| 1. |
- Adam, R., et al.
(author)
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Planck 2015 results X. Diffuse component separation : Foreground maps
- 2016
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 594
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Planck has mapped the microwave sky in temperature over nine frequency bands between 30 and 857 GHz and in polarization over seven frequency bands between 30 and 353 GHz in polarization. In this paper we consider the problem of diffuse astrophysical component separation, and process these maps within a Bayesian framework to derive an internally consistent set of full-sky astrophysical component maps. Component separation dedicated to cosmic microwave background (CMB) reconstruction is described in a companion paper. For the temperature analysis, we combine the Planck observations with the 9-yr Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) sky maps and the Haslam et al. 408 MHz map, to derive a joint model of CMB, synchrotron, free-free, spinning dust, CO, line emission in the 94 and 100 GHz channels, and thermal dust emission. Full-sky maps are provided for each component, with an angular resolution varying between 7: 5 and 1 degrees. Global parameters (monopoles, dipoles, relative calibration, and bandpass errors) are fitted jointly with the sky model, and best-fit values are tabulated. For polarization, the model includes CMB, synchrotron, and thermal dust emission. These models provide excellent fits to the observed data, with rms temperature residuals smaller than 4pK over 93% of the sky for all Planck frequencies up to 353 GHz, and fractional errors smaller than 1% in the remaining 7% of the sky. The main limitations of the temperature model at the lower frequencies are internal degeneracies among the spinning dust, free-free, and synchrotron components; additional observations from external low-frequency experiments will be essential to break these degeneracies. The main limitations of the temperature model at the higher frequencies are uncertainties in the 545 and 857 GHz calibration and zero-points. For polarization, the main outstanding issues are instrumental systematics in the 100-353 GHz bands on large angular scales in the form of temperature-to-polarization leakage, uncertainties in the analogue-to-digital conversion, and corrections for the very long time constant of the bolometer detectors, all of which are expected to improve in the near future.
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| 2. |
- Adam, R., et al.
(author)
-
Planck intermediate results XLII. Large-scale Galactic magnetic fields
- 2016
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 596
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent models for the large-scale Galactic magnetic fields in the literature have been largely constrained by synchrotron emission and Faraday rotation measures. We use three different but representative models to compare their predicted polarized synchrotron and dust emission with that measured by the Planck satellite. We first update these models to match the Planck synchrotron products using a common model for the cosmic-ray leptons. We discuss the impact on this analysis of the ongoing problems of component separation in the Planck microwave bands and of the uncertain cosmic-ray spectrum. In particular, the inferred degree of ordering in the magnetic fields is sensitive to these systematic uncertainties, and we further show the importance of considering the expected variations in the observables in addition to their mean morphology. We then compare the resulting simulated emission to the observed dust polarization and find that the dust predictions do not match the morphology in the Planck data but underpredict the dust polarization away from the plane. We modify one of the models to roughly match both observables at high latitudes by increasing the field ordering in the thin disc near the observer. Though this specific analysis is dependent on the component separation issues, we present the improved model as a proof of concept for how these studies can be advanced in future using complementary information from ongoing and planned observational projects.
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| 3. |
- Ade, P. A. R., et al.
(author)
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Planck 2015 results XXV. Diffuse low-frequency Galactic foregrounds
- 2016
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 594
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We discuss the Galactic foreground emission between 20 and 100 GHz based on observations by Planck and WMAP. The total intensity in this part of the spectrum is dominated by free-free and spinning dust emission, whereas the polarized intensity is dominated by synchrotron emission. The Commander component-separation tool has been used to separate the various astrophysical processes in total intensity. Comparison with radio recombination line templates verifies the recovery of the free-free emission along the Galactic plane. Comparison of the high-latitude H alpha emission with our free-free map shows residuals that correlate with dust optical depth, consistent with a fraction (approximate to 30%) of H alpha having been scattered by high-latitude dust. We highlight a number of diffuse spinning dust morphological features at high latitude. There is substantial spatial variation in the spinning dust spectrum, with the emission peak (in I-v) ranging from below 20 GHz to more than 50 GHz. There is a strong tendency for the spinning dust component near many prominent H Pi regions to have a higher peak frequency, suggesting that this increase in peak frequency is associated with dust in the photo-dissociation regions around the nebulae. The emissivity of spinning dust in these diffuse regions is of the same order as previous detections in the literature. Over the entire sky, the Commander solution finds more anomalous microwave emission (AME) than the WMAP component maps, at the expense of synchrotron and free-free emission. This can be explained by the difficulty in separating multiple broadband components with a limited number of frequency maps. Future surveys, particularly at 5-20 GHz, will greatly improve the separation by constraining the synchrotron spectrum. We combine Planck and WMAP data to make the highest signal-to-noise ratio maps yet of the intensity of the all-sky polarized synchrotron emission at frequencies above a few GHz. Most of the high-latitude polarized emission is associated with distinct large-scale loops and spurs, and we re-discuss their structure. We argue that nearly all the emission at 40 degrees > l > -90 degrees is part of the Loop I structure, and show that the emission extends much further in to the southern Galactic hemisphere than previously recognised, giving Loop I an ovoid rather than circular outline. However, it does not continue as far as the Fermi bubble/microwave haze, making it less probable that these are part of the same structure. We identify a number of new faint features in the polarized sky, including a dearth of polarized synchrotron emission directly correlated with a narrow, roughly 20 degrees long filament seen in H alpha at high Galactic latitude. Finally, we look for evidence of polarized AME, however many AME regions are significantly contaminated by polarized synchrotron emission, and we find a 2 sigma upper limit of 1.6% in the Perseus region.
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| 4. |
- Aghanim, N., et al.
(author)
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Planck 2018 results XII. Galactic astrophysics using polarized dust emission
- 2020
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 641
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Observations of the submillimetre emission from Galactic dust, in both total intensity I and polarization, have received tremendous interest thanks to the Planck full-sky maps. In this paper we make use of such full-sky maps of dust polarized emission produced from the third public release of Planck data. As the basis for expanding on astrophysical studies of the polarized thermal emission from Galactic dust, we present full-sky maps of the dust polarization fraction p, polarization angle psi, and dispersion function of polarization angles ?. The joint distribution (one-point statistics) of p and N-H confirms that the mean and maximum polarization fractions decrease with increasing N-H. The uncertainty on the maximum observed polarization fraction, (max) = 22.0(-1.4)(+3.5) p max = 22 . 0 - 1.4 + 3.5 % at 353 GHz and 80 ' resolution, is dominated by the uncertainty on the Galactic emission zero level in total intensity, in particular towards diffuse lines of sight at high Galactic latitudes. Furthermore, the inverse behaviour between p and ? found earlier is seen to be present at high latitudes. This follows the ?proportional to p(-1) relationship expected from models of the polarized sky (including numerical simulations of magnetohydrodynamical turbulence) that include effects from only the topology of the turbulent magnetic field, but otherwise have uniform alignment and dust properties. Thus, the statistical properties of p, psi, and ? for the most part reflect the structure of the Galactic magnetic field. Nevertheless, we search for potential signatures of varying grain alignment and dust properties. First, we analyse the product map ?xp, looking for residual trends. While the polarization fraction p decreases by a factor of 3-4 between N-H=10(20) cm(-2) and N-H=2x10(22) cm(-2), out of the Galactic plane, this product ?xp only decreases by about 25%. Because ? is independent of the grain alignment efficiency, this demonstrates that the systematic decrease in p with N-H is determined mostly by the magnetic-field structure and not by a drop in grain alignment. This systematic trend is observed both in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) and in molecular clouds of the Gould Belt. Second, we look for a dependence of polarization properties on the dust temperature, as we would expect from the radiative alignment torque (RAT) theory. We find no systematic trend of ?xp with the dust temperature T-d, whether in the diffuse ISM or in the molecular clouds of the Gould Belt. In the diffuse ISM, lines of sight with high polarization fraction p and low polarization angle dispersion ? tend, on the contrary, to have colder dust than lines of sight with low p and high ?. We also compare the Planck thermal dust polarization with starlight polarization data in the visible at high Galactic latitudes. The agreement in polarization angles is remarkable, and is consistent with what we expect from the noise and the observed dispersion of polarization angles in the visible on the scale of the Planck beam. The two polarization emission-to-extinction ratios, R-P/p and R-S/V, which primarily characterize dust optical properties, have only a weak dependence on the column density, and converge towards the values previously determined for translucent lines of sight. We also determine an upper limit for the polarization fraction in extinction, p(V)/E(B-V), of 13% at high Galactic latitude, compatible with the polarization fraction p approximate to 20% observed at 353 GHz. Taken together, these results provide strong constraints for models of Galactic dust in diffuse gas.
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| 5. |
- Aghanim, N., et al.
(author)
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Planck intermediate results XLIV. Structure of the Galactic magnetic field from dust polarization maps of the southern Galactic cap
- 2016
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 596
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using data from the Planck satellite, we study the statistical properties of interstellar dust polarization at high Galactic latitudes around the south pole (b < -60 degrees). Our aim is to advance the understanding of the magnetized interstellar medium (ISM), and to provide a modelling framework of the polarized dust foreground for use in cosmic microwave background (CMB) component-separation procedures. We examine the Stokes I, Q, and U maps at 353 GHz, and particularly the statistical distribution of the polarization fraction (p) and angle (Psi), in order to characterize the ordered and turbulent components of the Galactic magnetic field (GMF) in the solar neighbourhood. The Q and U maps show patterns at large angular scales, which we relate to the mean orientation of the GMF towards Galactic coordinates (l(0); b(0)) = (70 degrees +/- 5 degrees, 24 degrees +/- 5 degrees). The histogram of the observed p values shows a wide dispersion up to 25%. The histogram Psi of has a standard deviation of 12 degrees about the regular pattern expected from the ordered GMF. We build a phenomenological model that connects the distributions of p and Psi to a statistical description of the turbulent component of the GMF, assuming a uniform effective polarization fraction (p(0)) of dust emission. To compute the Stokes parameters, we approximate the integration along the line of sight (LOS) as a sum over a set of N independent polarization layers, in each of which the turbulent component of the GMF is obtained from Gaussian realizations of a power-law power spectrum. We are able to reproduce the observed p and distributions using a p0 value of 26%, a ratio of 0.9 between the strengths of the turbulent and mean components of the GMF, and a small value of N. The mean value of p (inferred from the fit of the large-scale patterns in the Stokes maps) is 12 +/- 1%. We relate the polarization layers to the density structure and to the correlation length of the GMF along the LOS. We emphasize the simplicity of our model (involving only a few parameters), which can be easily computed on the celestial sphere to produce simulated maps of dust polarization. Our work is an important step towards a model that can be used to assess the accuracy of component-separation methods in present and future CMB experiments designed to search the B mode CMB polarization from primordial gravity waves.
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| 6. |
- Van Eck, C.L., et al.
(author)
-
Faraday tomography of the local interstellar medium with LOFAR: Galactic foregrounds towards IC 342∗
- 2017
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 597, s. A98-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Magnetic fields pervade the interstellar medium (ISM), but are difficult to detect and characterize. The new generation of low-frequency radio telescopes, such as the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR: a Square Kilometre Array-low pathfinder), provides advancements in our capability of probing Galactic magnetism through low-frequency polarimetry. Maps of diffuse polarized radio emission and the associated Faraday rotation can be used to infer properties of, and trace structure in, the magnetic fields in the ISM. However, to date very little of the sky has been probed at high angular and Faraday depth resolution. We observed a 5° by 5° region centred on the nearby galaxy IC 342 (ℓ = 138.2°,b = + 10.6°) using the LOFAR high-band antennae in the frequency range 115-178 MHz. We imaged this region at 4′.5x3′.84.5 × 3.8 resolution and performed Faraday tomography to detect foreground Galactic polarized synchrotron emission separated by Faraday depth (different amounts of Faraday rotation). Our Faraday depth cube shows a rich polarized structure, with up to 30 K of polarized emission at 150 MHz. We clearly detect two polarized features that extend over most of the field, but are clearly separated in Faraday depth. Simulations of the behaviour of the depolarization of Faraday-thick structures at such low frequencies show that such structures would be too strongly depolarized to explain the observations. These structures are therefore rejected as the source of the observed polarized features. Only Faraday thin structures will not be strongly depolarized at low frequencies; producing such structures requires localized variations in the ratio of synchrotron emissivity to Faraday depth per unit distance. Such variations can arise from several physical phenomena, such as a transition between regions of ionized and (mostly) neutral gas. We conclude that the observed polarized emission is Faraday thin, and propose that the emission originates from two mostly neutral clouds in the local ISM. Using maps of the local ISM to estimate distances to these clouds, we have modelled the Faraday rotation for this line of sight and estimated that the strength of the line of sight component of magnetic field of the local ISM for this direction varies between-0.86 and+0.12 μG (where positive is towards the Earth). We propose that this may be a useful method for mapping magnetic fields within the local ISM in all directions towards nearby neutral clouds.
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| 7. |
- Van Eck, C.L., et al.
(author)
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Polarized point sources in the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey: A preliminary catalog
- 2018
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 613
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The polarization properties of radio sources at very low frequencies (<200 MHz) have not been widely measured, but the new generation of low-frequency radio telescopes, including the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR: a Square Kilometre Array Low pathfinder), now gives us the opportunity to investigate these properties. In this paper, we report on the preliminary development of a data reduction pipeline to carry out polarization processing and Faraday tomography for data from the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey (LOTSS) and present the results of this pipeline from the LOTSS preliminary data release region (10h45m–15h30m right ascension, 45°–57° declination, 570 square degrees). We have produced a catalog of 92 polarized radio sources at 150 MHz at 4.′3 resolution and 1 mJy rms sensitivity, which is the largest catalog of polarized sources at such low frequencies. We estimate a lower limit to the polarized source surface density at 150 MHz, with our resolution and sensitivity, of 1 source per 6.2 square degrees. We find that our Faraday depth measurements are in agreement with previous measurements and have significantly smaller errors. Most of our sources show significant depolarization compared to 1.4 GHz, but there is a small population of sources with low depolarization indicating that their polarized emission is highly localized in Faraday depth. We predict that an extension of this work to the full LOTSS data would detect at least 3400 polarized sources using the same methods, and probably considerably more with improved data processing.
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