WMAP confirming the ellipticity in BOOMERanG and COBE CMB maps

The recent study of BOOMERanG 150 GHz Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation maps have detected ellipticity of the temperature anisotropy spots independent on the temperature threshold. The effect has been found for spots up to several degrees in size, where the biases of the ellipticity estimator and of the noise are small. To check the effect, now we have studied, with the same algorithm and in the same sky region, the WMAP maps. We find ellipticity of the same average value also in WMAP maps, despite of the different sensitivity of the two experiments to low multipoles. Large spot elongations had been detected also for the COBE-DMR maps. If this effect is due to geodesic mixing and hence due to non precisely zero curvature of the hyperbolic Universe, it can be linked to the origin of WMAP low multipoles anomaly.Comment: More explanations and two references adde

Is there a common origin for the WMAP low multipole and for the ellipticity in BOOMERanG CMB maps?

We have measured the ellipticity of several degree scale anisotropies in the BOOMERanG maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at 150 GHz. The average ellipticity is around 2.6-2.7. The biases of the estimator of the ellipticity and for the noise are small in this case. Large spot elongation had been detected also for COBE-DMR maps. If this effect is due to geodesic mixing, it would indicate a non precisely zero curvature of the Universe which is among the discussed reasons of the WMAP low multipole anomaly. Both effects are related to the diameter of the Universe: the geodesics mixing through hyperbolic geometry, low multipoles through boundary conditions.This common reason can also be related with the origin of the the cosmological constant: the modes of vacuum fluctuations conditioned by the boundary conditions lead to a value of the cosmological constant being in remarkable agreement with the supernovae observations.Comment: Added: two co-authors and a comment on the possible relation of the discussed CMB properties with the origin of the observed value of the cosmological constan

The trispectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background on sub-degree angular scales: an analysis of the BOOMERanG data

The trispectrum of the cosmic microwave background can be used to assess the level of non-Gaussianity on cosmological scales. It probes the fourth order moment, as a function of angular scale, of the probability distribution function of fluctuations and has been shown to be sensitive to primordial non-gaussianity, secondary anisotropies (such as the Ostriker-Vishniac effect) and systematic effects (such as astrophysical foregrounds). In this paper we develop a formalism for estimating the trispectrum from high resolution sky maps which incorporates the impact of finite sky coverage. This leads to a series of operations applied to the data set to minimize the effects of contamination due to the Gaussian component and correlations between estimates at different scales. To illustrate the effect of the estimation process, we apply our procedure to the BOOMERanG data set and show that it is consistent with Gaussianity. This work presents the first estimation of the CMB trispectrum on sub-degree scales.Comment: 14 pages, submitted to MNRA

Desarrollo de dos enzimoinmunoensayos competitivos para la detección de trazas de soja y de huevo en pastas secas

El objetivo del presente trabajo fue desarrollar dos enzimoinmunoensayos competitivos, uno para detectar presencia de trazas de soja y otro para detectar trazas de huevo en pastas secas. Se trabajó con dos antisueros policlonales de conejo específicos de proteínas de soja (PS) y de proteínas de huevo (PH) como anticuerpos primarios. Para cada enzimoinmunoensayo se determinó la concentración óptima de antígeno a inmovilizar en la placa y la concentración de anticuerpo primario para ser utilizada en la competencia. Se ajustó la curva de calibración utilizando concentraciones crecientes de un extracto de producto de soja o de huevo entero en polvo extraído con buffer Tris-HCL 0,0625M con 3% de SDS y 2% de mercaptoetanol. El rango de trabajo utilizado en el enzimoinmunoensayo para detectar soja fue 15-420ppm PS y para huevo fue 20-630ppm PH con una adecuada linealidad (R2: 0,9880 para soja y 0,9564 para huevo). Todos los parámetros de validación estudiados resultaron adecuados. Se analizaron muestras comerciales de pastas secas con estos enzimoinmunoensayos y con kits comerciales de ELISA. Si bien se observaron diferencias importantes en los resultados cuantitativos obtenidos con ambas metodologías, los enzimoinmunoensayos desarrollados se podrían utilizar como métodos de screening.The aim of this work was to develop two competitive enzyme immunoassays, one to detect the presence of traces of soy and another to detect traces of egg in dry pasta. Two specific rabbit polyclonal antisera raised against soy protein (SP) and egg proteins (EP) were used as primary antibodies. The optimal antigen concentration to be immobilized on the plate and the concentration of primary antibody to be used in competition was determined, for each enzyme immunoassay. The calibration curve was fitted using increasing concentrations of an extract of soy product or whole egg powder. The soy product and the whole egg powder were extracted with Tris-HCl buffer 0,0625M with 3% SDS and 2% mercaptoethanol. The working range used in the enzyme immunoassay to detect soybean was 15-420ppm SP and to detect egg was 20-630ppm EP with adequate linearity (R2: 0.9880 and 0.9564 for soy and egg). All validation parameters studied were appropiate. Commercial samples of dry pasta were analyzed with these enzyme immunoassays and with commercial ELISA kits. Significant differences were observed in the quantitative results obtained with both methods; nevertheless, the developed enzyme immunoassays could be used as screening methods.Instituto de Estudios Inmunológicos y Fisiopatológico

Noise Properties of the BOOMERANG Instrument

In this paper we report a short description of the BOOMERANG experiment explaining his scientific goal and the technologies implied. We concentrate then on the analysis of the noise properties discussing in particular the scan synchronous noise. Finally we present the calibration technique and the sensitivity of all the channels

Images of the Early Universe from the BOOMERanG experiment

The CMB is the fundamental tool to study the properties of the early universe and of the universe at large scales. In the framework of the Hot Big Bang model, when we look to the CMB we look back in time to the end of the plasma era, at a redshift ~ 1000, when the universe was ~ 50000 times younger, ~ 1000 times hotter and ~ 10^9 times denser than today. The image of the CMB can be used to study the physical processes there, to infer what happened before, and also to study the background geometry of our Universe

ℓ-space spectroscopy of the Cosmic Microwave Background with the BOOMERanG experiment

The BOOMERanG experiment has recently produced detailed maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background, where sub-horizon structures are resolved with good signal to noise ratio. A power spectrum (spherical harmonics) analysis of the maps detects three peaks, at multipoles ℓ = (213_(-13)^(+10)),(541_(-32)^(+20))(845_(-25)^(+12)). In this paper we discuss the data analysis and the implications of these results for cosmology