A 3D model for carbon monoxide molecular line emission as a potential cosmic microwave background polarization contaminant

We present a model for simulating Carbon Monoxide (CO) rotational line emission in molecular clouds, taking account of their 3D spatial distribution in galaxies with different geometrical properties. The model implemented is based on recent results in the literature and has been designed for performing Monte-Carlo simulations of this emission. We compare the simulations produced with this model and calibrate them, both on the map level and on the power spectrum level, using the second release of data from the Planck satellite for the Galactic plane, where the signal-to-noise ratio is highest. We use the calibrated model to extrapolate the CO power spectrum at low Galactic latitudes where no high sensitivity observations are available yet. We then forecast the level of unresolved polarized emission from CO molecular clouds which could contaminate the power spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization B-modes away from the Galactic plane. Assuming realistic levels of the polarization fraction, we show that the level of contamination is equivalent to a cosmological signal with r 720.02. The Monte-Carlo MOlecular Line Emission (MCMole3D) Python package, which implements this model, is being made publicly available

Bayesian evidence of the post-Planck curvaton

We perform a Bayesian model comparison for scenarios within the quadratic curvaton model, determining the degree to which both are disfavoured with respect to the ΛCDM concordance model and single-field quadratic inflation, using the recent Planck data release. Despite having three additional model parameters, the simplest curvaton scenario is not disfavoured relative to single-field quadratic inflation, and it becomes favoured against this single-field model when we include the joint BICEP/Keck/Planck analysis. In all cases we assume an instantaneous inflaton decay and no surviving isocurvature perturbations. Despite the success of Planck reaching its forecast measurement accuracy, we show that the current constraints on local non-Gaussianity are insufficiently precise to have any significant impact on the evidence ratios so far. We also determine the precision σ(fNL) required by future measurements assuming a fiducial value of fNL = −5/4 or 10.8 to no longer disfavour the curvaton against the ΛCDM parametrisation, and we discuss the effect that the predicted increase in precision from future measurements on fNL may have. We show that our results are not very sensitive to our choice of priors

Nonlinear superhorizon perturbations of non-canonical scalar field

We develop a theory of non-linear cosmological perturbations at superhorizon scales for a scalar field with a Lagrangian of the form $P(X,\phi)$, where $X=-\partial^{\mu}\phi\partial_{\mu}\phi$ and $\phi$ is the scalar field. We employ the ADM formalism and the spatial gradient expansion approach to obtain general solutions valid up to the second order in the gradient expansion. This formulation can be applied to, for example, DBI inflation models to investigate superhorizon evolution of non-Gaussianities. With slight modification, we also obtain general solutions valid up to the same order for a perfect fluid with a general equation of state $P=P(\rho)$.Comment: 14 page

Planck 2013 results X. Energetic particle effects: characterization, removal, and simulation

This paper presents the detection, interpretation and removal of the signal resulting from interactions of high energy particles with the Planck High Frequency Instrument (HFI). These interactions fall into two categories, heating the 0.1 K bolometer plate and glitches in each detector time stream. Glitch shapes are not simple single pole exponential decays and fall into a three families. The glitch shape for each family has been characterized empirically in flight data and removed from the detector time streams. The spectrum of the count rate/unit energy is computed for each family and a correspondence to where on the detector the particle hit is made. Most of the detected glitches are from galactic protons incident on the Si die frame supporting the micromachined bolometric detectors. At HFI, the particle flux is ~ 5 per square cm and per second and is dominated by protons incident on the spacecraft with an energy >39 MeV, leading to a rate of typically one event per second and per detector. Different categories of glitches have different signature in timestreams. Two of the glitch types have a low amplitude component that decays over nearly 1 second. This component produces an excess noise if not properly removed from the time ordered data. We have used a glitch detection and subtraction method based on the joint fit of population templates. The application of this novel glitch removal method removes excess noise from glitches. Using realistic simulations, we find this method does not introduce signal bias.Comment: 23 pages; v2: author list complete

Planck 2013 results. VI. High Frequency Instrument data processing

We describe the processing of the 531 billion raw data samples from the High Frequency Instrument (hereafter HFI), which we performed to produce six temperature maps from the first 473 days of Planck-HFI survey data. These maps provide an accurate rendition of the sky emission at 100, 143, 217, 353, 545, and 857 GHz with an angular resolution ranging from 9.7 to 4.6 arcmin. The detector noise per (effective) beam solid angle is respectively, 10, 6, 12 and 39 microKelvin in HFI four lowest frequency channel (100--353 GHz) and 13 and 14 kJy/sr for the 545 and 857 GHz channels. Using the 143 GHz channel as a reference, these two high frequency channels are intercalibrated within 5% and the 353 GHz relative calibration is at the percent level. The 100 and 217 GHz channels, which together with the 143 GHz channel determine the high-multipole part of the CMB power spectrum (50 < l <2500), are intercalibrated at better than 0.2 %

Non-Gaussianity from false vacuum inflation: Old curvaton scenario

We calculate the three-point correlation function of the comoving curvature perturbation generated during an inflationary epoch driven by false vacuum energy. We get a novel false vacuum shape bispectrum, which peaks in the equilateral limit. Using this result, we propose a scenario which we call "old curvaton". The shape of the resulting bispectrum lies between the local and the false vacuum shapes. In addition we have a large running of the spectral index.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures; v2 with minor revison; v3 final version to appear on JCA

Measuring neutrino masses with a future galaxy survey

We perform a detailed forecast on how well a Euclid-like photometric galaxy and cosmic shear survey will be able to constrain the absolute neutrino mass scale. Adopting conservative assumptions about the survey specifications and assuming complete ignorance of the galaxy bias, we estimate that the minimum mass sum of sum m_nu ~ 0.06 eV in the normal hierarchy can be detected at 1.5 sigma to 2.5 sigma significance, depending on the model complexity, using a combination of galaxy and cosmic shear power spectrum measurements in conjunction with CMB temperature and polarisation observations from Planck. With better knowledge of the galaxy bias, the significance of the detection could potentially reach 5.4 sigma. Interestingly, neither Planck+shear nor Planck+galaxy alone can achieve this level of sensitivity; it is the combined effect of galaxy and cosmic shear power spectrum measurements that breaks the persistent degeneracies between the neutrino mass, the physical matter density, and the Hubble parameter. Notwithstanding this remarkable sensitivity to sum m_nu, Euclid-like shear and galaxy data will not be sensitive to the exact mass spectrum of the neutrino sector; no significant bias (< 1 sigma) in the parameter estimation is induced by fitting inaccurate models of the neutrino mass splittings to the mock data, nor does the goodness-of-fit of these models suffer any significant degradation relative to the true one (Delta chi_eff ^2< 1).Comment: v1: 29 pages, 10 figures. v2: 33 pages, 12 figures; added sections on shape evolution and constraints in more complex models, accepted for publication in JCA

Planck 2013 results. III. LFI systematic uncertainties

We present the current estimate of instrumental and systematic effect uncertainties for the Planck-Low Frequency Instrument relevant to the first release of the Planck cosmological results. We give an overview of the main effects and of the tools and methods applied to assess residuals in maps and power spectra. We also present an overall budget of known systematic effect uncertainties, which are dominated sidelobe straylight pick-up and imperfect calibration. However, even these two effects are at least two orders of magnitude weaker than the cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations as measured in terms of the angular temperature power spectrum. A residual signal above the noise level is present in the multipole range $\ell<20$, most notably at 30 GHz, and is likely caused by residual Galactic straylight contamination. Current analysis aims to further reduce the level of spurious signals in the data and to improve the systematic effects modelling, in particular with respect to straylight and calibration uncertainties.Comment: Accepted for publication by A&

A note on second-order perturbations of non-canonical scalar fields

We study second-order perturbations for a general non-canonical scalar field, minimally coupled to gravity, on the unperturbed FRW background, where metric fluctuations are neglected a priori. By employing different approaches to cosmological perturbation theory, we show that, even in this simplified set-up, the second-order perturbations to the stress tensor, the energy density and the pressure display potential instabilities, which are not present at linear order. The conditions on the Lagrangian under which these instabilities take place are provided. We also discuss briefly the significance of our analysis in light of the possible linearization instability of these fields about the FRW background.Comment: 8 page, Revtex 4. Clarifications added, results unchanged; [v3] 10 pages, matches with the published version, Discussion for specific cases expanded and preliminary results including the metric perturbations discusse

Planck 2013 results. IX. HFI spectral response

The Planck High Frequency Instrument (HFI) spectral response was determined through a series of ground based tests conducted with the HFI focal plane in a cryogenic environment prior to launch. The main goal of the spectral transmission tests was to measure the relative spectral response (including out-of-band signal rejection) of all HFI detectors. This was determined by measuring the output of a continuously scanned Fourier transform spectrometer coupled with all HFI detectors. As there is no on-board spectrometer within HFI, the ground-based spectral response experiments provide the definitive data set for the relative spectral calibration of the HFI. The spectral response of the HFI is used in Planck data analysis and component separation, this includes extraction of CO emission observed within Planck bands, dust emission, Sunyaev-Zeldovich sources, and intensity to polarization leakage. The HFI spectral response data have also been used to provide unit conversion and colour correction analysis tools. Verifications of the HFI spectral response data are provided through comparisons with photometric HFI flight data. This validation includes use of HFI zodiacal emission observations to demonstrate out-of-band spectral signal rejection better than 10^8. The accuracy of the HFI relative spectral response data is verified through comparison with complementary flight-data based unit conversion coefficients and colour correction coefficients. These coefficients include those based upon HFI observations of CO, dust, and Sunyaev-Zeldovich emission. General agreement is observed between the ground-based spectral characterization of HFI and corresponding in-flight observations, within the quoted uncertainty of each; explanations are provided for any discrepancies.Comment: 27 pages, 28 figures, one of the papers associated with the 2013 Planck data releas