1,530 research outputs found
3D Weak Gravitational Lensing of the CMB and Galaxies
In this paper we present a power spectrum formalism that combines the full
three-dimensional information from the galaxy ellipticity field, with
information from the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We include in this
approach galaxy cosmic shear and galaxy intrinsic alignments, CMB deflection,
CMB temperature and CMB polarisation data; including the inter-datum power
spectra between all quantities. We apply this to forecasting cosmological
parameter errors for CMB and imaging surveys for Euclid-like, Planck, ACTPoL,
and CoRE-like experiments. We show that the additional covariance between the
CMB and ellipticity measurements can improve dark energy equation of state
measurements by 15%, and the combination of cosmic shear and the CMB, from
Euclid-like and CoRE-like experiments, could in principle measure the sum of
neutrino masses with an error of 0.003 eV.Comment: Accepted to MNRA
A fast empirical method for galaxy shape measurements in weak lensing surveys
We describe a simple and fast method to correct ellipticity measurements of
galaxies from the distortion by the instrumental and atmospheric point spread
function (PSF), in view of weak lensing shear measurements. The method performs
a classification of galaxies and associated PSFs according to measured shape
parameters, and corrects the measured galaxy ellipticites by querying a large
lookup table (LUT), built by supervised learning. We have applied this new
method to the GREAT10 image analysis challenge, and present in this paper a
refined solution that obtains the competitive quality factor of Q = 104,
without any shear power spectrum denoising or training. Of particular interest
is the efficiency of the method, with a processing time below 3 ms per galaxy
on an ordinary CPU.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Metric values updated according to the final
GREAT10 analysis software (Kitching et al. 2012, MNRAS 423, 3163-3208), no
qualitative changes. Associated code available at
http://lastro.epfl.ch/megalu
3D Photometric Cosmic Shear
Here we present a number of improvements to weak lensing 3D power spectrum
analysis, 3D cosmic shear, that uses the shape and redshift information of
every galaxy to constrain cosmological parameters. We show how photometric
redshift probability distributions for individual galaxies can be directly
included in this statistic with no averaging. We also include the Limber
approximation, considerably simplifying full 3D cosmic shear analysis, and we
investigate its range of applicability. Finally we show the relationship
between weak lensing tomography and the 3D cosmic shear field itself; the steps
connecting them being the Limber approximation, a harmonic-space transform and
a discretisation in wavenumber. Each method has its advantages: 3D cosmic shear
analysis allows straightforward inclusion of all relevant modes, thus ensuring
minimum error bars, and direct control of the range of physical wavenumbers
probed, to avoid the uncertain highly nonlinear regime. On the other hand,
tomography is more convenient for checking systematics through direct
investigation of the redshift dependence of the signal. Finally, for
tomography, we suggest that the angular modes probed should be
redshift-dependent, to recover some of the 3D advantages.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS. 15 pages, 7 figure
Propagating Residual Biases in Cosmic Shear Power Spectra
In this paper we derive a full expression for the propagation of
multiplicative and additive shape measurement biases into the cosmic shear
power spectrum. In doing so we identify several new terms that are associated
with selection effects, as well as cross-correlation terms between the
multiplicative and additive biases and the shear field. The computation of the
resulting bias in the shear power spectrum scales as the fifth power of the
maximum multipole considered. Consequently the calculation is unfeasible for
large l-modes, and the only tractable way to assess the full impact of shape
measurement biases on cosmic shear power spectrum is through forward modelling
of the effects. To linear order in bias parameters the shear power spectrum is
only affected by the mean of the multiplicative bias field over a survey and
the cross correlation between the additive bias field and the shear field. If
the mean multiplicative bias is zero then second order convolutive terms are
expected to be orders of magnitude smaller.Comment: 10 pages, accepted to the Open Journal of Astrophysic
Modulation induced frequency shifts in a CPT-based atomic clock
We investigate systematic errors associated with a common modulation
technique used for phase sensitive detection of a coherent population trapping
(CPT) resonance. In particular, we show that modification of the CPT resonance
lineshape due to the presence of off-resonant fields leads to frequency shifts
which may limit the stability of CPT-based atomic clocks. We also demonstrate
that an alternative demodulation technique greatly reduces these effects.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Figures of Merit for Testing Standard Models: Application to Dark Energy Experiments in Cosmology
Given a standard model to test, an experiment can be designed to: (i) measure
the standard model parameters; (ii) extend the standard model; or (iii) look
for evidence of deviations from the standard model. To measure (or extend) the
standard model, the Fisher matrix is widely used in cosmology to predict
expected parameter errors for future surveys under Gaussian assumptions. In
this article, we present a frame- work that can be used to design experiments
such that it maximises the chance of finding a deviation from the standard
model. Using a simple illustrative example, discussed in the appendix, we show
that the optimal experimental configuration can depend dramatically on the
optimisation approach chosen. We also show some simple cosmology calculations,
where we study Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation and Supernove surveys. In doing
so, we also show how external data, such as the positions of the CMB peaks
measured by WMAP, and theory priors can be included in the analysis. In the
cosmological cases that we have studied (DETF Stage III), we find that the
three optimisation approaches yield similar results, which is reassuring and
indicates that the choice of optimal experiment is fairly robust at this level.
However, this may not be the case as we move to more ambitious future surveys.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. 12 pages, 9 figure
Measuring dark energy properties with 3D cosmic shear
We present parameter estimation forecasts for present and future 3D cosmic
shear surveys. We demonstrate that, in conjunction with results from cosmic
microwave background (CMB) experiments, the properties of dark energy can be
estimated with very high precision with large-scale, fully 3D weak lensing
surveys. In particular, a 5-band, 10,000 square degree ground-based survey to a
median redshift of zm=0.7 could achieve 1- marginal statistical errors,
in combination with the constraints expected from the CMB Planck Surveyor, of
w0=0.108 and wa=0.099 where we parameterize w by
w(a)=w0+wa(1-a) where a is the scale factor. Such a survey is achievable with a
wide-field camera on a 4 metre class telescope. The error on the value of w at
an intermediate pivot redshift of z=0.368 is constrained to
w(z=0.368)=0.0175. We compare and combine the 3D weak lensing
constraints with the cosmological and dark energy parameters measured from
planned Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) and supernova Type Ia experiments,
and find that 3D weak lensing significantly improves the marginalized errors. A
combination of 3D weak lensing, CMB and BAO experiments could achieve
w0=0.037 and wa=0.099. Fully 3D weak shear analysis avoids the
loss of information inherent in tomographic binning, and we show that the
sensitivity to systematic errors is much less. In conjunction with the fact
that the physics of lensing is very soundly based, this analysis demonstrates
that deep, wide-angle 3D weak lensing surveys are extremely promising for
measuring dark energy properties.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures. Accepted to MNRAS. Figures now in grayscale.
Further discussions on non-Gaussianity and photometric redshift errors. Some
references adde
Failure of vaccination to prevent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease
Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease persist in dairy cattle herds in Saudi Arabia despite revaccination at intervals of 4-6 months. Vaccine trials provide data on antibody responses following vaccination. Using this information we developed a mathematical model of the decay of protective antibodies with which we estimated the fraction of susceptible animals at a given time after vaccination. The model describes the data well, suggesting over 95% take with an antibody half-life of 43 days. Farm records provided data on the time course of five outbreaks. We applied a 'SLIR' epidemiological model to these data, fitting a single parameter representing disease transmission rate. The analysis provides estimates of the basic reproduction number R(0), which may exceed 70 in some cases. We conclude that the critical intervaccination interval which would provide herd immunity against FMDV is unrealistically short, especially for heterologous challenge. We suggest that it may not be possible to prevent foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks on these farms using currently available vaccines
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