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Knox, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Knox, L..

86 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Planck 2013 results. II. Low Frequency Instrument data processing

We describe the data processing pipeline of the Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) data processing centre (DPC) to create and characterize full-sky maps based on the first 15.5 months of operations at 30, 44, and 70 GHz. In particular, we discuss the various steps involved in reducing the data, from telemetry packets through to the production of cleaned, calibrated timelines and calibrated frequency maps. Data are continuously calibrated using the modulation induced on the mean temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation by the proper motion of the spacecraft. Sky signals other than the dipole are removed by an iterative procedure based on simultaneous fitting of calibration parameters and sky maps. Noise properties are estimated from time-ordered data after the sky signal has been removed, using a generalized least squares map-making algorithm. A destriping code (Madam) is employed to combine radiometric data and pointing information into sky maps, minimizing the variance of correlated noise. Noise covariance matrices, required to compute statistical uncertainties on LFI and Planck products, are also produced. Main beams are estimated down to the ≈-20 dB level using Jupiter transits, which are also used for the geometrical calibration of the focal plane.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Planck 2013 results. XXVII. Doppler boosting of the CMB: Eppur si muove

Our velocity relative to the rest frame of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) generates a dipole temperature anisotropy on the sky which has been well measured for more than 30 years, and has an accepted amplitude of v/c = 1.23 × 10 -3 , or v = 369 s -1 . In addition to this signal generated by Doppler boosting of the CMB monopole, our motion also modulates and aberrates the CMB temperature fluctuations (as well as every other source of radiation at cosmological distances). This is an order 10 -3 effect applied to fluctuations which are already one part in roughly 10 5 , so it is quite small. Nevertheless, it becomes detectable with the all-sky coverage, high angular resolution, and low noise levels of the Planck satellite. Here we report a first measurement of this velocity signature using the aberration and modulation effects on the CMB temperature anisotropies, finding a component in the known dipole direction, ( l,b ) = (264°,48°), of 384 km s -1 ± 78 km s -1 (stat.) ± 115 km s -1 (syst.). This is a significant confirmation of the expected velocity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Planck 2013 results. III. LFI systematic uncertainties

We present the current estimate of instrumental and systematic effect uncertainties for the Planck -Low Frequency Instrument relevant to the first release of the Planck cosmological results. Here, we give an overview of the main effects and of the tools and methods applied to assess residuals in maps and power spectra. We also present an overall budget of known systematic effect uncertainties, which are dominated by sidelobe straylight pick-up and imperfect calibration. However, even these two effects are at least two orders of magnitude weaker than the cosmic microwave background fluctuations as measured in terms of the angular temperature power spectrum. A residual signal above the noise level is present in the multipole range &ell; < 20, most notably at 30 GHz, and is probably caused by residual Galactic straylight contamination. Current analysis aims to further reduce the level of spurious signals in the data and to improve the systematic effects modelling, in particular with respect to straylight and calibration uncertainties.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Planck 2013 results. X. HFI energetic particle effects: Characterization, removal, and simulation

We describe the detection, interpretation, and removal of the signal resulting from interactions of high energy particles with the Planck High Frequency Instrument (HFI). There are two types of interactions: heating of the 0.1 K bolometer plate; and glitches in each detector time stream. The transient responses to detector glitch shapes are not simple single-pole exponential decays and fall into three families. The glitch shape for each family has been characterized empirically in flight data and these shapes have been used to remove glitches from the detector time streams. The spectrum of the count rate per unit energy is computed for each family and a correspondence is made to the location on the detector of the particle hit. Most of the detected glitches are from Galactic protons incident on the die frame supporting the micro-machined bolometric detectors. In the Planck orbit at L2, the particle flux is around 5 cm -2 s -1 and is dominated by protons incident on the spacecraft with energy >39 MeV, at a rate of typically one event per second per detector. Different categories of glitches have different signatures in the time stream. Two of the glitch types have a low amplitude component that decays over nearly 1 s. This component produces excess noise if not properly removed from the time-ordered data. We have used a glitch detection and subtraction method based on the joint fit of population templates. The application of this novel glitch subtraction method removes excess noise from the time streams. Using realistic simulations, we find that this method does not introduce signal bias into the Planck data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

SPT-CL J2040–4451: An SZ-selected galaxy cluster at z = 1.478 with significant ongoing star formation

SPT-CL J2040–4451—spectroscopically confirmed at z = 1.478—is the highest-redshift galaxy cluster yet discovered via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. SPT-CL J2040–4451 was a candidate galaxy cluster identified in the first 720 deg{sup 2} of the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey, and has been confirmed in follow-up imaging and spectroscopy. From multi-object spectroscopy with Magellan-I/Baade+IMACS we measure spectroscopic redshifts for 15 cluster member galaxies, all of which have strong [O II] λλ3727 emission. SPT-CL J2040–4451 has an SZ-measured mass of M {sub 500,} {sub SZ} = 3.2 ± 0.8 × 10{sup 14} M {sub ☉} h {sub 70}{sup −1}, corresponding to M {sub 200,} {sub SZ} = 5.8 ± 1.4 × 10{sup 14} M {sub ☉} h {sub 70}{sup −1}. The velocity dispersion measured entirely from blue star-forming members is σ {sub v} = 1500 ± 520 km s{sup –1}. The prevalence of star-forming cluster members (galaxies with >1.5 M {sub ☉} yr{sup –1}) implies that this massive, high-redshift cluster is experiencing a phase of active star formation, and supports recent results showing a marked increase in star formation occurring in galaxy clusters at z ≳ 1.4. We also compute the probability of finding a cluster as rare as this in the SPT-SZ survey to be >99%, indicating that its discovery is not in tension with the concordance ΛCDM cosmological model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

The redshift evolution of the mean temperature, pressure, and entropy profiles in 80 SPT-selected galaxy clusters

We present the results of an X-ray analysis of 80 galaxy clusters selected in the 2500 deg{sup 2} South Pole Telescope survey and observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We divide the full sample into subsamples of ∼20 clusters based on redshift and central density, performing a joint X-ray spectral fit to all clusters in a subsample simultaneously, assuming self-similarity of the temperature profile. This approach allows us to constrain the shape of the temperature profile over 0 < r < 1.5R {sub 500}, which would be impossible on a per-cluster basis, since the observations of individual clusters have, on average, 2000 X-ray counts. The results presented here represent the first constraints on the evolution of the average temperature profile from z = 0 to z = 1.2. We find that high-z (0.6 < z < 1.2) clusters are slightly (∼30%) cooler both in the inner (r < 0.1R {sub 500}) and outer (r > R {sub 500}) regions than their low-z (0.3 < z < 0.6) counterparts. Combining the average temperature profile with measured gas density profiles from our earlier work, we infer the average pressure and entropy profiles for each subsample. Confirming earlier results from this data set, we find an absence of strong cool cores at high z, manifested in this analysis as a significantly lower observed pressure in the central 0.1R {sub 500} of the high-z cool-core subset of clusters compared to the low-z cool-core subset. Overall, our observed pressure profiles agree well with earlier lower-redshift measurements, suggesting minimal redshift evolution in the pressure profile outside of the core. We find no measurable redshift evolution in the entropy profile at r ≲ 0.7R {sub 500}—this may reflect a long-standing balance between cooling and feedback over long timescales and large physical scales. We observe a slight flattening of the entropy profile at r ≳ R {sub 500} in our high-z subsample. This flattening is consistent with a temperature bias due to the enhanced (∼3×) rate at which group-mass (∼2 keV) halos, which would go undetected at our survey depth, are accreting onto the cluster at z ∼ 1. This work demonstrates a powerful method for inferring spatially resolved cluster properties in the case where individual cluster signal-to-noise is low, but the number of observed clusters is high.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Inflation physics from the cosmic microwave background and large scale structure

Here, fluctuations in the intensity and polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe each contain clues about the nature of the earliest moments of time. The next generation of CMB and large-scale structure (LSS) experiments are poised to test the leading paradigm for these earliest moments—the theory of cosmic inflation—and to detect the imprints of the inflationary epoch, thereby dramatically increasing our understanding of fundamental physics and the early universe. A future CMB experiment with sufficient angular resolution and frequency coverage that surveys at least 1% of the sky to a depth of 1 uK-arcmin can deliver a constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio that will either result in a 5σ measurement of the energy scale of inflation or rule out all large-field inflation models, even in the presence of foregrounds and the gravitational lensing B -mode signal. LSS experiments, particularly spectroscopic surveys such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, will complement the CMB effort by improving current constraints on running of the spectral index by up to a factor of four, improving constraints on curvature by a factor of ten, and providing non-Gaussianity constraints that are competitive with the current CMB bounds.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Planck intermediate results: XVI. Profile likelihoods for cosmological parameters

We explore the 2013 Planck likelihood function with a high-precision multi-dimensional minimizer (Minuit). This allows a refinement of the CDM best-fit solution with respect to previously-released results, and the construction of frequentist confidence intervals using profile likelihoods. The agreement with the cosmological results from the Bayesian framework is excellent, demonstrating the robustness of the Planck results to the statistical methodology. We investigate the inclusion of neutrino masses, where more significant differences may appear due to the non-Gaussian nature of the posterior mass distribution. By applying the Feldman-Cousins prescription, we again obtain results very similar to those of the Bayesian methodology. However, the profile-likelihood analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) combination ( Planck +WP+highL) reveals a minimum well within the unphysical negative-mass region. We show that inclusion of the Planck CMB-lensing information regularizes this issue, and provide a robust frequentist upper limit Σ$m_v$ ≤0:26 eV (95% confidence) from the CMB+lensing+BAO data combination.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Constraints on cosmology from the cosmic microwave background power spectrum of the 2500 deg{sup 2} SPT-SZ survey

We explore extensions to the ΛCDM cosmology using measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from the recent SPT-SZ survey, along with data from WMAP7 and measurements of H {sub 0} and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO). We check for consistency within ΛCDM between these data sets, and find some tension. The CMB alone gives weak support to physics beyond ΛCDM, due to a slight trend relative to ΛCDM of decreasing power toward smaller angular scales. While it may be due to statistical fluctuation, this trend could also be explained by several extensions. We consider running of the primordial spectral index (dn{sub s} /dln k), as well as two extensions that modify the damping tail power (the primordial helium abundance Y{sub p} and the effective number of neutrino species N {sub eff}) and one that modifies the large-scale power due to the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect (the sum of neutrino masses ∑m {sub ν}). These extensions have similar observational consequences and are partially degenerate when considered simultaneously. Of the six one-parameter extensions considered, we find CMB to have the largest preference for dn{sub s} /dln k with –0.046 < dn{sub s} /dln k < –0.003 at 95% confidence, which strengthens to a 2.7σ indication of dn{sub s} /dln k < 0 from CMB+BAO+H {sub 0}. Detectable dn{sub s} /dln k ≠ 0 is difficult to explain in the context of single-field, slow-roll inflation models. We find N {sub eff} = 3.62 ± 0.48 for the CMB, which tightens to N {sub eff} = 3.71 ± 0.35 from CMB+BAO+H {sub 0}. Larger values of N {sub eff} relieve the mild tension between CMB, BAO, and H {sub 0}. When the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich selected galaxy cluster abundances (SPT{sub CL}) data are also included, we obtain N {sub eff} = 3.29 ± 0.31. Allowing for ∑m {sub ν} gives a 3.0σ detection of ∑m {sub ν} > 0 from CMB+BAO+H {sub 0} +SPT{sub CL}. The median value is (0.32 ± 0.11) eV, a factor of six above the lower bound set by neutrino oscillation observations. All data sets except H {sub 0} show some preference for massive neutrinos; data combinations including H {sub 0} favor nonzero masses only if BAO data are also included. We also constrain the two-parameter extensions N {sub eff} + ∑m {sub ν} and N {sub eff} + Y{sub p} to explore constraints on additional light species and big bang nucleosynthesis, respectively.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2003

The Explorer of Diffuse Galactic Emission (EDGE): Determining the Large-Scale Structure Evolution in the Universe

Measurements of the large-scale anisotropy of the Cosmic Infared Background (CIB) can be used to determine the characteristics of the distribution of galaxies at the largest spatial scales. With this information important tests of galaxy evolution models and primordial structure growth are possible. In this paper, we describe the scientific goals, instrumentation, and operation of EDGE, a mission using an Antarctic Long Duration Balloon (LDB) platform. EDGE will osbserve the anisotropy in the CIB in 8 spectral bands from 270 GHz-1.5 THz with 6 arcminute angular resolution over a region -400 square degrees. EDGE uses a one-meter class off-axis telescope and an array of Frequency Selective Bololeters (FSB) to provide the compact and efficient multi-colar, high sensitivity radiometer required to achieve its scientific objectives.

Silverberg, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Dark energy and the cosmic microwave background radiation

We find that current cosmic microwave background anisotropy data strongly constrain the mean spatial curvature of the Universe to be near zero, or, equivalently, the total energy density to be near critical-as predicted by inflation. This result is robust to editing of data sets, and variation of other cosmological parameters (totaling seven, including a cosmological constant). Other lines of argument indicate that the energy density of nonrelativistic matter is much less than critical. Together, these results are evidence, independent of supernovae data, for dark energy in the Universe.

Microwaves↗
NASA NTRS1998

Updates on SuZIE and Python

SuZIE and Python are two mature cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy experiments. In this presentation we preview recent oberservations from both experiments.

Cosmology Cosmic Microwave Background: Observation↗
NASA NTRS1985

Design of a flight qualified long-life cryocooler

A second generation Stirling cycle cryogenic refrigerator with a linear drive, magnetic bearings, and clearance seals; designed to produce 5 watts of cooling at 65 Kelvin and to meet Space Shuttle mission requirements is described. The first generation refrigerator met all performance specifications, and operated with no failure for over 12,030 hours. Meeting launch requirements necessitated improvements in the electromagnetic bearings, the radial position sensors, and in the structural design of the moving elements. Organic contamination was eliminated by the use of all metal and ceramic construction. Reductions in system input power are attained by an integral magnetic spring/motor for the displacer and by more efficient linear motors and drive electronics.

Knox, L.↗