181 research outputs found
Optimizing ISOCAM data processing using spatial redundancy
We present new data processing techniques that allow to correct the main
instrumental effects that degrade the images obtained by ISOCAM, the camera on
board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). Our techniques take advantage of
the fact that a position on the sky has been observed by several pixels at
different times. We use this information (1) to correct the long term variation
of the detector response, (2) to correct memory effects after glitches and
point sources, and (3) to refine the deglitching process. Our new method allows
the detection of faint extended emission with contrast smaller than 1% of the
zodiacal background. The data reduction corrects instrumental effects to the
point where the noise in the final map is dominated by the readout and the
photon noises. All raster ISOCAM observations can benefit from the data
processing described here. These techniques could also be applied to other
raster type observations (e.g. ISOPHOT or IRAC on SIRTF).Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Supplement Serie
Probing the origin of the microwave anomalous foreground
The galactic anomalous microwave emission detected between 10 and 90 GHz is a
major foreground to CMB fluctuations. Well correlated to dust emission at 100
m, the anomalous emission is interstellar but its origin is still debated.
Some possible explanations relate it to dust: emission of spinning, small
(nanometric) grains carrying a permanent electric dipole or magnetic
fluctuations in larger (submicronic) grains. To probe the origin of the
anomalous emission, we compare microwave data to dust IR emission and search
for specific signatures predicted by models of spinning dust. For the anomalous
emission, we use the 23 GHz all-sky map deduced from WMAP data by
Miville-Deschenes et al. (2008). The dust emission is traced by IRAS data.
Models show that spinning dust emission is little sensitive to the intensity of
the radiation field (Go) for 10<nu<30 GHz while the corresponding mid-IR
emission is proportional to Go. To test this behaviour in our comparison, we
derive Go from the dust temperature maps of Schlegel et al. (1998). From
all-sky maps, we show that the anomalous emission is better correlated to the
emission of small grains (at 12 m) than to that of big grains (at 100
m). In addition we show that the former correlation is significantly
improved when the 12 m flux is divided by Go, as predicted by current
models of spinning dust.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted by A&
Serendipity observations of far infrared cirrus emission in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey: Analysis of far-infrared correlations
We present an analysis of far-infrared dust emission from diffuse cirrus
clouds. This study is based on serendipitous observations at 160 microns at
high galactic latitude with the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) onboard the
Spitzer Space Telescope by the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS).
These observations are complemented with IRIS data at 100 and 60 microns and
constitute one of the most sensitive and unbiased samples of far infrared
observations at small scale of diffuse interstellar clouds. Outside regions
dominated by the cosmic infrared background fluctuations, we observe a
substantial scatter in the 160/100 colors from cirrus emission. We compared the
160/100 color variations to 60/100 colors in the same fields and find a trend
of decreasing 60/100 with increasing 160/100. This trend can not be accounted
for by current dust models by changing solely the interstellar radiation field.
It requires a significant change of dust properties such as grain size
distribution or emissivity or a mixing of clouds in different physical
conditions along the line of sight. These variations are important as a
potential confusing foreground for extragalactic studies.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, accepted to Ap
IRIS: A new generation of IRAS maps
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) had a tremendous impact on many
areas of modern astrophysics. In particular it revealed the ubiquity of
infrared cirrus that are a spectacular manifestation of the interstellar medium
complexity but also an important foreground for observational cosmology. With
the forthcoming Planck satellite there is a need for all-sky complementary data
sets with arcminute resolution that can bring informations on specific
foreground emissions that contaminate the Cosmic Microwave Background
radiation. With its 4 arcmin resolution matching perfectly the high-frequency
bands of Planck, IRAS is a natural data set to study the variations of dust
properties at all scales. But the latest version of the images delivered by the
IRAS team (the ISSA plates) suffer from calibration, zero level and striping
problems that can preclude its use, especially at 12 and 25 micron. In this
paper we present how we proceeded to solve each of these problems and enhance
significantly the general quality of the ISSA plates in the four bands (12, 25,
60 and 100 micron). This new generation of IRAS images, called IRIS, benefits
from a better zodiacal light subtraction, from a calibration and zero level
compatible with DIRBE, and from a better destriping. At 100 micron the IRIS
product is also a significant improvement from the Schlegel et al. (1998) maps.
IRIS keeps the full ISSA resolution, it includes well calibrated point sources
and the diffuse emission calibration at scales smaller than 1 degree was
corrected for the variation of the IRAS detector responsivity with scale and
brightness. The uncertainty on the IRIS calibration and zero level are
dominated by the uncertainty on the DIRBE calibration and on the accuracy of
the zodiacal light model.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ (Suppl). Higher
resolution version available at
http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~mamd/IRIS/IrisTechnical.htm
Turbulence et instabilité thermique du milieu interstellaire atomique neutre (une approche numérique)
En Astrophysique, la compréhension du processus de formation d'étoiles reste l'une des principales questions. Elle est directement reliée à l'évolution du gaz interstellaire dans les galaxies, et en particulier aux processus de refroidissement et de condensation pour lesquels la turbulence et l'instabilité thermique jouent un rôle dominant. Ce travail se concentre sur l'évolution du gaz atomique et diffus qui fournit les conditions initiales à la formation des nuages moléculaires et se base sur une comparaison étroite entre observations à 21 cm et simulations numériques hydrodynamiques. Pour comprendre les rôles de l'instabilité thermique et de la turbulence dans la transition du gaz chaud (WNM, T ~ 8000 K, n = 0.5 cm- ) vers le gaz froid (CNM, T ~ 80 K, n = 50 cm- ), j'ai produit 90 simulations à basse résolution qui ont permis d'étudier l'influence de la densité initiale du WNM et de la compressibilité du forçage de la turbulence sur l'efficacité de la production de CNM. Un résultat important permet de conclure que le gaz chaud, dans les conditions de turbulence caractéristiques de ce qui est observé, ne transite pas vers le gaz froid quelque soit l'amplitude de la turbulence. Ces simulations à basse résolution ont aussi permis de déterminer quelles conditions initiales permettent de reproduire les propriétés déduites des observations telles que le nombre de Mach, la quantité de CNM en masse ou la dispersion de vitesse turbulente. Un processus de compression, que l'on peut reproduire soit en augmentant la densité initiale du WNM (n >= 1.5 cm- ) soit en appliquant un champ de forçage compressif, est nécessaire. Ces conditions initiales ont ensuite été utilisées pour produire deux simulations à haute résolution (1024 ) pour lesquelles j'ai montré que les propriétés de la turbulence et de l'instabilité du milieu atomique neutre sont bien reproduites. Les histogrammes de température portent en effet la trace d'un milieu biphasique et les distributions de pression sont semblables aux observations. D'autre part, les spectres de puissance de la densité sont caractéristiques d'un milieu fortement contrasté alors que ceux de la vitesse restent caractéristiques d'une turbulence subsonique. Finalement, les structures froides de ces deux simulations reproduisent les relations masse-échelle et dispersion de vitesse-échelle observées dans les nuages moléculaires, suggérant que la structure des nuages moléculaires pourrait être héritée de celle des nuages de HI à partir desquels ils se sont formés. Le dernier aspect de mon travail est relié à la difficulté rencontrée lors de l'interprétation des données qui n'est possible qu'à partir de grandeurs projetées en deux dimensions. J'ai donc comparé en détails les deux simulations à haute résolution à des observations de cirrus en créant des observations artificielles à 21 cm. Les spectres d'émission et les cartes de densité de colonne ainsi produits sont semblables aux observations. De plus, les simulations donnant accès à l'information en trois dimensions, j'ai étudié les effets de l'auto-absorption dans la création de cartes de densité de colonne à partir de spectres de température de brillance. J'ai conclu de cette étude que l'auto-absorption ne peut être négligée mais qu'elle ne concerne que les lignes de visée les plus brillantes et les plus denses et que la correction habituellement appliquée sur les observations est efficace. Finalement, j'ai appliqué une méthode de décomposition en gaussiennes sur les spectres synthétiques. Cette méthode a pour objectif d'étudier les propriétés de chacune des deux phases thermiques du HI. Les résultats montrent qu'elle est prometteuse pour l'analyse des données de spectro-imagerie à 21 cm, bien que nécessitant des améliorations. Elle permet en effet de bien séparer les phases chaude et froide du milieu atomique et d'en déduire la distribution massique de chacune d'elles.One of the main current questions in Astrophysics is the understanding of the star formation process, directly related to the processes involved in the cooling and the condensation of the gas yielding to intricate filamentary structures of molecular clouds. Thermal instability and turbulence are playing dominant roles in this complex dynamics. The work presented here is focused on the evolution of the atomic and diffuse interstellar medium that provides the initial conditions to the formation of molecular clouds and is based on the comparison of hydrodynamical numerical simulations and observations. To understand the roles of thermal instability and turbulence in the WNM (warm neutral medium, T ~ 8000 K, n = 0.5 cm- ) to CNM (cold neutral medium, T ~ 80 K, n = 50 cm- ) transition, I produced 90 hydrodynamical numerical simulations of thermally bistable HI and used them to study the impact of the WNM initial density and the compressibility of the turbulent stirring on the efficiency of the CNM production. The main result here is that the warm gas in the observed turbulent conditions do not transit naturally to cold gas whatever the amplitude of turbulent motions. These small resolution simulations also allowed me to determine which initial conditions lead to the reproduction of the observed properties, as the Mach number, the amount of CNM or the amplitude of the turbulent motions. A compression is needed to trigger this transition either by increasing the initial density (n >= 1.5 cm- ) or by stirring with a compressive field. These initial conditions have been used to produce two high resolution simulations (1024 ). I showed that these two simulations reproduce well the properties of the turbulence and the thermal instability. The temperature histograms present the evidences of a bistable gas and the pressure distributions are in agreement with the observations. On the other hand, the power spectra of the density are characteristic of a high contrasted medium while the power spectra of the velocity remain characteristic of subsonic turbulence. Finally the cold structures of these two simulations reproduce well the mass-size and velocity dispersion-size relations observed in molecular clouds. This suggests that the molecular cloud structure could be inherited from the clouds of atomic gas from which they are born. One of the main limitations in the analysis of observations comes from the fact that it can only be done on integrated quantities in two dimensions. In the last part of my work I compared the two high resolution simulations to observations by creating synthetic 21 cm observations. The emission spectra and column density maps produced in that way are similar to the ones observed. Besides, with the three dimensional informations, I was able to study the effect of the self-absorption in the creation of the column density maps from the brightness temperature spectra. I concluded from this study that the self-absorption cannot be neglected but that it only concerns the brightest and densest lines of sight and that the correction usually applied on observations is efficient. Finally I applied a method of gaussian decomposition on the synthetic spectra. This method has been build to study the properties of each thermal phase in the HI. The results show that it is a highly promising method for the analysis of 21 cm spectro-imaging data even if some improvements are needed. Indeed, it allows a good separation of the cold and warm phases of the atomic medium and a reasonable deduction of the massive distribution of each one.PARIS11-SCD-Bib. électronique (914719901) / SudocSudocFranceF
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