Searching for dark-matter waves with PPTA and QUIJOTE pulsar polarimetry

The polarization of photons emitted by astrophysical sources might be altered as they travel through a dark matter medium composed of ultra light axion-like particles (ALPs). In particular, the coherent oscillations of the ALP background in the galactic halo induce a periodic change on the polarization of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by local sources such as pulsars. Building up on previous works, we develop a new, more robust, analysis based on the generalised Lomb-Scargle periodogram to search for this periodic signal in the emission of the Crab supernova remnant observed by the QUIJOTE MFI instrument and 20 galactic pulsars from the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project. We also carefully take into account the stochastic nature of the axion field, an effect often overlooked in previous works. This refined analysis leads to the strongest limits on the axion-photon coupling for a wide range of dark matter masses spanning $10^{-23}\text{ eV}\lesssim m_a\lesssim10^{-19} \text{ eV}$. Finally, we survey possible optimal targets and the potential sensitivity to axionic dark-matter in this mass range that could be achieved using pulsar polarimetry in the future

Polarization of the WMAP Point Sources

The detection of polarized sources in the WMAP 5-year data is a very difficult task. The maps are dominated by instrumental noise and only a handful of sources show up as clear peaks in the Q and U maps. Optimal linear filters applied at the position of known bright sources detect with a high level of significance a polarized flux P from many more sources, but estimates of P are liable to biases. Using a new technique, named the "filtered fusion technique", we have detected in polarization, with a significance level greater than 99.99% in at least one WMAP channel, 22 objects, 5 of which, however, do not have a plausible low radio frequency counterpart and are therefore doubtful. Estimated polarized fluxes P < 400 mJy at 23 GHz were found to be severely affected by the Eddington bias. The corresponding polarized flux limit for Planck/LFI at 30 GHz, obtained via realistic simulations, is 300 mJy. We have also obtained statistical estimates of, or upper limits to the mean polarization degrees of bright WMAP sources at 23, 33, 41, and 61 GHz, finding that they are of a few percent.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Dynamics of Primordial Hydrogen Recombination with Allowance for a Recoil for Scattering in the Ly-alpha Line

It is shown that taking into account a recoil for radiation scattering in the Ly-alpha line can lead to a noticable acceleration of primordial hydrogen recombination. Thus for LambdaCDM model a decrease of ionization degree exceeds 1% for redshifts z in a range 800 - 1050 achieving approximately 1.3% at z=900. Corresponding corrections to the cosmic microwave background power spectra can achieve 1.1% for TT spectra and 1.7% for EE ones. Radiative transfer in these calculations was treated in a quasistationary approximation. Numerical solutions are also obtained in diffusion approximation for a nonstationary problem of Ly-alpha line radiative transfer under partial frequency redistribution with a recoil. An evolution of a local line profile is traced to as well as an evolution of a relative number of uncompensated transitions from 2p state down to 1s one. It is shown that taking into account nonstationarity of Ly-alpha line radiative transfer can lead to an additional acceleration of primordial hydrogen recombination.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy Letter

Bayesian Inversion of Stokes Profiles

[abridged] Inversion techniques are the most powerful methods to obtain information about the thermodynamical and magnetic properties of solar and stellar atmospheres. In the last years, we have witnessed the development of highly sophisticated inversion codes that are now widely applied to spectro-polarimetric observations. The majority of these inversion codes are based on the optimization of a complicated non-linear merit function. However, no reliable and statistically well-defined confidence intervals can be obtained for the parameters inferred from the inversions. A correct estimation of the confidence intervals for all the parameters that describe the model is mandatory. Additionally, it is fundamental to apply efficient techniques to assess the ability of models to reproduce the observations and to what extent the models have to be refined or can be simplified. Bayesian techniques are applied to analyze the performance of the model to fit a given observed Stokes vector. The posterior distribution, is efficiently sampled using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. For simplicity, we focus on the Milne-Eddington approximate solution of the radiative transfer equation and we only take into account the generation of polarization through the Zeeman effect. However, the method is extremely general and other more complex forward models can be applied. We illustrate the ability of the method with the aid of academic and realistic examples. We show that the information provided by the posterior distribution turns out to be fundamental to understand and determine the amount of information available in the Stokes profiles in these particular cases.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Uncertainties in Theoretical HeI Emissivities: HII Regions, Primordial Abundance, and Cosmological Recombination

A number of recent works in astronomy and cosmology have relied upon theoretical He I emissivities, but we know of no effort to quantify the uncertainties in the atomic data. We analyze and assign uncertainties to all relevant atomic data, perform Monte Carlo analyses, and report standard deviations in the line emissivities. We consider two sets of errors, which we call "optimistic" and "pessimistic." We also consider three different conditions, corresponding to prototypical Galactic and extragalactic H II regions and the epoch of cosmological recombination. In the extragalactic H II case, the errors we obtain are comparable to or larger than the errors in some recent $Y_p$ calculations, including those derived from CMB observations. We demonstrate a systematic effect on primordial abundance calculations; this effect cannot be reduced by observing a large number of objects. In the cosmological recombination case, the errors are comparable to many of the effects considered in recent calculations.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted to MNRAS Letter

Polarimetric receiver in the forty gigahertz band: new instrument for the Q-U-I joint Tenerife experiment

This paper describes the analysis, design and characterization of a polarimetric receiver developed for covering the 35 to 47 GHz frequency band in the new instrument aimed at completing the ground-based Q-U-I Joint Tenerife Experiment. This experiment is designed to measure polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background. The described high frequency instrument is a HEMT-based array composed of 29 pixels. A thorough analysis of the behaviour of the proposed receiver, based on electronic phase switching, is presented for a noise-like linearly polarized input signal, obtaining simultaneously I, Q and U Stokes parameters of the input signal. Wideband subsystems are designed, assembled and characterized for the polarimeter. Their performances are described showing appropriate results within the 35-to-47 GHz frequency band. Functionality tests are performed at room and cryogenic temperatures with adequate results for both temperature conditions, which validate the receiver concept and performance.The authors would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness for the financial support provided through the CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 program under the grant CSD2010-00064 and under the grant ESP2015-70646-C2-2-R

The 1989 and 2015 outbursts of V404 Cygni: a global study of wind-related optical features

The black hole transient V404 Cygni exhibited a bright outburst in June 2015 that was intensively followed over a wide range of wavelengths. Our team obtained high time resolution optical spectroscopy (~90 s), which included a detailed coverage of the most active phase of the event. We present a database consisting of 651 optical spectra obtained during this event, that we combine with 58 spectra gathered during the fainter December 2015 sequel outburst, as well as with 57 spectra from the 1989 event. We previously reported the discovery of wind-related features (P-Cygni and broad-wing line profiles) during both 2015 outbursts. Here, we build diagnostic diagrams that enable us to study the evolution of typical emission line parameters, such as line fluxes and equivalent widths, and develop a technique to systematically detect outflow signatures. We find that these are present throughout the outburst, even at very low optical fluxes, and that both types of outflow features are observed simultaneously in some spectra, confirming the idea of a common origin. We also show that the nebular phases depict loop patterns in many diagnostic diagrams, while P-Cygni profiles are highly variable on time-scales of minutes. The comparison between the three outbursts reveals that the spectra obtained during June and December 2015 share many similarities, while those from 1989 exhibit narrower emission lines and lower wind terminal velocities. The diagnostic diagrams presented in this work have been produced using standard measurement techniques and thus may be applied to other active low-mass X-ray binaries.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 23 pages paper, plus a 9 pages appendix with extra tables and figures. 18 figures are included in the paper and 8 in the appendi

Searching for non-Gaussianity in the VSA data

We have tested Very Small Array (VSA) observations of three regions of sky for the presence of non-Gaussianity, using high-order cumulants, Minkowski functionals, a wavelet-based test and a Bayesian joint power spectrum/non-Gaussianity analysis. We find the data from two regions to be consistent with Gaussianity. In the third region, we obtain a 96.7% detection of non-Gaussianity using the wavelet test. We perform simulations to characterise the tests, and conclude that this is consistent with expected residual point source contamination. There is therefore no evidence that this detection is of cosmological origin. Our simulations show that the tests would be sensitive to any residual point sources above the data's source subtraction level of 20 mJy. The tests are also sensitive to cosmic string networks at an rms fluctuation level of $105 \mu K$ (i.e. equivalent to the best-fit observed value). They are not sensitive to string-induced fluctuations if an equal rms of Gaussian CDM fluctuations is added, thereby reducing the fluctuations due to the strings network to $74 \mu K$ rms . We especially highlight the usefulness of non-Gaussianity testing in eliminating systematic effects from our data.Comment: Minor corrections; accepted for publication to MNRA

CMB observations from the CBI and VSA: A comparison of coincident maps and parameter estimation methods

We present coincident observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the Very Small Array (VSA) and Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) telescopes. The consistency of the full datasets is tested in the map plane and the Fourier plane, prior to the usual compression of CMB data into flat bandpowers. Of the three mosaics observed by each group, two are found to be in excellent agreement. In the third mosaic, there is a 2 sigma discrepancy between the correlation of the data and the level expected from Monte Carlo simulations. This is shown to be consistent with increased phase calibration errors on VSA data during summer observations. We also consider the parameter estimation method of each group. The key difference is the use of the variance window function in place of the bandpower window function, an approximation used by the VSA group. A re-evaluation of the VSA parameter estimates, using bandpower windows, shows that the two methods yield consistent results.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Final version. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Cosmological parameter estimation using Very Small Array data out to l=1500

We estimate cosmological parameters using data obtained by the Very Small Array (VSA) in its extended configuration, in conjunction with a variety of other CMB data and external priors. Within the flat $\Lambda$CDM model, we find that the inclusion of high resolution data from the VSA modifies the limits on the cosmological parameters as compared to those suggested by WMAP alone, while still remaining compatible with their estimates. We find that $\Omega_{\rm b}h^2=0.0234^{+0.0012}_{-0.0014}$, $\Omega_{\rm dm}h^2=0.111^{+0.014}_{-0.016}$, $h=0.73^{+0.09}_{-0.05}$, $n_{\rm S}=0.97^{+0.06}_{-0.03}$, $10^{10}A_{\rm S}=23^{+7}_{-3}$ and $\tau=0.14^{+0.14}_{-0.07}$ for WMAP and VSA when no external prior is included.On extending the model to include a running spectral index of density fluctuations, we find that the inclusion of VSA data leads to a negative running at a level of more than 95% confidence ($n_{\rm run}=-0.069\pm 0.032$), something which is not significantly changed by the inclusion of a stringent prior on the Hubble constant. Inclusion of prior information from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey reduces the significance of the result by constraining the value of $\Omega_{\rm m}$. We discuss the veracity of this result in the context of various systematic effects and also a broken spectral index model. We also constrain the fraction of neutrinos and find that $f_{\nu}< 0.087$ at 95% confidence which corresponds to $m_\nu<0.32{\rm eV}$ when all neutrino masses are the equal. Finally, we consider the global best fit within a general cosmological model with 12 parameters and find consistency with other analyses available in the literature. The evidence for $n_{\rm run}<0$ is only marginal within this model