A new, large-scale map of interstellar reddening derived from HI emission

We present a new map of interstellar reddening, covering the 39\% of the sky with low {\rm HI} column densities ($N_{\rm HI} < 4\times10^{20}\,\rm cm^{-2}$ or $E(B-V)\approx 45\rm\, mmag$) at $16\overset{'}{.}1$ resolution, based on all-sky observations of Galactic HI emission by the HI4PI Survey. In this low column density regime, we derive a characteristic value of $N_{\rm HI}/E(B-V) = 8.8\times10^{21}\, \rm\, cm^{2}\, mag^{-1}$ for gas with $|v_{\rm LSR}| < 90\,\rm km\, s^{-1}$ and find no significant reddening associated with gas at higher velocities. We compare our HI-based reddening map with the Schlegel, Finkbeiner, and Davis (1998, SFD) reddening map and find them consistent to within a scatter of $\simeq 5\,\rm mmag$. Further, the differences between our map and the SFD map are in excellent agreement with the low resolution ($4\overset{\circ}{.}5$) corrections to the SFD map derived by Peek and Graves (2010) based on observed reddening toward passive galaxies. We therefore argue that our HI-based map provides the most accurate interstellar reddening estimates in the low column density regime to date. Our reddening map is made publicly available (http://dx.doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AFJNWJ).Comment: Re-submitted to ApJ. The reddening map is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AFJNW

Extragalactic Foreground Contamination in Temperature-based CMB Lens Reconstruction

We discuss the effect of unresolved point source contamination on estimates of the CMB lensing potential, from components such as the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, radio point sources, and the Cosmic Infrared Background. We classify the possible trispectra associated with such source populations, and construct estimators for the amplitude and scale-dependence of several of the major trispectra. We show how to propagate analytical models for these source trispectra to biases for lensing. We also construct a "source-hardened" lensing estimator which experiences significantly smaller biases when exposed to unresolved point sources than the standard quadratic lensing estimator. We demonstrate these ideas in practice using the sky simulations of Sehgal et. al., for cosmic-variance limited experiments designed to mimic ACT, SPT, and Planck

Competition between shocks and entropy floor: unifying groups and clusters of galaxies

Semi-analytic models of X-ray clusters and groups of galaxies, relying on the idea that there was a non-gravitational energy injection in these systems, are able to reproduce many observed correlations, in particular the L_X-T relation and the ``central entropy floor'' in groups. Limiting models exist which describe the behaviour of clusters and groups separately, but no analytic modeling has yet been found to unify both mass ranges. {\it It is the aim of this paper to provide such an analytic model.} Our description relies on a now standard description of the shock thought to occur in these systems near the virial radius (Cavaliere et al., 98), the isothermality and spherical symmetry of the intracluster medium, as well as the reinterpretation of observed quantities (like the X-ray luminosity, the gas mass M_{ICM} and the central SZ effect y_0) in terms of the specific entropy. This allows the derivation of analytic expressions for several observed correlations (L_X-T, M_{ICM}-T, y_0-T,...) and their normalisation encompassing \emph{both the group and the cluster regimes}. The analytic predictions compare very well with observations, as well as with more elaborated semi-analytic schemes. This agreement allows a reinterpretation of the L_X-T relation (via the quantity L_X/T^{7/2}) and the y_0-T relation (via y_0/T^{5/2}) as indirect measures of the non-gravitational entropy content of groups and clusters of galaxies. Finally, we emphasize the need for shock heating, even in the group mass range : \emph{shocks can not be completely supressed in groups} (and thus groups can not be entirely isentropic) unless an unacceptably high entropy floor is needed in order to break the self-similarity in the L_X-T relation

Intensity Mapping with Carbon Monoxide Emission Lines and the Redshifted 21 cm Line

We quantify the prospects for using emission lines from rotational transitions of the CO molecule to perform an `intensity mapping' observation at high redshift during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). The aim of CO intensity mapping is to observe the combined CO emission from many unresolved galaxies, to measure the spatial fluctuations in this emission, and use this as a tracer of large scale structure at very early times in the history of our Universe. This measurement would help determine the properties of molecular clouds -- the sites of star formation -- in the very galaxies that reionize the Universe. We further consider the possibility of cross-correlating CO intensity maps with future observations of the redshifted 21 cm line. The cross spectrum is less sensitive to foreground contamination than the auto power spectra, and can therefore help confirm the high redshift origin of each signal. Furthermore, the cross spectrum measurement would help extract key information about the EoR, especially regarding the size distribution of ionized regions. We discuss uncertainties in predicting the CO signal at high redshift, and discuss strategies for improving these predictions. Under favorable assumptions, and feasible specifications for a CO survey mapping the CO(2-1) and CO(1-0) lines, the power spectrum of CO emission fluctuations and its cross spectrum with future 21 cm measurements from the MWA are detectable at high significance.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Ap

Measurement of Gross cell-surface antigen and p30 level in murine retrovirus-infected cell lines.

The level of Gross cell-surface antigen (GCSAa) expression at the surface of murine retrovirus-infected fibroblasts was determined by quantitative absorption of the anti-GCSAa activity of a serum produced in syngeneic W/Fu rats immunized against (C58NT)D lymphoma, and tested in a cytotoxicity assay against E male G2 lymphoma cells. While GCSAa was specifically expressed on Gross-type virus (G-MuLV)-induced lymphoma cells, and while G-MuLV and G-related MuLV induced a high level of GCSAa expression on murine fibroblasts, the Friend-Moloney-Rauscher (FMR) group viruses (FMR MuLV) and xenotropic isolates were also able to induce a high or intermediate level of GCSAa. Since GCSAa has been shown to be borne by glycosylated precursors of the viral nucleocapside (gp95gag and gp85gag), the amount of GCSAa expressed on these cells was compared to the level of cytoplasmic p30. In G- and G-related MuLV-infected cell lines, a significant relationship was found between the amount of GCSAa and the level of p30, whereas in FMR-MuLV or xenotropic virus-infected cells the amount of GCSAa varied independently of the p30 level. These results could explain the discrepancy in the specificity of expression of GCSAa in vivo and in vitro

Cosmic Microwave Background Constraints on the Duration and Timing of Reionization from the South Pole Telescope

The epoch of reionization is a milestone of cosmological structure formation, marking the birth of the first objects massive enough to yield large numbers of ionizing photons. However, the mechanism and timescale of reionization remain largely unknown. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) Doppler effect from ionizing bubbles embedded in large-scale velocity streams—known as the patchy kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect—can be used to constrain the duration of reionization. When combined with large-scale CMB polarization measurements, the evolution of the ionized fraction, x-bar_(e), can be inferred. Using new multi-frequency data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT), we show that the ionized fraction evolved relatively rapidly. For our basic foreground model, we find the kSZ power sourced by reionization at ℓ = 3000 to be D^(patchy)_3000 ≤ 2.1 μK^2 at 95% confidence. Using reionization simulations, we translate this to a limit on the duration of reionization of Δz≡z_(x-bar)_e=0.20 - z_(x-bar)_e=0.99≤4.4 (95% confidence). We find that this constraint depends on assumptions about the angular correlation between the thermal SZ power and the cosmic infrared background (CIB). Introducing the degree of correlation as a free parameter, we find that the limit on kSZ power weakens to D^(patchy)_3000 ≤ 4.9 μK^2, implying Δz ≤ 7.9 (95% confidence). We combine the SPT constraint on the duration of reionization with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe measurement of the integrated optical depth to probe the cosmic ionization history. We find that reionization ended with 95% confidence at z > 7.2 under the assumption of no tSZ-CIB correlation, and z > 5.8 when correlations are allowed. Improved constraints from the full SPT data set in conjunction with upcoming Herschel and Planck data should detect extended reionization at >95% confidence provided Δz ≥ 2. These CMB observations complement other observational probes of the epoch of reionization such as the redshifted 21 cm line and narrowband surveys for Lyα-emitting galaxies

Limitation of energy deposition in classical N body dynamics

Energy transfers in collisions between classical clusters are studied with Classical N Body Dynamics calculations for different entrance channels. It is shown that the energy per particle transferred to thermalised classical clusters does not exceed the energy of the least bound particle in the cluster in its ``ground state''. This limitation is observed during the whole time of the collision, except for the heaviest system.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, 1 tabl

Detection of Gravitational Lensing in the Cosmic Microwave Background

Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), a long-standing prediction of the standard cosmolgical model, is ultimately expected to be an important source of cosmological information, but first detection has not been achieved to date. We report a 3.4 sigma detection, by applying quadratic estimator techniques to all sky maps from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite, and correlating the result with radio galaxy counts from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS). We present our methodology including a detailed discussion of potential contaminants. Our error estimates include systematic uncertainties from density gradients in NVSS, beam effects in WMAP, Galactic microwave foregrounds, resolved and unresolved CMB point sources, and the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect.Comment: 27 pages, 20 figure