2,068 research outputs found
Real space tests of the statistical isotropy and Gaussianity of the WMAP CMB data
ABRIDGED: We introduce and analyze a method for testing statistical isotropy
and Gaussianity and apply it to the WMAP CMB foreground reduced, temperature
maps, and cross-channel difference maps. We divide the sky into regions of
varying size and shape and measure the first four moments of the one-point
distribution within these regions, and using their simulated spatial
distributions we test the statistical isotropy and Gaussianity hypotheses. By
randomly varying orientations of these regions, we sample the underlying CMB
field in a new manner, that offers a richer exploration of the data content,
and avoids possible biasing due to a single choice of sky division. The
statistical significance is assessed via comparison with realistic Monte-Carlo
simulations.
We find the three-year WMAP maps to agree well with the isotropic, Gaussian
random field simulations as probed by regions corresponding to the angular
scales ranging from 6 deg to 30 deg at 68% confidence level. We report a
strong, anomalous (99.8% CL) dipole ``excess'' in the V band of the three-year
WMAP data and also in the V band of the WMAP five-year data (99.3% CL). We
notice the large scale hemispherical power asymmetry, and find that it is not
highly statistically significant in the WMAP three-year data (<~ 97%) at scales
l <= 40. The significance is even smaller if multipoles up to l=1024 are
considered (~90% CL). We give constraints on the amplitude of the
previously-proposed CMB dipole modulation field parameter. We easily detect the
residual foregrounds in cross-band difference maps at rms level <~ 7 \mu K (at
scales >~ 6 deg) and limit the systematical uncertainties to <~ 1.7 \mu K (at
scales >~ 30 deg).Comment: 20 pages, 20 figures; more tests added; updated to match the version
to be published in JCA
Cross-correlation of the CMB and foregrounds phases derived from the WMAP data
We present circular and linear cross-correlation tests and the
"friend-of-friend" analysis for phases of the Internal Linear Combination Map
(ILC) and the WMAP foregrounds for all K--W frequency bands at the range of
multipoles . We compare also Tegmark, de Oliveira-Costa and
Hamilton (2003) and Naselsky et al. (2003) cleaned maps with corresponding
foregrounds. We have found significant deviations from the expected Poissonian
statistics for all the cleaned maps and foregrounds. Our analysis shows that,
for a low multipole range of the cleaned maps, power spectra contains some of
the foregrounds residuals mainly from the W band.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to MNRA
Cross-Correlation Detection of Point Sources in WMAP First Year Data
We apply a Cross-correlation (CC) method developed previously for detecting
gamma-ray point sources to the WMAP first year data by using the Point-Spread
Function of WMAP and obtain a full sky CC coefficient map. Analyzing this map,
we find that the CC method is a powerful tool to examine the WMAP foreground
residuals which can be further cleaned accordingly. Evident foreground signals
are found in WMAP foreground cleaned maps and Tegmark cleaned map. In this
process 101 point-sources are detected, and 26 of them are new sources besides
the originally listed WMAP 208 sources. We estimate the flux of these new
sources and verify them by another method. As a result, a revised mask file
based on the WMAP first year data is produced by including these new sources.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication by ChJA
Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Angular Power Spectra
We present the temperature and polarization angular power spectra of the
cosmic microwave background (CMB) derived from the first 5 years of WMAP data.
The 5-year temperature (TT) spectrum is cosmic variance limited up to multipole
l=530, and individual l-modes have S/N>1 for l<920. The best fitting
six-parameter LambdaCDM model has a reduced chi^2 for l=33-1000 of
chi^2/nu=1.06, with a probability to exceed of 9.3%. There is now significantly
improved data near the third peak which leads to improved cosmological
constraints. The temperature-polarization correlation (TE) is seen with high
significance. After accounting for foreground emission, the low-l reionization
feature in the EE power spectrum is preferred by \Delta\chi^2=19.6 for optical
depth tau=0.089 by the EE data alone, and is now largely cosmic variance
limited for l=2-6. There is no evidence for cosmic signal in the BB, TB, or EB
spectra after accounting for foreground emission. We find that, when averaged
over l=2-6, l(l+1)C^{BB}_l/2\pi < 0.15 uK^2 (95% CL).Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, accepted by ApJ
Statistical Isotropy violation of the CMB brightness fluctuations
Certain anomalies at large angular scales in the cosmic microwave background
measured by WMAP have been suggested as possible evidence of breakdown of
statistical isotropy(SI). Most CMB photons free-stream to the present from the
surface of last scattering. It is thus reasonable to expect statistical
isotropy violation in the CMB photon distribution observed now to have
originated from SI violation in the baryon-photon fluid at last scattering, in
addition to anisotropy of the primordial power spectrum studied earlier in
literature.
We consider the generalized anisotropic brightness distribution fluctuations,
(at conformal time ) in contrast to the
SI case where it is simply a function of and . The brightness fluctuations expanded in Bipolar Spherical Harmonic
(BipoSH) series, can then be written as where terms encode deviations from statistical isotropy. We
study the evolution of from
non-zero terms at last
scattering. Similar to the SI case, power at small spherical harmonic (SH)
multipoles of at the last
scattering, is transferred to at
larger SH multipoles. The structural similarity is more apparent in the
asymptotic expression for large values of the final SH multipoles. This
formalism allows an elegant identification of any SI violation observed today
to a possible origin in the SI violation present in the baryon-photon fluid
(eg., due to the presence of significant magnetic field).Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, added illustrative example of SI violation in
baryon-photon fluid, matches version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Introducing Mexican needlets for CMB analysis: Issues for practical applications and comparison with standard needlets
Over the last few years, needlets have a emerged as a useful tool for the
analysis of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data. Our aim in this paper is
first to introduce in the CMB literature a different form of needlets, known as
Mexican needlets, first discussed in the mathematical literature by Geller and
Mayeli (2009a,b). We then proceed with an extensive study of the properties of
both standard and Mexican needlets; these properties depend on some parameters
which can be tuned in order to optimize the performance for a given
application. Our second aim in this paper is then to give practical advice on
how to adjust these parameters in order to achieve the best properties for a
given problem in CMB data analysis. In particular we investigate localization
properties in real and harmonic spaces and propose a recipe on how to quantify
the influence of galactic and point source masks on the needlet coefficients.
We also show that for certain parameter values, the Mexican needlets provide a
close approximation to the Spherical Mexican Hat Wavelets (whence their name),
with some advantages concerning their numerical implementation and the
derivation of their statistical properties.Comment: 40 pages, 11 figures, published version, main modification: added
section on more realistic galactic and point source mask
Gravitational Lensing Signature of Long Cosmic Strings
The gravitational lensing by long, wiggly cosmic strings is shown to produce
a large number of lensed images of a background source. In addition to pairs of
images on either side of the string, a number of small images outline the
string due to small-scale structure on the string. This image pattern could
provide a highly distinctive signature of cosmic strings. Since the optical
depth for multiple imaging of distant quasar sources by long strings may be
comparable to that by galaxies, these image patterns should be clearly
observable in the next generation of redshift surveys such as the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey.Comment: 4 pages, revtex with 3 postscript figures include
A measurement of large-scale peculiar velocities of clusters of galaxies: results and cosmological implications
Peculiar velocities of clusters of galaxies can be measured by studying the
fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) generated by the
scattering of the microwave photons by the hot X-ray emitting gas inside
clusters. While for individual clusters such measurements result in large
errors, a large statistical sample of clusters allows one to study cumulative
quantities dominated by the overall bulk flow of the sample with the
statistical errors integrating down. We present results from such a measurement
using the largest all-sky X-ray cluster catalog combined to date and the 3-year
WMAP CMB data. We find a strong and coherent bulk flow on scales out to at
least > 300 h^{-1} Mpc, the limit of our catalog. This flow is difficult to
explain by gravitational evolution within the framework of the concordance LCDM
model and may be indicative of the tilt exerted across the entire current
horizon by far-away pre-inflationary inhomogeneities.Comment: Ap.J. (Letters), in press. 20 Oct issue (Vol. 686
New insights into foreground analysis of the WMAP five-year data using FASTICA
In this paper, we present a foreground analysis of the WMAP 5-year data using
the FASTICA algorithm, improving on the treatment of the WMAP 3-year data in
Bottino et al 2008. We revisit the nature of the free-free spectrum with the
emphasis on attempting to confirm or otherwise the spectral feature claimed in
Dobbler et al 2008b and explained in terms of spinning dust emission in the
warm ionised medium. With the application of different Galactic cuts, the index
is always flatter than the canonical value of 2.14 except for the Kp0 mask
which is steeper. Irrespective of this, we can not confirm the presence of any
feature in the free-free spectrum. We experiment with a more extensive approach
to the cleaning of the data, introduced in connection with the iterative
application of FASTICA. We confirm the presence of a residual foreground whose
spatial distribution is concentrated along the Galactic plane, with pronounced
emission near the Galactic center. This is consistent with the WMAP haze
detected in Finkbeiner 2004. Finally, we attempted to perform the same analysis
on full-sky maps. The code returns good results even for those regions where
the cross-talk among the components is high. However, slightly better results
in terms of the possibility of reconstructing a full-sky CMB map, are achieved
with a simultaneous analysis of both the five WMAP maps and foreground
templates. Nonetheless, some residuals are still present and detected in terms
of an excess in the CMB power spectrum, on small angular scales. Therefore, a
minimal mask for the brightest regions of the plane is necessary, and has been
defined.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 25 pages, 17 figures, 4 tables.
Version with full resolution figures available at:
http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~bottino/downloads/bottino_etal.pd
Seven-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Are There Cosmic Microwave Background Anomalies?
(Abridged) A simple six-parameter LCDM model provides a successful fit to
WMAP data, both when the data are analyzed alone and in combination with other
cosmological data. Even so, it is appropriate to search for any hints of
deviations from the now standard model of cosmology, which includes inflation,
dark energy, dark matter, baryons, and neutrinos. The cosmological community
has subjected the WMAP data to extensive and varied analyses. While there is
widespread agreement as to the overall success of the six-parameter LCDM model,
various "anomalies" have been reported relative to that model. In this paper we
examine potential anomalies and present analyses and assessments of their
significance. In most cases we find that claimed anomalies depend on posterior
selection of some aspect or subset of the data. Compared with sky simulations
based on the best fit model, one can select for low probability features of the
WMAP data. Low probability features are expected, but it is not usually
straightforward to determine whether any particular low probability feature is
the result of the a posteriori selection or of non-standard cosmology. We
examine in detail the properties of the power spectrum with respect to the LCDM
model. We examine several potential or previously claimed anomalies in the sky
maps and power spectra, including cold spots, low quadrupole power,
quadropole-octupole alignment, hemispherical or dipole power asymmetry, and
quadrupole power asymmetry. We conclude that there is no compelling evidence
for deviations from the LCDM model, which is generally an acceptable
statistical fit to WMAP and other cosmological data.Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures, also available with higher-res figures on
http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov; accepted by ApJS; (v2) text as accepte
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