Elliptic CMB Sky

The ellipticity of the anisotropy spots of the Cosmic Microwave Background measured by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has been studied. We find an average ellipticity of about 2, confirming with a far larger statistics similar results found first for the COBE-DMR CMB maps, and then for the BOOMERanG CMB maps. There are no preferred directions for the obliquity of the anisotropy spots. The average ellipticity is independent of temperature threshold and is present on scales both smaller and larger than the horizon at the last scattering. The measured ellipticity characteristics are consistent with being the effect of geodesics mixing occurring in an hyperbolic Universe, and can mark the emergence of CMB ellipticity as a new observable constant describing the Universe. There is no way of simulating this effect. Therefore we cannot exclude that the observed behavior of the measured ellipticity can result from a trivial topology in the popular flat $\Lambda$-CDM model, or from a non-trivial topology.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, the version to appear in Mod.Phys.Lett.

Messier 81's Planck view vs its halo mapping

This paper is a follow-up of a previous paper about the M82 galaxy and its halo based on Planck observations. As in the case of M82, so also for the M81 galaxy a substantial North-South and East-West temperature asymmetry is found, extending up to galactocentric distances of about $1.5^\circ$. The temperature asymmetry is almost frequency independent and can be interpreted as a Doppler-induced effect related to the M81 halo rotation and/or triggered by the gravitational interaction of the galaxies within the M81 Group. Along with the analogous study of several nearby edge-on spiral galaxies, the CMB temperature asymmetry method thus is shown to act as a direct tool to map the galactic haloes and/or the intergalactic bridges, invisible in other bands or by other methods.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, in press in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Main Journa

Planck's confirmation of the M31 disk and halo rotation

Planck's data acquired during the first 15.4 months of observations towards both the disk and halo of the M31 galaxy are analyzed. We confirm the existence of a temperature asymmetry, previously detected by using the 7-year WMAP data, along the direction of the M31 rotation, therefore indicative of a Doppler-induced effect. The asymmetry extends up to about 10 degrees (about 130 kpc) from the M31 center. We also investigate the recent issue raised in Rubin and Loeb (2014) about the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect from the diffuse hot gas in the Local Group, predicted to generate a hot spot of a few degrees size in the CMB maps in the direction of M31, where the free electron optical depth gets the maximum value. We also consider the issue whether in the opposite direction with respect to the M31 galaxy the same effect induces a minimum in temperature in the Planck's maps of the sky. We find that the Planck's data at 100 GHz show an effect even larger than that expected.Comment: 4 pages, 1 table, 2 figures, in press as a Letter in A&

Planck view of the M82 galaxy

Planck data towards the galaxy M82 are analyzed in the 70, 100 and 143 GHz bands. A substantial north-south and East-West temperature asymmetry is found, extending up to 1 degree from the galactic center. Being almost frequency-independent, these temperature asymmetries are indicative of a Doppler-induced effect regarding the line-of-sight dynamics on the halo scale, the ejections from the galactic center and, possibly, even the tidal interaction with M81 galaxy. The temperature asymmetry thus acts as a model-independent tool to reveal the bulk dynamics in nearby edge-on spiral galaxies, like the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect for clusters of galaxies.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, in press on A&

Planck revealed bulk motion of Centaurus A lobes

Planck data towards the active galaxy Centaurus A are analyzed in the 70, 100 and 143 GHz bands. We find a temperature asymmetry of the northern radio lobe with respect to the southern one that clearly extends at least up to 5 degrees from the Cen A center and diminishes towards the outer regions of the lobes. That transparent parameter - the temperature asymmetry - thus has to carry a principal information, i.e. indication on the line-of-sight bulk motion of the lobes, while the increase of that asymmetry at smaller radii reveals the differential dynamics of the lobes as expected at ejections from the center.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Letter to the Editor (in press

Detection of X-ray galaxy clusters based on the Kolmogorov method

The detection of clusters of galaxies in large surveys plays an important part in extragalactic astronomy, and particularly in cosmology, since cluster counts can give strong constraints on cosmological parameters. X-ray imaging is in particular a reliable means to discover new clusters, and large X-ray surveys are now available. Considering XMM-Newton data for a sample of 40 Abell clusters, we show that their analysis with a Kolmogorov distribution can provide a distinctive signature for galaxy clusters. The Kolmogorov method is sensitive to the correlations in the cluster X-ray properties and can therefore be used for their identification, thus allowing to search reliably for clusters in a simple way

Triangulum galaxy viewed by Planck

We used Planck data to study the M33 galaxy and find a substantial temperature asymmetry with respect to its minor axis projected onto the sky plane. This temperature asymmetry correlates well with the HI velocity field at 21 cm, at least within a galactocentric distance of 0.5 degree, and it is found to extend up to about 3 degrees from the galaxy center. We conclude that the revealed effect, that is, the temperature asymmetry and its extension, implies that we detected the differential rotation of the M33 galaxy and of its extended baryonic halo.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, in press on Astronomy and Astrophysics, main journa

Is there a common origin for the WMAP low multipole and for the ellipticity in BOOMERanG CMB maps?

We have measured the ellipticity of several degree scale anisotropies in the BOOMERanG maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at 150 GHz. The average ellipticity is around 2.6-2.7. The biases of the estimator of the ellipticity and for the noise are small in this case. Large spot elongation had been detected also for COBE-DMR maps. If this effect is due to geodesic mixing, it would indicate a non precisely zero curvature of the Universe which is among the discussed reasons of the WMAP low multipole anomaly. Both effects are related to the diameter of the Universe: the geodesics mixing through hyperbolic geometry, low multipoles through boundary conditions.This common reason can also be related with the origin of the the cosmological constant: the modes of vacuum fluctuations conditioned by the boundary conditions lead to a value of the cosmological constant being in remarkable agreement with the supernovae observations.Comment: Added: two co-authors and a comment on the possible relation of the discussed CMB properties with the origin of the observed value of the cosmological constan

WMAP confirming the ellipticity in BOOMERanG and COBE CMB maps

The recent study of BOOMERanG 150 GHz Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation maps have detected ellipticity of the temperature anisotropy spots independent on the temperature threshold. The effect has been found for spots up to several degrees in size, where the biases of the ellipticity estimator and of the noise are small. To check the effect, now we have studied, with the same algorithm and in the same sky region, the WMAP maps. We find ellipticity of the same average value also in WMAP maps, despite of the different sensitivity of the two experiments to low multipoles. Large spot elongations had been detected also for the COBE-DMR maps. If this effect is due to geodesic mixing and hence due to non precisely zero curvature of the hyperbolic Universe, it can be linked to the origin of WMAP low multipoles anomaly.Comment: More explanations and two references adde