3,175 research outputs found
Cosmological Information from Lensed CMB Power Spectra
Gravitational lensing distorts the cosmic microwave background (CMB)
temperature and polarization fields and encodes valuable information on
distances and growth rates at intermediate redshifts into the lensed power
spectra. The non-Gaussian bandpower covariance induced by the lenses is
negligible to l=2000 for all but the B polarization field where it increases
the net variance by up to a factor of 10 and favors an observing strategy with
3 times more area than if it were Gaussian. To quantify the cosmological
information, we introduce two lensing observables, characterizing nearly all of
the information, which simplify the study of non-Gaussian impact, parameter
degeneracies, dark energy models, and complementarity with other cosmological
probes. Information on the intermediate redshift parameters rapidly becomes
limited by constraints on the cold dark matter density and initial amplitude of
fluctuations as observations improve. Extraction of this information requires
deep polarization measurements on only 5-10% of the sky, and can improve Planck
lensing constraints by a factor of ~2-3 on any one of the parameters w_0, w_a,
Omega_K, sum(m_nu) with the others fixed. Sensitivity to the curvature and
neutrino mass are the highest due to the high redshift weight of CMB lensing
but degeneracies between the parameters must be broken externally.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, submitted to PR
Algorithms for FFT Beamforming Radio Interferometers
Radio interferometers consisting of identical antennas arranged on a regular
lattice permit fast Fourier transform beamforming, which reduces the
correlation cost from in the number of antennas to
. We develop a formalism for describing this process and
apply this formalism to derive a number of algorithms with a range of
observational applications. These include algorithms for forming arbitrarily
pointed tied-array beams from the regularly spaced Fourier-transform formed
beams, sculpting the beams to suppress sidelobes while only losing
percent-level sensitivity, and optimally estimating the position of a detected
source from its observed brightness in the set of beams. We also discuss the
effect that correlations in the visibility-space noise, due to cross-talk and
sky contributions, have on the optimality of Fourier transform beamforming,
showing that it does not strictly preserve the sky information of the
correlation, even for an idealized array. Our results have applications to a
number of upcoming interferometers, in particular the Canadian Hydrogen
Intensity Mapping Experiment--Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) project.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Ap
The Value of Information Technology-Enabled Diabetes Management
Reviews different technologies used in diabetes disease management, as well as the costs, benefits, and quality implications of technology-enabled diabetes management programs in the United States
Measurements of the magnetic field induced by a turbulent flow of liquid metal
Initial results from the Madison Dynamo Experiment provide details of the
inductive response of a turbulent flow of liquid sodium to an applied magnetic
field. The magnetic field structure is reconstructed from both internal and
external measurements. A mean toroidal magnetic field is induced by the flow
when an axial field is applied, thereby demonstrating the omega effect.
Poloidal magnetic flux is expelled from the fluid by the poloidal flow.
Small-scale magnetic field structures are generated by turbulence in the flow.
The resulting magnetic power spectrum exhibits a power-law scaling consistent
with the equipartition of the magnetic field with a turbulent velocity field.
The magnetic power spectrum has an apparent knee at the resistive dissipation
scale. Large-scale eddies in the flow cause significant changes to the
instantaneous flow profile resulting in intermittent bursts of non-axisymmetric
magnetic fields, demonstrating that the transition to a dynamo is not smooth
for a turbulent flow.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, invited talk by C. B. Forest at 2005 APS DPP
meeting, resubmitted to Physics of Plasma
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
Kionochaeta pini sp. nov. and Verrucophragmia splendens gen. nov. from Leaf Litter in South Africa
A novel taxonomic marker that discriminates between morphologically complex actinomycetes
In the era where large whole genome bacterial data sets are generated routinely, rapid and accurate molecular systematics is becoming increasingly important. However, 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing does not always offer sufficient resolution to discriminate between closely related genera. The SsgA-like proteins (SALPs) are developmental regulatory proteins in sporulating actinomycete, whereby SsgB actively recruits FtsZ during sporulation-specific cell division. Here we present a novel method to classify actinomycetes, based on the extraordinary way the SsgA and SsgB proteins are conserved. The almost complete conservation of the SsgB amino acid sequence between members of the same genus, and its high divergence even between closely related genera, provides high quality data for the classification of morphologically complex actinomycetes. Our analysis validates Kitasatospora as a sister genus to Streptomyces in the family Streptomycetaceae and suggests that Micromonospora, Salinispora and Verrucosispora may represent different clades of the same genus. It is also apparent that the amino-acid sequence of SsgA is an accurate determinant for the ability of streptomycetes to produce submerged spores, dividing the phylogenetic tree of streptomycetes into LSp (liquid culture sporulation) and NLSp (no liquid culture sporulation) branches. A new phylogenetic tree of industrially relevant actinomycetes is presented and compared to that based on 16S rRNA sequences
Weak Lensing of the CMB: Sampling Errors on B-Modes
The B modes generated by the lensing of CMB polarization are a primary target
for the upcoming generation of experiments and can potentially constrain
quantities such as the neutrino mass and dark energy equation of state. The net
sample variance on the small scale B modes out to l=2000 exceeds Gaussian
expectations by a factor of 10 reflecting the variance of the larger scale
lenses that generate them. It manifests itself as highly correlated band powers
with correlation coefficients approaching 70% for wide bands of Delta l/l
\~0.25. It will double the total variance for experiments that achieve a
sensitivity of approximately 4 uK-arcmin and a beam of several arcminutes or
better. This non-Gaussianity must be taken into account in the analysis of
experiments that go beyond first detection.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRD; small problem with detector
noise calc fixed (5uK'->4uK') main conclusions unchange
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