which are detected at high signal-to-noise ratio. The integrated flux density is $5.97\pm0.30$ Jy at 31 GHz, in good agreement with the VSA. The 31 GHz flux density is $3.28\pm0.38$ Jy ($8.6\sigma$) above the expected value from optically thin free-free emission based on lower frequency radio data and thermal dust constrained by IRAS and WMAP data. Conventional emission mechanisms such as optically thick emission from ultracompact \hii regions cannot easily account for this excess. We interpret the excess as evidence for electric dipole emission from small spinning dust grains, which does provide an adequate fit to the data.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submmited to ApJ Letter

IR-correlated 31 GHz radio emission from Orion East

Lynds dark cloud LDN1622 represents one of the best examples of anomalous dust emission, possibly originating from small spinning dust grains. We present Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) 31 GHz data of LDN1621, a diffuse dark cloud to the north of LDN1622 in a region known as Orion East. A broken ring with diameter g\approx 20 arcmin of diffuse emission is detected at 31 GHz, at \approx 20-30 mJy beam$^{-1}$ with an angular resolution of \approx 5 arcmin. The ring-like structure is highly correlated with Far Infra-Red emission at $12-100 \mu$m with correlation coefficients of r \approx 0.7-0.8, significant at $\sim10\sigma$. Multi-frequency data are used to place constraints on other components of emission that could be contributing to the 31 GHz flux. An analysis of the GB6 survey maps at 4.85 GHz yields a $3\sigma$ upper limit on free-free emission of 7.2 mJy beam$^{-1}$ (\la 30 per cent of the observed flux) at the CBI resolution. The bulk of the 31 GHz flux therefore appears to be mostly due to dust radiation. Aperture photometry, at an angular resolution of 13 arcmin and with an aperture of diameter 30 arcmin, allowed the use of IRAS maps and the {\it WMAP} 5-year W-band map at 93.5 GHz. A single modified blackbody model was fitted to the data to estimate the contribution from thermal dust, which amounts to \sim$10 per cent at 31 GHz. In this model, an excess of 1.52\pm 0.66 Jy (2.3\sigma) is seen at 31 GHz. Future high frequency$\sim$100-1000 GHz data, such as those from the {\it Planck} satellite, are required to accurately determine the thermal dust contribution at 31 GHz. Correlations with the IRAS$100 \mu$m gave a coupling coefficient of$18.1\pm4.4 \mu$K (MJy/sr)$^{-1}$, consistent with the values found for LDN1622.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, submitted to MNRA

Defective cancellous bone structure and abnormal response to PTH in cortical bone of mice lacking Cx43 cytoplasmic C-terminus domain

Connexin 43 (Cx43) forms gap junction channels and hemichannels that allow the communication among osteocytes, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts. Cx43 carboxy-terminal (CT) domain regulates channel opening and intracellular signaling by acting as a scaffold for structural and signaling proteins. To determine the role of Cx43 CT domain in bone, mice in which one allele of full length Cx43 was replaced by a mutant lacking the CT domain (Cx43(ΔCT/fl)) were studied. Cx43(ΔCT/fl) mice exhibit lower cancellous bone volume but higher cortical thickness than Cx43(fl/fl) controls, indicating that the CT domain is involved in normal cancellous bone gain but opposes cortical bone acquisition. Further, Cx43(ΔCT) is able to exert the functions of full length osteocytic Cx43 on cortical bone geometry and mechanical properties, demonstrating that domains other than the CT are responsible for Cx43 function in cortical bone. In addition, parathyroid hormone (PTH) failed to increase endocortical bone formation or energy to failure, a mechanical property that indicates resistance to fracture, in cortical bone in Cx43(ΔCT) mice with or without osteocytic full length Cx43. On the other hand, bone mass and bone formation markers were increased by the hormone in all mouse models, regardless of whether full length or Cx43(ΔCT) were or not expressed. We conclude that Cx43 CT domain is involved in proper bone acquisition; and that Cx43 expression in osteocytes is dispensable for some but not all PTH anabolic actions

ESO Imaging Survey. The Stellar Catalogue in the Chandra Deep Field South

(abridged) Stellar catalogues in five passbands (UBVRI) over an area of approximately 0.3 deg^2, comprising about 1200 objects, and in seven passbands (UBVRIJK) over approximately 0.1 deg^2, comprising about 400 objects, in the direction of the Chandra Deep Field South are presented. The 90% completeness level of the number counts is reached at approximately U = 23.8, B = 24.0, V = 23.5, R = 23.0, I = 21.0, J = 20.5, K = 19.0. A scheme is presented to select point sources from these catalogues, by combining the SExtractor parameter CLASS_STAR from all available passbands. Probable QSOs and unresolved galaxies are identified by using the previously developed \chi^2-technique (Hatziminaoglou et al 2002), that fits the overall spectral energy distributions to template spectra and determines the best fitting template. The observed number counts, colour-magnitude diagrams, colour-colour diagrams and colour distributions are presented and, to judge the quality of the data, compared to simulations based on the predictions of a Galactic Model convolved with the estimated completeness functions and the error model used to describe the photometric errors of the data. The resulting stellar catalogues and the objects identified as likely QSOs and unresolved galaxies with coordinates, observed magnitudes with errors and assigned spectral types by the $\chi^2$-technique are presented and are publicly available.Comment: Paper as it will appear in print. Complete figures and tables can be obtained from: http://www.eso.org/science/eis/eis_pub/eis_pub.html. Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepted for publicatio

Cosmological Black Holes as Seeds of Voids in Galaxy Distribution

Deep surveys indicate a bubbly structure of cosmological large scale which should be the result of evolution of primordial density perturbations. Several models have been proposed to explain origin and dynamics of such features but, till now, no exhaustive and fully consistent theory has been found. We discuss a model where cosmological black holes, deriving from primordial perturbations, are the seeds for large-scale-structure voids. We give details of dynamics and accretion of the system voids-cosmological black holes from the epochs $(z\simeq10^{3})$ till now finding that void of $40h^{-1}Mpc$ of diameter and under-density of -0.9 will fits the observations without conflicting with the homogeneity and isotropy of cosmic microwave background radiation.Comment: to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysic