Reionization Revisited: Secondary CMB Anisotropies and Polarization

Secondary CMB anisotropies and polarization provide a laboratory to study structure formation in the reionized epoch. We consider the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect from mildly nonlinear large-scale structure and show that it is a natural extension of the perturbative Vishniac effect. If the gas traces the dark matter to overdensities of order 10, as expected from simulations, this effect is at least comparable to the Vishniac effect at arcminute scales. On smaller scales, it may be used to study the thermal history-dependent clustering of the gas. Polarization is generated through Thomson scattering of primordial quadrupole anisotropies, kinetic (second order Doppler) quadrupole anisotropies and intrinsic scattering quadrupole anisotropies. Small scale polarization results from the density and ionization modulation of these sources. These effects generically produce comparable E and B-parity polarization, but of negligible amplitude (0.001-0.01 uK) in adiabatic CDM models. However, the primordial and kinetic quadrupoles are observationally comparable today so that a null detection of B-polarization would set constraints on the evolution and coherence of the velocity field. Conversely, a detection of a cosmological B-polarization even at large angles does not necessarily imply the presence of gravity waves or vorticity. For these calculations, we develop an all-sky generalization of the Limber equation that allows for an arbitrary local angular dependence of the source for both scalar and symmetric trace-free tensor fields on the sky.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, minor changes and typo fixes reflect published versio

Mapping Cluster Mass Distributions via Gravitational Lensing of Background Galaxies

We present a new method for measuring the projected mass distributions of galaxy clusters. The gravitational amplification is measured by comparing the joint distribution in redshift and magnitude of galaxies behind the cluster with that of field galaxies. We show that the total amplification is directly related to the surface mass density in the weak field limit, and so it is possible to map the mass distribution of the cluster. The method is shown to be limited by discreteness noise and galaxy clustering behind the lens. Galaxy clustering sets a lower limit to the error along the redshift direction, but a clustering independent lensing signature may be obtained from the magnitude distribution at fixed redshift. Statistical techniques are developed for estimating the surface mass density of the cluster. We extend these methods to account for any obscuration by cluster halo dust, which may be mapped independently of the dark matter. We apply the method to a series of numerical simulations and show the feasibility of the approach. We consider approximate redshift information, and show how the mass estimates are degraded.Comment: ApJ in press. 23 pages of LaTeX plus figs. Text & figs available by anonymous ftp from resun03.roe.ac.uk in directory /pub/jap/lens (you need btp.tex and apj.sty

Correlation between the Mean Matter Density and the Width of the Saturated Lyman Alpha Absorption

We report a scaling of the mean matter density with the width of the saturated Lyman alpha absorptions. This property is established using the ``pseudo-hydro'' technique (Croft et al. 1998). It provides a constraint for the inversion of the Lyman alpha forest, which encounters difficulty in the saturated region. With a Gaussian density profile and the scaling relation, a simple inversion of the simulated Lyman alpha forests shows that the one-dimensional mass power spectrum is well recovered on scales above 2 Mpc/h, or roughly k < 0.03 s/km, at z=3. The recovery underestimates the power on small scales, but improvement is possible with a more sophisticated algorithm.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, replaced by the version after proo

A technique for correcting ERTS data for solar and atmospheric effects

The author has identified the following significant results. Based on processing ERTS CCTs and ground truth measurements collected on Michigan test site for January through June 1973 the following results are reported: (1) atmospheric transmittance varies from: 70 to 85% in band 4, 77 to 90% in band 5, 80 to 94% in band 6, and 84 to 97% in band 7 for one air mass; (2) a simple technique was established to determine atmospheric scattering seen by ERTS-1 from ground-based measurements of sky radiance. For March this scattering was found to be equivalent to that produced by a target having a reflectance of 11% in band 4, 5% in band 5, 3% in band 6, and 1% in band 7; (3) computer ability to classify targets under various atmospheric conditions was determined. Classification accuracy on some targets (i.e. bare soil, tended grass, etc.) hold up even under the most severe atmospheres encountered, while performance on other targets (trees, urban, rangeland, etc.) degrades rapidly when atmospheric conditions change by the smallest amount

The finite size effect of galaxies on the cosmic virial theorem and the pairwise peculiar velocity dispersions

We discuss the effect of the finite size of galaxies on estimating small-scale relative pairwise peculiar velocity dispersions from the cosmic virial theorem (CVT). Specifically we evaluate the effect by incorporating the finite core radius $r_c$ in the two-point correlation function of mass, i.e. $\xi_\rho(r) \propto (r+r_c)^{-\gamma}$ and the effective gravitational force softening $r_s$ on small scales. We analytically obtain the lowest-order correction term for $\gamma <2$ which is in quantitative agreement with the full numerical evaluation. With a nonzero $r_s$ and/or $r_c$ the cosmic virial theorem is no longer limited to the case of $\gamma<2$. We present accurate fitting formulae for the CVT predicted pairwise velocity dispersion for the case of $\gamma>2$. Compared with the idealistic point-mass approximation ($r_s=r_c=0$), the finite size effect can significantly reduce the small-scale velocity dispersions of galaxies at scales much larger than $r_s$ and $r_c$. Even without considering the finite size of galaxies, nonzero values for $r_c$ are generally expected, for instance, for cold dark matter (CDM) models with a scale-invariant primordial spectrum. For these CDM models, a reasonable force softening r_s\le 100 \hikpc would have rather tiny effect. We present the CVT predictions for the small-scale pairwise velocity dispersion in the CDM models normalized by the COBE observation. The implication of our results for confrontation of observations of galaxy pair-wise velocity dispersions and theoretical predictions of the CVT is also discussed.Comment: 18 pages. LaTeX text and 8 postcript figures. submitted to Ap

The cosmological light-cone effect on the power spectrum of galaxies and quasars in wide-field redshift surveys

We examine observational consequences of the cosmological light-cone effect on the power spectrum of the distribution of galaxies and quasars from upcoming redshift surveys. First we derive an expression for the power spectrum of cosmological objects in real space on a light cone, $P^{\rm LC}_{\rm R,lin}(k)$, which is exact in linear theory of density perturbations. Next we incorporate corrections for the nonlinear density evolution and redshift-space distortion in the formula in a phenomenological manner which is consistent with recent numerical simulations. On the basis of this formula, we predict the power spectrum of galaxies and quasars on the light cone for future redshift surveys taking account of the selection function properly. We demonstrate that this formula provides a reliable and useful method to compute the power spectrum on the light cone given an evolution model of bias.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, to be published in the Astrophysical Journa

The DCU laser ion source

Laser ion sources are used to generate and deliver highly charged ions of various masses and energies. We present details on the design and basic parameters of the DCU laser ion source (LIS). The theoretical aspects of a high voltage (HV) linear LIS are presented and the main issues surrounding laser-plasma formation, ion extraction and modeling of beam transport in relation to the operation of a LIS are detailed. A range of laser power densities (I ∼ 108–1011 W cm−2) and fluences (F = 0.1–3.9 kJ cm−2) from a Q-switched ruby laser (full-width half-maximum pulse duration ∼ 35 ns, λ = 694 nm) were used to generate a copper plasma. In “basic operating mode,” laser generated plasma ions are electrostatically accelerated using a dc HV bias (5–18 kV). A traditional einzel electrostatic lens system is utilized to transport and collimate the extracted ion beam for detection via a Faraday cup. Peak currents of up to I ∼ 600 μA for Cu+ to Cu3+ ions were recorded. The maximum collected charge reached 94 pC (Cu2+). Hydrodynamic simulations and ion probe diagnostics were used to study the plasma plume within the extraction gap. The system measured performance and electrodynamic simulations indicated that the use of a short field-free (L = 48 mm) region results in rapid expansion of the injected ion beam in the drift tube. This severely limits the efficiency of the electrostatic lens system and consequently the sources performance. Simulations of ion beam dynamics in a “continuous einzel array” were performed and experimentally verified to counter the strong space-charge force present in the ion beam which results from plasma extraction close to the target surface. Ion beam acceleration and injection thus occur at “high pressure.” In “enhanced operating mode,” peak currents of 3.26 mA (Cu2+) were recorded. The collected currents of more highly charged ions (Cu4+–Cu6+) increased considerably in this mode of operation

Gravitational lens magnification by Abell 1689: Distortion of the background galaxy luminosity function

Gravitational lensing magnifies the luminosity of galaxies behind the lens. We use this effect to constrain the total mass in the cluster Abell 1689 by comparing the lensed luminosities of background galaxies with the luminosity function of an undistorted field. Since galaxies are assumed to be a random sampling of luminosity space, this method is not limited by clustering noise. We use photometric redshift information to estimate galaxy distance and intrinsic luminosity. Knowing the redshift distribution of the background population allows us to lift the mass/background degeneracy common to lensing analysis. In this paper we use 9 filters observed over 12 hours with the Calar Alto 3.5m telescope to determine the redshifts of 1000 galaxies in the field of Abell 1689. Using a complete sample of 151 background galaxies we measure the cluster mass profile. We find that the total projected mass interior to 0.25h^(-1)Mpc is (0.48 +/- 0.16) * 10^(15)h^(-1) solar masses, where our error budget includes uncertainties from the photometric redshift determination, the uncertainty in the off-set calibration and finite sampling. This result is in good agreement with that found by number count and shear-based methods and provides a new and independent method to determine cluster masses.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to MNRAS (10/99); Replacement with 1 page extra text inc. new section, accepted by MNRA

Measuring the galaxy power spectrum with future redshift surveys

Precision measurements of the galaxy power spectrum P(k) require a data analysis pipeline that is both fast enough to be computationally feasible and accurate enough to take full advantage of high-quality data. We present a rigorous discussion of different methods of power spectrum estimation, with emphasis on the traditional Fourier method, the linear (Karhunen-Loeve; KL), and quadratic data compression schemes, showing in what approximations they give the same result. To improve speed, we show how many of the advantages of KL data compression and power spectrum estimation may be achieved with a computationally faster quadratic method. To improve accuracy, we derive analytic expressions for handling the integral constraint, since it is crucial that finite volume effects are accurately corrected for on scales comparable to the depth of the survey. We also show that for the KL and quadratic techniques, multiple constraints can be included via simple matrix operations, thereby rendering the results less sensitive to galactic extinction and mis-estimates of the radial selection function. We present a data analysis pipeline that we argue does justice to the increases in both quality and quantity of data that upcoming redshift surveys will provide. It uses three analysis techniques in conjunction: a traditional Fourier approach on small scales, a pixelized quadratic matrix method on large scales and a pixelized KL eigenmode analysis to probe anisotropic effects such as redshift-space distortions.Comment: Major revisions for clarity. Matches accepted ApJ version. 23 pages, with 2 figs included. Color figure and links at http://www.sns.ias.edu/~max/galpower.html (faster from the US), from http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~max/galpower.html (faster from Europe) or from [email protected]