409 research outputs found
All sky CMB map from cosmic strings integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect
By actively distorting the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) over our past
light cone, cosmic strings are unavoidable sources of non-Gaussianity.
Developing optimal estimators able to disambiguate a string signal from the
primordial type of non-Gaussianity requires calibration over synthetic full sky
CMB maps, which till now had been numerically unachievable at the resolution of
modern experiments. In this paper, we provide the first high resolution full
sky CMB map of the temperature anisotropies induced by a network of cosmic
strings since the recombination. The map has about 200 million sub-arcminute
pixels in the healpix format which is the standard in use for CMB analyses
(Nside=4096). This premiere required about 800,000 cpu hours; it has been
generated by using a massively parallel ray tracing method piercing through a
thousands of state of art Nambu-Goto cosmic string numerical simulations which
pave the comoving volume between the observer and the last scattering surface.
We explicitly show how this map corrects previous results derived in the flat
sky approximation, while remaining completely compatible at the smallest
scales.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, uses RevTeX. References added, matches published
versio
Advanced code-division multiplexers for superconducting detector arrays
Multiplexers based on the modulation of superconducting quantum interference
devices are now regularly used in multi-kilopixel arrays of superconducting
detectors for astrophysics, cosmology, and materials analysis. Over the next
decade, much larger arrays will be needed. These larger arrays require new
modulation techniques and compact multiplexer elements that fit within each
pixel. We present a new in-focal-plane code-division multiplexer that provides
multiplexing elements with the required scalability. This code-division
multiplexer uses compact lithographic modulation elements that simultaneously
multiplex both signal outputs and superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES)
detector bias voltages. It eliminates the shunt resistor used to voltage bias
TES detectors, greatly reduces power dissipation, allows different dc bias
voltages for each TES, and makes all elements sufficiently compact to fit
inside the detector pixel area. These in-focal-plane code-division multiplexers
can be combined with multi-gigahertz readout based on superconducting
microresonators to scale to even larger arrays.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, presented at the 14th International Workshop on
Low Temperature Detectors, Heidelberg University, August 1-5, 2011,
proceedings to be published in the Journal of Low Temperature Physic
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Physical Properties of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Clusters on the Celestial Equator
We present the optical and X-ray properties of 68 galaxy clusters selected
via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect at 148 GHz by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope
(ACT). Our sample, from an area of 504 square degrees centered on the celestial
equator, is divided into two regions. The main region uses 270 square degrees
of the ACT survey that overlaps with the co-added ugriz imaging from the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) over Stripe 82 plus additional near-infrared pointed
observations with the Apache Point Observatory 3.5-meter telescope. We confirm
a total of 49 clusters to z~1.3, of which 22 (all at z>0.55) are new
discoveries. For the second region the regular-depth SDSS imaging allows us to
confirm 19 more clusters up to z~0.7, of which 10 systems are new. We present
the optical richness, photometric redshifts, and separation between the SZ
position and the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). We find no significant offset
between the cluster SZ centroid and BCG location and a weak correlation between
optical richness and SZ-derived mass. We also present X-ray fluxes and
luminosities from the ROSAT All Sky Survey which confirm that this is a massive
sample. One of the newly discovered clusters, ACT-CL J0044.4+0113 at z=1.1
(photometric), has an integrated XMM-Newton X-ray temperature of kT_x=7.9+/-1.0
keV and combined mass of M_200a=8.2(-2.5,+3.3)x10^14 M_sun/h70 placing it among
the most massive and X-ray-hot clusters known at redshifts beyond z=1. We also
highlight the optically-rich cluster ACT-CL J2327.4-0204 (RCS2 2327) at z=0.705
(spectroscopic) as the most significant detection of the whole equatorial
sample with a Chandra-derived mass of M_200a=1.9(-0.4,+0.6)x10^15 M_sun/h70,
comparable to some of the most massive known clusters like "El Gordo" and the
Bullet Cluster.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures. Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal. New
version includes minor changes in the accepted pape
How to detect gravitational waves through the cross-correlation of the galaxy distribution with the CMB polarization
Thompson scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons off of free
electrons during the reionization epoch induces a correlation between the
distribution of galaxies and the polarization pattern of the CMB, the magnitude
of which is proportional to the quadrupole moment of radiation at the time of
scattering. Since the quadrupole moment generated by gravitational waves (GWs)
gives rise to a different polarization pattern than that produced by scalar
modes, one can put interesting constraints on the strength of GWs on large
scales by cross-correlating the small scale galaxy distribution and CMB
polarization. We use this method together with Fisher analysis to predict how
well future surveys can measure the tensor-to-scalar ratio . We find that
with a future CMB experiment with detector noise Delta_P = 2 mu K-arcmin and a
beam width theta_FWHM = 2' and a future galaxy survey with limiting magnitude
I<25.6 one can measure the tensor-to-scalar ratio with an error sigma_r \simeq
0.09. To measure r \approx 0.01, however, one needs Delta_P \simeq 0.5 mu
K-radian and theta_FWHM \simeq 1'. We also investigate a few systematic
effects, none of which turn out to add any biases to our estimators, but they
increase the error bars by adding to the cosmic variance. The incomplete sky
coverage has the most dramatic effect on our constraints on r for large sky
cuts, with a reduction in signal-to-noise smaller than one would expect from
the naive estimate (S/N)^2 \propto f_sky. Specifically, we find a degradation
factor of f_deg=0.32 \pm 0.01 for a sky cut of |b|>10^\circ (f_sky=0.83) and
f_deg=0.056 \pm 0.004 for a sky cut of |b|>20^\circ (f_sky=0.66). Nonetheless,
given that our method has different systematics than the more conventional
method of observing the large scale B modes directly, it may be used as an
important check in the case of a detection.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, to be submitted to PR
CCAT-prime: Science with an Ultra-widefield Submillimeter Observatory at Cerro Chajnantor
We present the detailed science case, and brief descriptions of the telescope
design, site, and first light instrument plans for a new ultra-wide field
submillimeter observatory, CCAT-prime, that we are constructing at a 5600 m
elevation site on Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile. Our science goals are to
study star and galaxy formation from the epoch of reionization to the present,
investigate the growth of structure in the Universe, improve the precision of
B-mode CMB measurements, and investigate the interstellar medium and star
formation in the Galaxy and nearby galaxies through spectroscopic,
polarimetric, and broadband surveys at wavelengths from 200 um to 2 mm. These
goals are realized with our two first light instruments, a large field-of-view
(FoV) bolometer-based imager called Prime-Cam (that has both camera and an
imaging spectrometer modules), and a multi-beam submillimeter heterodyne
spectrometer, CHAI. CCAT-prime will have very high surface accuracy and very
low system emissivity, so that combined with its wide FoV at the unsurpassed
CCAT site our telescope/instrumentation combination is ideally suited to pursue
this science. The CCAT-prime telescope is being designed and built by Vertex
Antennentechnik GmbH. We expect to achieve first light in the spring of 2021.Comment: Presented at SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared
Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy IX, June 14th, 201
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