358 research outputs found
Large scale directional anomalies in the WMAP 5yr ILC map
We study the alignments of the low multipoles of CMB anisotropies with
specific directions in the sky (i.e. the dipole, the north Ecliptic pole, the
north Galactic pole and the north Super Galactic pole). Performing
random extractions we have found that: 1) separately quadrupole and octupole
are mildly orthogonal to the dipole but when they are considered together, in
analogy to \cite{Copi2006}, we find an unlikely orthogonality at the level of
0.8% C.L.; 2) the multipole vectors associated to are unlikely aligned
with the dipole at C.L.; 3) the multipole vectors associated to
are mildly orthogonal to the dipole but when we consider only maps
that show exactly the same correlation among the multipoles as in the observed
WMAP 5yr ILC, these multipole vectors are unlikely orthogonal to the dipole at
C.L..Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in JCAP. Few
references added and some typos correcte
The shape of the CMB lensing bispectrum
Lensing of the CMB generates a significant bispectrum, which should be
detected by the Planck satellite at the 5-sigma level and is potentially a
non-negligible source of bias for f_NL estimators of local non-Gaussianity. We
extend current understanding of the lensing bispectrum in several directions:
(1) we perform a non-perturbative calculation of the lensing bispectrum which
is ~10% more accurate than previous, first-order calculations; (2) we
demonstrate how to incorporate the signal variance of the lensing bispectrum
into estimates of its amplitude, providing a good analytical explanation for
previous Monte-Carlo results; and (3) we discover the existence of a
significant lensing bispectrum in polarization, due to a previously-unnoticed
correlation between the lensing potential and E-polarization as large as 30% at
low multipoles. We use this improved understanding of the lensing bispectra to
re-evaluate Fisher-matrix predictions, both for Planck and cosmic variance
limited data. We confirm that the non-negligible lensing-induced bias for
estimation of local non-Gaussianity should be robustly treatable, and will only
inflate f_NL error bars by a few percent over predictions where lensing effects
are completely ignored (but note that lensing must still be accounted for to
obtain unbiased constraints). We also show that the detection significance for
the lensing bispectrum itself is ultimately limited to 9 sigma by cosmic
variance. The tools that we develop for non-perturbative calculation of the
lensing bispectrum are directly relevant to other calculations, and we give an
explicit construction of a simple non-perturbative quadratic estimator for the
lensing potential and relate its cross-correlation power spectrum to the
bispectrum. Our numerical codes are publicly available as part of CAMB and
LensPix.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figures; minor changes to match JCAP-accepted version.
CMB lensing and primordial local bispectrum codes available as part of CAMB
(http://camb.info/
Goodness-of-Fit Tests to study the Gaussianity of the MAXIMA data
Goodness-of-Fit tests, including Smooth ones, are introduced and applied to
detect non-Gaussianity in Cosmic Microwave Background simulations. We study the
power of three different tests: the Shapiro-Francia test (1972), the
uncategorised smooth test developed by Rayner and Best(1990) and the Neyman's
Smooth Goodness-of-fit test for composite hypotheses (Thomas and Pierce 1979).
The Smooth Goodness-of-Fit tests are designed to be sensitive to the presence
of ``smooth'' deviations from a given distribution. We study the power of these
tests based on the discrimination between Gaussian and non-Gaussian
simulations. Non-Gaussian cases are simulated using the Edgeworth expansion and
assuming pixel-to-pixel independence. Results show these tests behave similarly
and are more powerful than tests directly based on cumulants of order 3, 4, 5
and 6. We have applied these tests to the released MAXIMA data. The applied
tests are built to be powerful against detecting deviations from univariate
Gaussianity. The Cholesky matrix corresponding to signal (based on an assumed
cosmological model) plus noise is used to decorrelate the observations previous
to the analysis. Results indicate that the MAXIMA data are compatible with
Gaussianity.Comment: MNRAS, in pres
Non-Gaussian CMBR angular power spectra
In this paper we show how the prediction of CMBR angular power spectra
in non-Gaussian theories is affected by a cosmic covariance problem, that is
correlations impart features on any observed spectrum
which are absent from the average spectrum. Therefore the average
spectrum is rendered a bad observational prediction, and two new prediction
strategies, better adjusted to these theories, are proposed. In one we search
for hidden random indices conditional to which the theory is released from the
correlations. Contact with experiment can then be made in the form of the
conditional power spectra plus the random index distribution. In another
approach we apply to the problem a principal component analysis. We discuss the
effect of correlations on the predictivity of non-Gaussian theories. We finish
by showing how correlations may be crucial in delineating the borderline
between predictions made by non-Gaussian and Gaussian theories. In fact, in
some particular theories, correlations may act as powerful non-Gaussianity
indicators
Induced CMB quadrupole from pointing offsets
Recent claims in the literature have suggested that the {\it WMAP} quadrupole
is not primordial in origin, and arises from an aliasing of the much larger
dipole field because of incorrect satellite pointing. We attempt to reproduce
this result and delineate the key physics leading to the effect. We find that,
even if real, the induced quadrupole would be smaller than claimed. We discuss
reasons why the {\it WMAP} data are unlikely to suffer from this particular
systematic effect, including the implications for observations of point
sources. Given this evidence against the reality of the effect, the similarity
between the pointing-offset-induced signal and the actual quadrupole then
appears to be quite puzzling. However, we find that the effect arises from a
convolution between the gradient of the dipole field and anisotropic coverage
of the scan direction at each pixel. There is something of a directional
conspiracy here -- the dipole signal lies close to the Ecliptic Plane, and its
direction, together with the {\it WMAP} scan strategy, results in a strong
coupling to the component in Ecliptic co-ordinates. The dominant
strength of this component in the measured quadrupole suggests that one should
exercise increased caution in interpreting its estimated amplitude. The {\it
Planck} satellite has a different scan strategy which does not so directly
couple the dipole and quadrupole in this way and will soon provide an
independent measurement.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Experimental Control and Characterization of Autophagy in Drosophila
Insects such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, which fundamentally reorganize their body plan during metamorphosis, make extensive use of autophagy for their normal development and physiology. In the fruit fly, the hepatic/adipose organ known as the fat body accumulates nutrient stores during the larval feeding stage. Upon entering metamorphosis, as well as in response to starvation, these nutrients are mobilized through a massive induction of autophagy, providing support to other tissues and organs during periods of nutrient deprivation. High levels of autophagy are also observed in larval tissues destined for elimination, such as the salivary glands and larval gut. Drosophila is emerging as an important system for studying the functions and regulation of autophagy in an in vivo setting. In this chapter we describe reagents and methods for monitoring autophagy in Drosophila, focusing on the larval fat body. We also describe methods for experimentally activating and inhibiting autophagy in this system and discuss the potential for genetic analysis in Drosophila to identify novel genes involved in autophagy
No evidence for anomalously low variance circles on the sky
In a recent paper, Gurzadyan & Penrose claim to have found directions on the
sky centred on which are circles of anomalously low variance in the cosmic
microwave background (CMB). These features are presented as evidence for a
particular picture of the very early Universe. We attempted to repeat the
analysis of these authors, and we can indeed confirm that such variations do
exist in the temperature variance for annuli around points in the data.
However, we find that this variation is entirely expected in a sky which
contains the usual CMB anisotropies. In other words, properly simulated
Gaussian CMB data contain just the sorts of variations claimed. Gurzadyan &
Penrose have not found evidence for pre-Big Bang phenomena, but have simply
re-discovered that the CMB contains structure.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, v3 accepted by JCA
Fast, exact CMB power spectrum estimation for a certain class of observational strategies
We describe a class of observational strategies for probing the anisotropies
in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) where the instrument scans on rings
which can be combined into an n-torus, the {\em ring torus}. This class has the
remarkable property that it allows exact maximum likelihood power spectrum
estimation in of order operations (if the size of the data set is )
under circumstances which would previously have made this analysis intractable:
correlated receiver noise, arbitrary asymmetric beam shapes and far side lobes,
non-uniform distribution of integration time on the sky and partial sky
coverage. This ease of computation gives us an important theoretical tool for
understanding the impact of instrumental effects on CMB observables and hence
for the design and analysis of the CMB observations of the future. There are
members of this class which closely approximate the MAP and Planck satellite
missions. We present a numerical example where we apply our ring torus methods
to a simulated data set from a CMB mission covering a 20 degree patch on the
sky to compute the maximum likelihood estimate of the power spectrum
with unprecedented efficiency.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages, 5 figures. A full resolution version of Figure 1
and additional materials are at http://feynman.princeton.edu/~bwandelt/RT
Large Scale Structure Formation with Global Topological Defects. A new Formalism and its implementation by numerical simulations
We investigate cosmological structure formation seeded by topological defects
which may form during a phase transition in the early universe. First we derive
a partially new, local and gauge invariant system of perturbation equations to
treat microwave background and dark matter fluctuations induced by topological
defects or any other type of seeds. We then show that this system is well
suited for numerical analysis of structure formation by applying it to seeds
induced by fluctuations of a global scalar field. Our numerical results are
complementary to previous investigations since we use substantially different
methods. The resulting microwave background fluctuations are compatible with
older simulations. We also obtain a scale invariant spectrum of fluctuations
with about the same amplitude. However, our dark matter results yield a smaller
bias parameter compatible with on a scale of in contrast to
previous work which yielded to large bias factors. Our conclusions are thus
more positive. According to the aspects analyzed in this work, global
topological defect induced fluctuations yield viable scenarios of structure
formation and do better than standard CDM on large scales.Comment: uuencoded, compressed tar-file containing the text in LaTeX and 12
Postscript Figures, 41 page
Statistical nature of non-Gaussianity from cubic order primordial perturbations: CMB map simulations and genus statistic
We simulate CMB maps including non-Gaussianity arising from cubic order
perturbations of the primordial gravitational potential, characterized by the
non-linearity parameter . The maps are used to study the characteristic
nature of the resulting non-Gaussian temperature fluctuations. We measure the
genus and investigate how it deviates from Gaussian shape as a function of
and smoothing scale. We find that the deviation of the non-Gaussian
genus curve from the Gaussian one has an antisymmetric, sine function like
shape, implying more hot and more cold spots for and less of both
for . The deviation increases linearly with and also
exhibits mild increase as the smoothing scale increases. We further study other
statistics derived from the genus, namely, the number of hot spots, the number
of cold spots, combined number of hot and cold spots and the slope of the genus
curve at mean temperature fluctuation. We find that these observables carry
signatures of that are clearly distinct from the quadratic order
perturbations, encoded in the parameter . Hence they can be very useful
tools for distinguishing not only between non-Gaussian temperature fluctuations
and Gaussian ones but also between and type
non-Gaussianities.Comment: 18+1 page
- …