345 research outputs found
A statistical analysis of a Galactic all sky survey at 1.4 GHz
Radio surveys at frequencies of about 1 GHz allow to map the synchrotron
emission in a frequency range where (except for very low Galactic latitudes or
towards localized regions) it dominates over the other radio components. New
all sky total intensity and polarization data at 1.4 GHz have been recently
collected. We focus on the Galactic radio emission correlation properties
described in terms of angular power spectrum (APS). We present for the first
time the APS, in both total intensity and polarization modes, for some
representative Galactic cuts and suitable APS power law parametrizations.Comment: Comments: 2 pages, 2 figures; in Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol.327,
Issue 5/6, p.491 (2006); Proceedings of International Conference "The Origin
and Evolution of Cosmic Magnetism", 29 August - 2 September 2005, CNR Area
della Ricerca, Bologna, Italy, eds. R. Beck, G. Brunetti, L. Feretti, and B.
Gaensle
Measuring and calibrating Galactic synchrotron emission
Our position inside the Galaxy requires all-sky surveys to reveal its
large-scale properties. The zero-level calibration of all-sky surveys differs
from standard 'relative' measurements, where a source is measured in respect to
its surroundings. All-sky surveys aim to include emission structures of all
angular scales exceeding their angular resolution including isotropic emission
components. Synchrotron radiation is the dominating emission process in the
Galaxy up to frequencies of a few GHz, where numerous ground based surveys of
the total intensity up to 1.4 GHz exist. Its polarization properties were just
recently mapped for the entire sky at 1.4 GHz. All-sky total intensity and
linear polarization maps from WMAP for frequencies of 23 GHz and higher became
available and complement existing sky maps. Galactic plane surveys have higher
angular resolution using large single-dish or synthesis telescopes. Polarized
diffuse emission shows structures with no relation to total intensity emission
resulting from Faraday rotation effects in the interstellar medium. The
interpretation of these polarization structures critically depends on a correct
setting of the absolute zero-level in Stokes U and Q.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures. To be published in "Cosmic Magnetic Fields: From
Planets, to Stars and Galaxies", K.G. Strassmeier, A.G. Kosovichev & J.E.
Beckman, eds., Proc. IAU Symp. 259, CU
Weighting CMB and Galactic synchrotron polarisation
We review the present knowledge of the diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission
in polarisation. At microwave frequencies, we assess the expected contamination
to the CMB polarisation angular power spectrum, for and modes, as
expected after the WMAP first year measurements.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, proc. of the CMBnet workshop, 20-21 Feb. 2003,
Oxford, U
A Limit on the Polarized Anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background at Subdegree Angular Scales
A ground-based polarimeter, PIQUE, operating at 90 GHz has set a new limit on
the magnitude of any polarized anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background.
The combination of the scan strategy and full width half maximum beam of 0.235
degrees gives broad window functions with average multipoles, l = 211+294-146
and l = 212+229-135 for the E- and B-mode window functions, respectively. A
joint likelihood analysis yields simultaneous 95% confidence level flat band
power limits of 14 and 13 microkelvin on the amplitudes of the E- and B-mode
angular power spectra, respectively. Assuming no B-modes, a 95% confidence
limit of 10 microkelvin is placed on the amplitude of the E-mode angular power
spectrum alone.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letter
Dendritic Cells in Hepatitis B Virus Infection: Host-pathogen interaction and immune modulation
The discovery of the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a typical example of the role of serendipity in
scientific progress. In 1967, Dr. Blumberg investigated the link between inherited traits and
susceptibility to diseases by taking blood samples from native populations all over the world.
These blood samples were tested for the presence of different serum proteins using antibodies
derived from blood of haemophiliac patients. Dr. Blumberg reasoned that the immune system
of these patients must recognize all blood serum proteins as a result of the blood transfusions
they underwent. Using this technique, he discovered a match between an antibody from a haemophiliac
patient in New York and a blood serum protein from an Australian aboriginal, which
he called Australian antigen. Combination of this finding with research and clinical observations
led to the insight that the Australian antigen caused hepatitis or liver inflammation, which
in turn led to the discovery of HBV by the virologist Dr. Dane in1970. Two years later, a blood
test to identify HBV and a vaccine against the virus were invented. In 1976, Dr. Blumberg was
rewarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for this discovery
Rotation Measure Synthesis of Galactic Polarized Emission with the DRAO 26-m Telescope
Radio polarimetry at decimetre wavelengths is the principal source of
information on the Galactic magnetic field. The diffuse polarized emission is
strongly influenced by Faraday rotation in the magneto-ionic medium and
rotation measure is the prime quantity of interest, implying that all Stokes
parameters must be measured over wide frequency bands with many frequency
channels. The DRAO 26-m Telescope has been equipped with a wideband feed, a
polarization transducer to deliver both hands of circular polarization, and a
receiver, all operating from 1277 to 1762 MHz. Half-power beamwidth is between
40 and 30 arcminutes. A digital FPGA spectrometer, based on commercially
available components, produces all Stokes parameters in 2048 frequency channels
over a 485-MHz bandwidth. Signals are digitized to 8 bits and a Fast Fourier
Transform is applied to each data stream. Stokes parameters are then generated
in each frequency channel. This instrument is in use at DRAO for a Northern sky
polarization survey. Observations consist of scans up and down the Meridian at
a drive rate of 0.9 degree per minute to give complete coverage of the sky
between declinations -30 degree and 90 degree. This paper presents a complete
description of the receiver and data acquisition system. Only a small fraction
of the frequency band of operation is allocated for radio astronomy, and about
20 percent of the data are lost to interference. The first 8 percent of data
from the survey are used for a proof-of-concept study, which has led to the
first application of Rotation Measure Synthesis to the diffuse Galactic
emission obtained with a single-antenna telescope. We find rotation measure
values for the diffuse emission as high as approximately 100 rad per square
metre, much higher than recorded in earlier work.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa
A Highly Ordered Faraday-Rotation Structure in the Interstellar Medium
We describe a Faraday-rotation structure in the Interstellar Medium detected
through polarimetric imaging at 1420 MHz from the Canadian Galactic Plane
Survey (CGPS). The structure, at l=91.8, b=-2.5, has an extent of ~2 degree,
within which polarization angle varies smoothly over a range of ~100 degree.
Polarized intensity also varies smoothly, showing a central peak within an
outer shell. This region is in sharp contrast to its surroundings, where
low-level chaotic polarization structure occurs on arcminute scales. The
Faraday-rotation structure has no counterpart in radio total intensity, and is
unrelated to known objects along the line of sight, which include a Lynds
Bright Nebula, LBN 416, and the star cluster M39 (NGC7092). It is interpreted
as a smooth enhancement of electron density. The absence of a counterpart,
either in optical emission or in total intensity, establishes a lower limit to
its distance. An upper limit is determined by the strong beam depolarization in
this direction. At a probable distance of 350 +/- 50 pc, the size of the object
is 10 pc, the enhancement of electron density is 1.7 cm-3, and the mass of
ionized gas is 23 M_sun. It has a very smooth internal magnetic field of
strength 3 microG, slightly enhanced above the ambient field. G91.8-2.5 is the
second such object to be discovered in the CGPS, and it seems likely that such
structures are common in the Magneto-Ionic Medium.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, ApJ accepte
Polarization observations in a low synchrotron emission field at 1.4 GHz
We present the first observation of the diffuse polarized synchrotron
radiation of a patch () in the BOOMERanG field,
one of the areas with the lowest CMB foreground emission. The work has been
carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array at 1.4 GHz with 3.4
arcmin resolution and sensitivity of mJy beam. The mean
polarized signal has been found to be mK, nearly one order of magnitude below than in the Galactic
Plane.
Extrapolations to frequencies of interest for cosmological investigations
suggest that polarized synchrotron foreground noise should allow the detection
of the CMB Polarization --mode already at 32 GHz and make us confident that,
at 90 GHz, it is accessible with no relevant foreground contamination. Last but
not least, even the --mode detection for is not ruled out in
such a low emission patch.Comment: Uses emulateapj.sty, onecolfloat.sty, 5 pages 4 fig., accepted for
publication in ApJ
A multifrequency angular power spectrum analysis of the Leiden polarization surveys
The Galactic synchrotron emission is expected to be the most relevant source
of astrophysical contamination in cosmic microwave background polarization
measurements, at least at frequencies 30'. We
present a multifrequency analysis of the Leiden surveys, linear polarization
surveys covering essentially the Northern Celestial Hemisphere at five
frequencies between 408 MHz and 1411 MHz. By implementing specific
interpolation methods to deal with these irregularly sampled data, we produced
maps of the polarized diffuse Galactic radio emission with pixel size of 0.92
deg. We derived the angular power spectrum (APS) (PI, E, and B modes) of the
synchrotron dominated radio emission as function of the multipole, l. We
considered the whole covered region and some patches at different Galactic
latitudes. By fitting the APS in terms of power laws (C_l = k l^a), we found
spectral indices that steepen with increasing frequency: from a = -(1-1.5) at
408 MHz to a = -(2-3) at 1411 MHz for 10 < l < 100 and from a = -0.7 to a =
-1.5 for lower multipoles (the exact values depending on the considered sky
region and polarization mode). The bulk of this steepening can be interpreted
in terms of Faraday depolarization effects. We then considered the APS at
various fixed multipoles and its frequency dependence. Using the APSs of the
Leiden surveys at 820 MHz and 1411 MHz, we determined possible ranges for the
rotation measure, RM, in the simple case of an interstellar medium slab model.
Taking also into account the polarization degree at 1.4 GHz, we could break the
degeneracy between the identified RM intervals. The most reasonable of them
turned out to be RM = 9-17 rad/m^2.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures. Astronomy and Astrophysics, in pres
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