128 research outputs found
The faint end of the 250 ÎŒm luminosity function at z < 0.5
Aims. We aim to study the 250 ÎŒm luminosity function (LF) down to much fainter luminosities than achieved by previous efforts. Methods. We developed a modified stacking method to reconstruct the 250 ÎŒm LF using optically selected galaxies from the SDSS survey and Herschel maps of the GAMA equatorial fields and Stripe 82. Our stacking method not only recovers the mean 250 ÎŒm luminosities of galaxies that are too faint to be individually detected, but also their underlying distribution functions. Results. We find very good agreement with previous measurements in the overlapping luminosity range. More importantly, we are able to derive the LF down to much fainter luminosities (~ 25 times fainter) than achieved by previous studies. We find strong positive luminosity evolution L*250(z)â(1+z)4.89±1.07 and moderate negative density evolution Ί*250(z)â(1+z)-1.02±0.54 over the redshift range 0.0
Spider Optimization: Probing the Systematics of a Large Scale B-Mode Experiment
Spider is a long-duration, balloon-borne polarimeter designed to measure
large scale Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization with very high
sensitivity and control of systematics. The instrument will map over half the
sky with degree angular resolution in I, Q and U Stokes parameters, in four
frequency bands from 96 to 275 GHz. Spider's ultimate goal is to detect the
primordial gravity wave signal imprinted on the CMB B-mode polarization. One of
the challenges in achieving this goal is the minimization of the contamination
of B-modes by systematic effects. This paper explores a number of instrument
systematics and observing strategies in order to optimize B-mode sensitivity.
This is done by injecting realistic-amplitude, time-varying systematics in a
set of simulated time-streams. Tests of the impact of detector noise
characteristics, pointing jitter, payload pendulations, polarization angle
offsets, beam systematics and receiver gain drifts are shown. Spider's default
observing strategy is to spin continuously in azimuth, with polarization
modulation achieved by either a rapidly spinning half-wave plate or a rapidly
spinning gondola and a slowly stepped half-wave plate. Although the latter is
more susceptible to systematics, results shown here indicate that either mode
of operation can be used by Spider.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figs, version with full resolution figs available here
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~lgg/spider_front.ht
AKARI and BLAST Observations of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant and Surrounding Interstellar Medium
We use new large area far infrared maps ranging from 65 - 500 microns
obtained with the AKARI and the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter
Telescope (BLAST) missions to characterize the dust emission toward the
Cassiopeia A supernova remnant (SNR). Using the AKARI high resolution data we
find a new "tepid" dust grain population at a temperature of ~35K and with an
estimated mass of 0.06 solar masses. This component is confined to the central
area of the SNR and may represent newly-formed dust in the unshocked supernova
ejecta. While the mass of tepid dust that we measure is insufficient by itself
to account for the dust observed at high redshift, it does constitute an
additional dust population to contribute to those previously reported. We fit
our maps at 65, 90, 140, 250, 350, and 500 microns to obtain maps of the column
density and temperature of "cold" dust (near 16 K) distributed throughout the
region. The large column density of cold dust associated with clouds seen in
molecular emission extends continuously from the surrounding interstellar
medium to project on the SNR, where the foreground component of the clouds is
also detectable through optical, X-ray, and molecular extinction. At the
resolution available here, there is no morphological signature to isolate any
cold dust associated only with the SNR from this confusing interstellar
emission. Our fit also recovers the previously detected "hot" dust in the
remnant, with characteristic temperature 100 K.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Maps and
related data are available at http://blastexperiment.info
CMB Polarization B-mode Delensing with SPTpol and Herschel
We present a demonstration of delensing the observed cosmic microwave
background (CMB) B-mode polarization anisotropy. This process of reducing the
gravitational-lensing generated B-mode component will become increasingly
important for improving searches for the B modes produced by primordial
gravitational waves. In this work, we delens B-mode maps constructed from
multi-frequency SPTpol observations of a 90 deg patch of sky by subtracting
a B-mode template constructed from two inputs: SPTpol E-mode maps and a lensing
potential map estimated from the map of the
CIB. We find that our delensing procedure reduces the measured B-mode power
spectrum by 28% in the multipole range ; this is shown to be
consistent with expectations from theory and simulations and to be robust
against systematics. The null hypothesis of no delensing is rejected at . Furthermore, we build and use a suite of realistic simulations to
study the general properties of the delensing process and find that the
delensing efficiency achieved in this work is limited primarily by the noise in
the lensing potential map. We demonstrate the importance of including realistic
experimental non-idealities in the delensing forecasts used to inform
instrument and survey-strategy planning of upcoming lower-noise experiments,
such as CMB-S4.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures. Comments are welcome
Extragalactic millimeter-wave sources in South Pole Telescope survey data: source counts, catalog, and statistics for an 87 square-degree field
We report the results of an 87 square-degree point-source survey centered at
R.A. 5h30m, decl. -55 deg. taken with the South Pole Telescope (SPT) at 1.4 and
2.0 mm wavelengths with arc-minute resolution and milli-Jansky depth. Based on
the ratio of flux in the two bands, we separate the detected sources into two
populations, one consistent with synchrotron emission from active galactic
nuclei (AGN) and one consistent with thermal emission from dust. We present
source counts for each population from 11 to 640 mJy at 1.4 mm and from 4.4 to
800 mJy at 2.0 mm. The 2.0 mm counts are dominated by synchrotron-dominated
sources across our reported flux range; the 1.4 mm counts are dominated by
synchroton-dominated sources above ~15 mJy and by dust-dominated sources below
that flux level. We detect 141 synchrotron-dominated sources and 47
dust-dominated sources at S/N > 4.5 in at least one band. All of the most
significantly detected members of the synchrotron-dominated population are
associated with sources in previously published radio catalogs. Some of the
dust-dominated sources are associated with nearby (z << 1) galaxies whose dust
emission is also detected by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS). However,
most of the bright, dust-dominated sources have no counterparts in any existing
catalogs. We argue that these sources represent the rarest and brightest
members of the population commonly referred to as sub-millimeter galaxies
(SMGs). Because these sources are selected at longer wavelengths than in
typical SMG surveys, they are expected to have a higher mean redshift
distribution and may provide a new window on galaxy formation in the early
universe.Comment: 35 emulateapj pages, 12 figures, 5 table
A CMB lensing mass map and its correlation with the cosmic infrared background
We use a temperature map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) obtained
using the South Pole Telescope at 150 GHz to construct a map of the
gravitational convergence to z ~ 1100, revealing the fluctuations in the
projected mass density. This map shows individual features that are significant
at the ~ 4 sigma level, providing the first image of CMB lensing convergence.
We cross-correlate this map with Herschel/SPIRE maps covering 90 square degrees
at wavelengths of 500, 350, and 250 microns. We show that these
submillimeter-wavelength (submm) maps are strongly correlated with the lensing
convergence map, with detection significances in each of the three submm bands
ranging from 6.7 to 8.8 sigma. We fit the measurement of the cross power
spectrum assuming a simple constant bias model and infer bias factors of
b=1.3-1.8, with a statistical uncertainty of 15%, depending on the assumed
model for the redshift distribution of the dusty galaxies that are contributing
to the Herschel/SPIRE maps.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to be submitted to ApJ
Detection of B-mode Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background with Data from the South Pole Telescope
Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background generates a curl
pattern in the observed polarization. This "B-mode" signal provides a measure
of the projected mass distribution over the entire observable Universe and also
acts as a contaminant for the measurement of primordial gravity-wave signals.
In this Letter we present the first detection of gravitational lensing B modes,
using first-season data from the polarization-sensitive receiver on the South
Pole Telescope (SPTpol). We construct a template for the lensing B-mode signal
by combining E-mode polarization measured by SPTpol with estimates of the
lensing potential from a Herschel-SPIRE map of the cosmic infrared background.
We compare this template to the B modes measured directly by SPTpol, finding a
non-zero correlation at 7.7 sigma significance. The correlation has an
amplitude and scale-dependence consistent with theoretical expectations, is
robust with respect to analysis choices, and constitutes the first measurement
of a powerful cosmological observable.Comment: Two additional null tests, matches version published in PR
Measuring star formation in high-z massive galaxies: A mid-infrared to submillimeter study of the GOODS NICMOS Survey sample
We present measurements of the mean mid-infrared-to-submillimeter flux
densities of massive (M\ast \approx 2 \times 10^11 Msun) galaxies at redshifts
1.7 < z < 2.9, obtained by stacking positions of known objects taken from the
GOODS NICMOS Survey (GNS) catalog on maps: at 24 {\mu}m (Spitzer/MIPS); 70,
100, and 160{\mu}m (Herschel/PACS); 250, 350, 500{\mu}m (BLAST); and 870{\mu}m
(LABOCA). A modified blackbody spectrum fit to the stacked flux densities
indicates a median [interquartile] star-formation rate of SFR = 63 [48, 81]
Msun yr^-1 . We note that not properly accounting for correlations between
bands when fitting stacked data can significantly bias the result. The galaxies
are divided into two groups, disk-like and spheroid-like, according to their
Sersic indices, n. We find evidence that most of the star formation is
occurring in n \leq 2 (disk-like) galaxies, with median [interquartile] SFR =
122 [100,150] Msun yr^-1, while there are indications that the n > 2
(spheroid-like) population may be forming stars at a median [interquartile] SFR
= 14 [9,20] Msun yr^-1, if at all. Finally, we show that star formation is a
plausible mechanism for size evolution in this population as a whole, but find
only marginal evidence that it is what drives the expansion of the
spheroid-like galaxies.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. 10 pages, 3 figures, 3 table
The Red Radio Ring: a gravitationally lensed hyperluminous infrared radio galaxy at z = 2.553 discovered through the citizen science project SPACE WARPS
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.We report the discovery of a gravitationally lensed hyperluminous infrared galaxy (intrinsic LIR â 1013âLâ) with strong radio emission (intrinsic L1.4âGHz â 1025 W Hzâ1) at z = 2.553. The source was identified in the citizen science project SPACE WARPS through the visual inspection of tens of thousands of iJKs colour composite images of luminous red galaxies (LRGs), groups and clusters of galaxies and quasars. Appearing as a partial Einstein ring (re â 3 arcsec) around an LRG at z = 0.2, the galaxy is extremely bright in the sub-millimetre for a cosmological source, with the thermal dust emission approaching 1âJy at peak. The redshift of the lensed galaxy is determined through the detection of the CO(3â2) molecular emission line with the Large Millimetre Telescope's Redshift Search Receiver and through [OâIII] and Hα line detections in the near-infrared from Subaru/Infrared Camera and Spectrograph. We have resolved the radio emission with high-resolution (300â400âmas) eMERLIN L-band and Very Large Array C-band imaging. These observations are used in combination with the near-infrared imaging to construct a lens model, which indicates a lensing magnification of ÎŒ â 10. The source reconstruction appears to support a radio morphology comprised of a compact (<250âpc) core and more extended component, perhaps indicative of an active nucleus and jet or lobe.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Detection of the Cosmic Far-Infrared Background in the AKARI Deep Field South
We report the detection and measurement of the absolute brightness and
spatial fluctuations of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) with the AKARI
satellite. We have carried out observations at 65, 90, 140 and 160 um as a
cosmological survey in AKARI Deep Field South (ADF-S), which is one of the
lowest cirrus regions with contiguous area on the sky. After removing bright
galaxies and subtracting zodiacal and Galactic foregrounds from the measured
sky brightness, we have successfully measured the CIB brightness and its
fluctuations across a wide range of angular scales from arcminutes to degrees.
The measured CIB brightness is consistent with previous results reported from
COBE data but significantly higher than the lower limits at 70 and 160 um
obtained with the Spitzer satellite from the stacking analysis of 24-um
selected sources. The discrepancy with the Spitzer result is possibly due to a
new galaxy population at high redshift obscured by hot dust. From power
spectrum analysis at 90 um, three components are identified: shot noise due to
individual galaxies; Galactic cirrus emission dominating at the largest angular
scales of a few degrees; and an additional component at an intermediate angular
scale of 10-30 arcminutes, possibly due to galaxy clustering. The spectral
shape of the clustering component at 90 um is very similar to that at longer
wavelengths as observed by Spitzer and BLAST. Moreover, the color of the
fluctuations indicates that the clustering component is as red as
Ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) at high redshift, These galaxies are
not likely to be the majority of the CIB emission at 90 um, but responsible for
the clustering component. Our results provide new constraints on the evolution
and clustering properties of distant infrared galaxies.Comment: 50 pages, 15 figures, submitted to Ap
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