760 research outputs found
CMB Polarization Data and Galactic Foregrounds: Estimation of Cosmological Parameters
We estimate the accuracy with which various cosmological parameters can be
determined from the CMB temperature and polarization data when various galactic
unpolarized and polarized foregrounds are included and marginalized using the
multi-frequency Wiener filtering technique. We use the specifications of the
future CMB missions MAP and PLANCK for our study. Our results are in
qualitative agreement with earlier results obtained without foregrounds, though
the errors in most parameters are higher because of degradation of the
extraction of polarization signal in the presence of foregrounds.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to MNRA
Live confocal imaging of Arabidopsis flower buds
Recent advances in confocal microscopy, coupled with the development of numerous fluorescent reporters, provide us with a powerful tool to study the development of plants. Live confocal imaging has been used extensively to further our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the formation of roots, shoots and leaves. However, it has not been widely applied to flowers, partly because of specific challenges associated with the imaging of flower buds. Here, we describe how to prepare and grow shoot apices of Arabidopsis in vitro, to perform both single-point and time-lapse imaging of live, developing flower buds with either an upright or an inverted confocal microscope
Constraints on mode couplings and modulation of the CMB with WMAP data
We investigate a possible asymmetry in the statistical properties of the
cosmic microwave background temperature field and to do so we construct an
estimator aiming at detecting a dipolar modulation. Such a modulation is found
to induce correlations between multipoles with . Applying this
estimator, to the V and W bands of the WMAP data, we found a significant
detection in the V band. We argue however that foregrounds and in particular
point sources are the origin of this signal.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure
Disk galaxies with broken luminosity profiles from cosmological simulations
We present SPH cosmological simulations of the formation of three disk
galaxies with a detailed treatment of chemical evolution and cooling. The
resulting galaxies have properties compatible with observations: relatively
high disk-to-total ratios, thin stellar disks and good agreement with the
Tully-Fisher and the luminosity-size relations. They present a break in the
luminosity profile at 3.0 +- 0.5 disk scale lengths, while showing an
exponential mass profile without any apparent breaks, in line with recent
observational results. Since the stellar mass profile is exponential, only
differences in the stellar populations can be the cause of the luminosity
break. Although we find a cutoff for the star formation rate imposed by a
density threshold in our star formation model, it does not coincide with the
luminosity break and is located at 4.3 +- 0.4 disk scale lengths, with star
formation going on between both radii. The color profiles and the age profiles
are "U-shaped", with the minimum for both profiles located approximately at the
break radius. The SFR to stellar mass ratio increases until the break,
explaining the coincidence of the break with the minimum of the age profile.
Beyond the break we find a steep decline in the gas density and, consequently,
a decline in the SFR and redder colors. We show that most stars (64-78%) in the
outer disk originate in the inner disk and afterwards migrate there. Such
stellar migrations are likely the main origin of the U-shaped age profile and,
therefore, of the luminosity break.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Accepted by ApJ
MASTER of the CMB Anisotropy Power Spectrum: A Fast Method for Statistical Analysis of Large and Complex CMB Data Sets
We describe a fast and accurate method for estimation of the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) anisotropy angular power spectrum --- Monte Carlo Apodised
Spherical Transform EstimatoR. Originally devised for use in the interpretation
of the Boomerang experimental data, MASTER is both a computationally efficient
method suitable for use with the currently available CMB data sets (already
large in size, despite covering small fractions of the sky, and affected by
inhomogeneous and correlated noise), and a very promising application for the
analysis of very large future CMB satellite mission products.Comment: 20 pages, 6 fig; submitted to ApJ; uses aastex.cls and psfig.sty
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Fast Edge Corrected Measurement of the Two-Point Correlation Function and the Power Spectrum
We present two related techniques to measure the two-point correlation
function and the power spectrum with edge correction in any spatial dimensions.
The underlying algorithm uses fast Fourier transforms for calculating the
two-point function with an heuristically weighted edge corrected estimator.
Once the correlation function is measured, we estimate the power spectrum via
numerical integration of the Hankel transform connecting the two. We introduce
an efficient numerical technique based on Gauss-Bessel-quadrature and double
exponential transformation. This, combined with our, or any similar, two-point
function estimator leads to a novel edge corrected estimator for power spectra.
The pair of techniques presented are the Euclidean analogs of those developed
and widely used in cosmic microwave background research for spherical maps.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ApJ
Détection de l’addition frauduleuse de lait de vache dans les laits de chèvre et de brebis par la méthode de l'immunodiffusion en gélose
Durand Maurice P., Meusnier M., Delahaye J., Prunet Patrick. Détection de l’addition frauduleuse de lait de vache dans les laits de chèvre et de brebis par la méthode de l'immunodiffusion en gélose. In: Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France tome 127 n°5, 1974. pp. 247-258
Benchmark Parameters for CMB Polarization Experiments
The recently detected polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB)
holds the potential for revealing the physics of inflation and gravitationally
mapping the large-scale structure of the universe, if so called B-mode signals
below 10^{-7}, or tenths of a uK, can be reliably detected. We provide a
language for describing systematic effects which distort the observed CMB
temperature and polarization fields and so contaminate the B-modes. We identify
7 types of effects, described by 11 distortion fields, and show their
association with known instrumental systematics such as common mode and
differential gain fluctuations, line cross-coupling, pointing errors, and
differential polarized beam effects. Because of aliasing from the small-scale
structure in the CMB, even uncorrelated fluctuations in these effects can
affect the large-scale B modes relevant to gravitational waves. Many of these
problems are greatly reduced by having an instrumental beam that resolves the
primary anisotropies (FWHM << 10'). To reach the ultimate goal of an
inflationary energy scale of 3 \times 10^{15} GeV, polarization distortion
fluctuations must be controlled at the 10^{-2}-10^{-3} level and temperature
leakage to the 10^{-4}-10^{-3} level depending on effect. For example pointing
errors must be controlled to 1.5'' rms for arcminute scale beams or a percent
of the Gaussian beam width for larger beams; low spatial frequency differential
gain fluctuations or line cross-coupling must be eliminated at the level of
10^{-4} rms.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
Cosmological measurement of neutrino mass in the presence of leptonic asymmetry
We show that even the smallest neutrino mass consistent with the
Super--Kamiokande data is relevant for cosmological models of structure
formation and cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, provided that a
relic neutrino asymmetry exists. We calculate the precision with which a 0.07
eV neutrino mass could be extracted from CMB anisotropy and large-scale
structure data by the future Planck satellite and Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We
find that such a mass can be detected, assuming a large relic neutrino
asymmetry still allowed by current experimental data. This measurement of the
absolute value of the neutrino mass would be crucial for our understanding of
neutrino models.Comment: 8 pages, 2 PS figures, version to be publishe
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