Anomalous Emission Research Articles

Detection of spectral variations of Anomalous Microwave Emission with QUIJOTE and C-BASS

ABSTRACT Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME) is a significant component of Galactic diffuse emission in the frequency range 10–$60\, \mathrm{GHz}$ and a new window into the properties of sub-nanometre-sized grains in the interstellar medium. We investigate the morphology of AME in the ≈10○ diameter λ Orionis ring by combining intensity data from the QUIJOTE experiment at 11, 13, 17, and $19\, \mathrm{GHz}$ and the C-Band All Sky Survey (C-BASS) at $4.76\, \mathrm{GHz}$, together with 19 ancillary data sets between 1.42 and $3000\, \mathrm{GHz}$. Maps of physical parameters at 1○ resolution are produced through Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) fits of spectral energy distributions (SEDs), approximating the AME component with a lognormal distribution. AME is detected in excess of $20\, \sigma$ at degree-scales around the entirety of the ring along photodissociation regions (PDRs), with three primary bright regions containing dark clouds. A radial decrease is observed in the AME peak frequency from $\approx 35\, \mathrm{GHz}$ near the free–free region to $\approx 21\, \mathrm{GHz}$ in the outer regions of the ring, which is the first detection of AME spectral variations across a single region. A strong correlation between AME peak frequency, emission measure and dust temperature is an indication for the dependence of the AME peak frequency on the local radiation field. The AME amplitude normalized by the optical depth is also strongly correlated with the radiation field, giving an overall picture consistent with spinning dust where the local radiation field plays a key role.

Observations of anomalous x-ray emission at early stages of hot-spot formation in deuterium-tritium cryogenic implosions.

In deuterium-tritium cryogenic implosions, hot-spot x-ray self-emission is observed to begin at a larger shell radius than is predicted by a one-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic implosion model. Laser-imprint is shown to explain the observation for a low-adiabat implosion. For more-stable implosions the data are not described by the imprint model and suggest there are additional sources of decompression of the dense fuel.

Selective enhancement of the QCD axion couplings

We present a mechanism wherein the QCD axion coupling to nucleons, photons, or electrons, can be enhanced selectively without increasing the axion mass. We focus in particular on the axion-nucleon couplings, that are generally considered to be largely model-independent, and we show how nucleophilic axion models can be constructed. We discuss the implications of a nucleophilic axion for astrophysics, cosmology and laboratory searches. We present a model with enhanced axion couplings to nucleons and photons that can provide an excellent fit to the anomalous emission of hard X-rays recently observed from a group of nearby neutron stars, and we argue that such a scenario can be thoroughly tested in forthcoming axion-search experiments.

Energy transfer between different Eu2+ ions in the white phosphor Ba7F12Cl2:Eu2+

We have studied in detail the emission spectra of the white phosphor Ba7F12Cl2:Eu2+ as a function of Europium content, excitation wavelength and temperature. The change of the emission spectrum with excitation wavelength shows a systematic shift in the CIE chromaticity diagram from warm white upon excitation in the near UV (370 nm) to cold white upon excitation at shorter wavelengths. The observed intensity changes with europium concentration confirm that energy transfer takes place, which is both concentration and temperature dependent. Temperature and sample dependent lifetime studies show that the observed lifetimes do not change within experimental error between dilute and concentrated Eu-doped samples, and they remain constant between 5 K and room temperature. The second observation confirms the previous results that the thermal quenching of the white emission occurs at high temperature (200 °C). The combination of all observations suggests that the energy transfer takes place first between the normal 4f65 d1 states of the Eu ions located on the 3 different crystallographic sites of Ba, and is followed by subsequent relaxation to anomalous emission states whose emission lifetimes remain constant with sample concentration and temperature from 5 K to 300 K.

Resolved spectral variations of the centimetre-wavelength continuum from the ρ Oph W photodissociation region

ABSTRACT Centimetre-wavelength radio continuum emission in excess of free–free, synchrotron, and Rayleigh–Jeans dust emission (excess microwave emission, EME), and often called ‘anomalous microwave emission’, is bright in molecular cloud regions exposed to UV radiation, i.e. in photodissociation regions (PDRs). The EME correlates with infrared (IR) dust emission on degree angular scales. Resolved observations of well-studied PDRs are needed to compare the spectral variations of the cm-continuum with tracers of physical conditions and of the dust grain population. The EME is particularly bright in the regions of the ρ Ophiuchi molecular cloud (ρ Oph) that surround the earliest type star in the complex, HD 147889, where the peak signal stems from the filament known as the ρ Oph W PDR. Here, we report on Australia Telescope Compact Array observations of ρ Oph W that resolve the width of the filament. We recover extended emission using a variant of non-parametric image synthesis performed in the sky plane. The multifrequency 17–39 GHz mosaics reveal spectral variations in the centimetre-wavelength continuum. At ∼30 arcsec resolutions, the 17–20 GHz intensities tightly follow the mid-IR, $I_\mathrm{cm} \propto I(8\, \mu$m), despite the breakdown of this correlation on larger scales. However, while the 33–39 GHz filament is parallel to Infrared Array Camera 8 μm, it is offset by 15–20 arcsec towards the UV source. Such morphological differences in frequency reflect spectral variations, which we quantify spectroscopically as a sharp and steepening high-frequency cutoff, interpreted in terms of the spinning dust emission mechanism as a minimum grain size $a_\mathrm{cutoff} \sim 6 \pm 1\,$Å that increases deeper into the PDR.

Semi-Analytical Monte Carlo Method to Simulate the Signal of the VIP-2 Experiment

The VIP-2 collaboration runs an apparatus in the Gran Sasso underground laboratories of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) designed to search for anomalous X-rays from electron-atom interactions due to violations of the fundamental antisymmetry of multi-electron wavefunctions. The experiment implements the scheme first proposed by Ramberg and Snow, where a current source injects electrons into a metal strip (the experiment’s target). In this paper we describe the structure of a Monte Carlo program to simulate a new upgrade of the experiment, where the anomalous X-ray emission is modulated by an arbitrary time-varying input current. A novel feature of the simulation algorithm is that the Monte Carlo program is based on a mixture of analytical and numerical methods. We report preliminary, exploratory results on the expected detection rate for different modulations of the injected current; these results are a starting point on the way to optimize the modulation scheme and indicate a large potential improvement of the detection sensitivity.

Where’s the Dust?: The Deepening Anomaly of Microwave Emission in NGC 4725 B

Abstract We present new Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations toward NGC 4725 B, a discrete, compact, optically faint region within the star-forming disk of the nearby galaxy NGC 4725 that exhibits strong anomalous microwave emission (AME). These new ALMA data include continuum observations centered at 92, 133, 203, and 221 GHz accompanied by spectral observations of the 12CO ( ) line. NGC 4725 B is detected in the continuum at all frequencies, although the detection at 203 GHz is marginal. While molecular gas is not detected at the exact location of NGC 4725 B, there is molecular gas in the immediate vicinity (i.e., ≲100 pc) along with associated diffuse 8 μm emission. When combined with existing Very Large Array continuum data at 1.5, 3, 5.5, 9, 14, 22, 33, and 44 GHz, the spectrum is best fit by a combination of AME, synchrotron, and free–free emission that is free–free absorbed below ∼6 GHz. Given the strength of the AME, there is surprisingly no indication of millimeter dust emission associated with NGC 4725 B on ≲6″ spatial scales at the sensitivity of the ALMA interferometric data. Based on the properties of the nearest molecular gas complex and the inferred star formation rate, NGC 4725 B is consistent with being an extremely young (∼3–5 Myr) massive (≲105 M ⊙) cluster that is undergoing active cluster feedback. However, the lack of millimeter thermal dust emission is difficult to reconcile with a spinning dust origin of the 30 GHz emission. On the other hand, modeling NGC 4725 B as a new class of background radio galaxy is also unsatisfactory.

Pulsar radio emission mechanisms: a critique

ABSTRACT We consider critically the three most widely favoured pulsar radio emission mechanisms: coherent curvature emission (CCE), beam-driven relativistic plasma emission (RPE), and anomalous Doppler emission (ADE). We assume that the pulsar plasma is 1D, streaming outwards with a bulk Lorentz factor γs ≫ 〈γ〉 − 1 ≳ 1, where 〈γ〉 is the intrinsic spread in the rest frame of the plasma. We argue that the formation of beams in a multicloud model is ineffective in the intrinsically relativistic case for plausible parameters because the overtaking takes too long. We argue that the default choice for the particle distribution in the rest frame is a Jüttner distribution and that relativistic streaming should be included by applying a Lorentz transformation to the rest-frame distribution, rather than the widely assumed relativistically streaming Gaussian distribution. We find that beam-driven wave growth is severely restricted by (a) the wave properties in pulsar plasma, (b) a separation condition between beam and background, and (c) the inhomogeneity of the plasma in the pulsar frame. The growth rate for the kinetic instability is much smaller and the bandwidth of the growing waves is much larger for a Jüttner distribution than for a relativistically streaming Gaussian distribution. No reactive instability occurs at all for a Jüttner distribution. We conclude that none of CCE, RPE, and ADE is tenable as the generic pulsar radio emission mechanism for ‘plausible’ assumptions about the pulsar plasma.

Conserved tryptophan mutation disrupts structure and function of immunoglobulin domain revealing unusual tyrosine fluorescence.

Immunoglobulin (Ig) domains are the most prevalent protein domain structure and share a highly conserved folding pattern; however, this structural family of proteins is also the most diverse in terms of biological roles and tissue expression. Ig domains vary significantly in amino acid sequence but share a highly conserved tryptophan in the hydrophobic core of this beta-stranded protein. Palladin is an actin binding and bundling protein that has five Ig domains and plays an important role in normal cell adhesion and motility. Mutation of the core tryptophan in one Ig domain of palladin has been identified in a pancreatic cancer cell line, suggesting a crucial role for this sole tryptophan in palladin Ig domain structure, stability, and function. We found that actin binding and bundling was not completely abolished with removal of this tryptophan despite a partially unfolded structure and significantly reduced stability of the mutant Ig domain as shown by circular dichroism investigations. In addition, this mutant palladin domain displays a tryptophan-like fluorescence attributed to an anomalous tyrosine emission at 341 nm. Our results indicate that this emission originates from a tyrosinate that may be formed in the excited ground state by proton transfer to a nearby aspartic acid residue. Furthermore, this study emphasizes the importance of tryptophan in protein structural stability and illustrates how tyrosinate emission contributions may be overlooked during the interpretation of the fluorescence properties of proteins.

Cosmic Amorphous Dust Model as the Origin of Anomalous Microwave Emission

Abstract We have shown that the thermal emission of the amorphous dust composed of amorphous silicate dust (a-Si) and amorphous carbon dust (a-C) provides an excellent fit both to the observed intensity and the polarization spectra of molecular clouds. The anomalous microwave emission (AME) originates from the resonance transition of the two-level systems attributed to the a-C with an almost spherical shape. On the other hand, the observed polarized emission in submillimeter wave bands is coming from a-Si. By taking into account a-C, the model prediction of the polarization fraction of the AME is reduced dramatically. Our model prediction of the 3σ lower limits of the polarization fraction of the Perseus and W 43 molecular clouds at 17 GHz are 8.129 × 10−5 and 8.012 × 10−6, respectively. The temperature dependence of the heat capacity of a-C shows the peculiar behavior compared with that of a-Si. So far, the properties of a-C are unique to interstellar dust grains. Therefore, we coin our dust model as the cosmic amorphous dust model.

Observation of anomalous emissions of nonpolar a-plane MgZnO and ZnO epi-films based on XEOL and time-resolved XEOL in hybrid bunch mode

X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) using an x-ray nanobeam operating in the hybrid bunch mode provides not only a sufficiently high peak power density but also high-quality temporal domain measurements for studying the luminescence dynamics of photonic materials and devices. We used these features to investigate the peculiar emission behavior of the as-grown and rapid thermal annealing (RTA)-treated a-plane MgZnO epi-films, from which an anomalous emission was observed at ∼325 nm, along with a rapid increase in near-band edge (NBE) emission with increasing x-ray irradiation time. This peculiar emission behavior was also observed in the cathodoluminescence spectra obtained under electron beam excitation. Increases in the NBE emission intensity of the RTA-treated a-plane MgZnO epi-film were observed in terms of both photoluminescence and small anomalous emissions of XEOL. This can be explained by the effective transfer of Mg atoms from interstitial sites to suitable sites as a result of RTA treatment. Based on comparison with an a-plane ZnO epi-film without Mg, we conclude that the anomalous emission peak is caused by Mg-related energy states created by the high-dose x-ray or electron beam irradiation. Furthermore, the rapid increase in NBE emission and the reduction in the long decay lifetime can be attributed to charge transfer from the Mg clusters, which are thus responsible for the anomalous emissions.

Energy level of lanthanide ions and anomalous emission of Eu2+ in Sr3B2O6 materials

Energy level position of divalent and trivalent lanthanides in the band gap relative to the valence and conduction bands of Sr3B2O6 host lattice was determined through the f→d transition energy of Ce3+ ion, the thermal quenching of Eu2+ emission and charge transfer energy of Eu3+. The lowest 4f→5d absorption transition of Tb3+ and the charge transfer energy of Sm3+, which predicted from the energy level scheme, are well matched to the observed energies from photoluminescence excitation spectra of Sm3+ and Tb3+ in Sr3B2O6 material. In addition, an anomalous emission of Sr3B2O6:Eu2+ was successfully explained by a combination of the presence of traps in lattice and the proposing energy level scheme.

Foreground model recognition through Neural Networks for CMB B-mode observations

In this work we present a Neural Network (NN) algorithm for the identification of the appropriate parametrization of diffuse polarized Galactic emissions in the context of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) B-mode multi-frequency observations. In particular, we focus our analysis on the low frequency polarized foregrounds represented by Galactic Synchrotron and Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME). We have implemented and tested our approach on a set of simulated maps corresponding to the frequency coverage and sensitivity represented by future satellite and low frequency ground based probes. The NN efficiency in recognizing the underlying foreground model in different sky regions reaches an accuracy above 90%, while the same information using a standard χ2 approach following parametric component separation corresponds to about 70%. Our results indicate a significant improvement when NN-based algorithms are applied to foreground model recognition in CMB B-mode observations, and stimulate the design and exploitation of dedicated procedures to this purpose.

Computational Protocol To Predict Anti-Kasha Emissions: The Case of Azulene Derivatives.

In this contribution, we present a computational protocol to predict anti-Kasha photoluminescence. The herein developed protocol is based on state-of-the-art quantum chemical calculations and excited-state decay rate theories (i.e., thermal vibration correlation function formalism), along with appropriate kinetic models which include all relevant electronic states. This protocol is validated for a series of azulene derivatives. For this series, we have computed absorption and emission spectra for both their first and second excited states, their radiative and nonradiative rates, as well as fluorescence yields from the two different excited states. All the studied azulene derivatives are predicted to exclusively display anomalous anti-Kasha S2 emission. A quantitative agreement for the herein computed excited-state spectra, lifetimes, and fluorescence quantum yields is obtained with respect to the experimental values. Given the increasing interest in anti-Kasha emitters, we foresee that the herein developed computational protocol can be used to prescreen dyes with the desired aforementioned anomalous photoluminescence properties.

Functional Location-Scale Model to Forecast Bivariate Pollution Episodes

Predicting anomalous emission of pollutants into the atmosphere well in advance is crucial for industries emitting such elements, since it allows them to take corrective measures aimed to avoid such emissions and their consequences. In this work, we propose a functional location-scale model to predict in advance pollution episodes where two pollutants are involved. Functional generalized additive models (FGAMs) are used to estimate the means and variances of the model, as well as the correlation between both pollutants. The method not only forecasts the concentrations of both pollutants, it also estimates an uncertainty region where the concentrations of both pollutants should be located, given a specific level of uncertainty. The performance of the model was evaluated using real data of SO 2 and NO x emissions from a coal-fired power station, obtaining good results.

On the detection of CMB B-modes from ground at low frequency

The primordial CMB B-mode search is on the spotlight of the scientific community due to the large amount of cosmological information that is encoded in the primeval signal. However, the detection of this signal is challenging from the data analysis point of view, due to the relative low amplitude compared to the foregrounds, the lensing contamination coming from the leakage of E-modes, and the instrumental noise. Here, we studied the viability of the detection of the primordial polarization B-mode with a ground-based telescope operating in the microwave low-frequency regime (i.e., from 10 GHz–120 GHz) in a handful of different scenarios: i. the instrument's channels distribution and noise, ii. the tensor-to-scalar ratio (r) detectability considering different possible r values and degrees of delensing, iii. the effect of including a possible source of polarized anomalous microwave emission (AME), iv. the strengths and weaknesses of different observational strategies and, v. the atmospheric and systematic noise impact on the recovery. We focused mainly on the removal of galactic foregrounds as well as noise contamination by applying a full-parametric pixel-based maximum likelihood component separation technique. Moreover, we developed a numerical methodology to estimate the residuals power spectrum left after component separation, which allow us to mitigate possible biases introduced in the primordial B-mode power spectrum reconstruction. Among many other results, we found that this sort of experiment is capable of detecting Starobinsky's r even when no delensing is performed or, a possible polarized AME contribution is taken into account. Besides, we showed that this experiment is a powerful complement to other on-ground or satellite missions, such as LiteBIRD, since it can help significantly with the low-frequency foregrounds characterization.

Modelling the spinning dust emission from LDN 1780

ABSTRACT We study the anomalous microwave emission (AME) in the Lynds Dark Nebula (LDN) 1780 on two angular scales. With publicly available data at an angular resolution of 1°, we studied the spectral energy distribution of the cloud in the 0.408–2997 GHz frequency range. The cloud presents a significant (>20σ) amount of AME, making it one of the clearest examples of AME on 1 ° scales, and its spectrum can be well fitted with a spinning dust (SD) model. We also find at these angular scales that the location of the peak of the emission at lower frequencies (23–70 GHz) differs from the location at the higher frequencies (90–3000 GHz) maps. In addition to the analysis on 1° angular scales, we present data from the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) at 31 GHz with an angular resolution of 2 arcmin, in order to study the origin of the AME in LDN 1780. We studied morphological correlations between the CARMA map and different infrared tracers of dust emission. We found that the best correlation is with the 70- μm template, which traces warm dust (T ∼ 50 K). Finally, we study the difference in radio emissivity between two locations within the cloud. We measured a factor of ≈6 difference in 31-GHz emissivity. We show that this variation can be explained, using the SD model, by a variation on the dust grain size distribution across the cloud, particularly changing the fraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon for a fixed total amount of carbon.

Post-Dieselgate: Evidence of NOx Emission Reductions Using On-Road Remote Sensing.

The Dieselgate scandal which broke in September 2015 demonstrated that vehicle manufacturers, such as the Volkswagen Group (VWG), engaged in software-based manipulation which led to vehicles passing laboratory-based emission testing limits but were far more polluting while being driven on roads. Using 23 000 on-road remote sensing measurements of light-duty Euro 5 diesel vehicles in the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018, VWG vehicles with the “Dieselgate-affected” EA189 engine demonstrated anomalous NOx emission behavior between the pre- and post-Dieselgate periods which was not observed in other vehicle makes or models. These anomalous changes can be explained by voluntary VWG hardware and software fixes which have led to improved NOx emission control. The VGW 1.6 L vehicles, with a simple hardware fix and a software upgrade, resulted in a 36% reduction in NOx, whereas the 2.0 L vehicles that required a software-only fix showed a 30% reduction in NOx once controlled for ambient temperature effects. These results show that even minor changes or upgrades can considerably reduce NOx emissions, which has implications for future emission control activities and local air quality.

Confirmation of Enhanced Long-wavelength Dust Emission in OMC 2/3

Abstract Previous continuum observations from the MUSTANG camera on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) of the nearby star-forming filament OMC 2/3 found elevated emission at 3.3 mm relative to shorter-wavelength data. As a consequence, the inferred dust emissivity index obtained from modified blackbody dust spectra was considerably lower than what is typically measured on ∼0.1 pc scales in nearby molecular clouds. Here we present new observations of OMC 2/3 collected with the MUSTANG-2 camera on the GBT that confirm this elevated emission. We also present for the first time sensitive 1 cm observations made with the Ka-band receiver on the GBT, which also show higher than expected emission. We use these observations—along with Herschel, JCMT, Mambo, and GISMO data—to assemble spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of a variety of structures in OMC 2/3 spanning the range 160 μm to 1 cm. The data at 2 mm and shorter are generally consistent with a modified blackbody spectrum and a single value of β ∼ 1.6. The 3 mm and 1 cm data, however, lie well above such an SED. The spectrum of the long-wavelength excess is inconsistent with both free–free emission and standard “Spinning Dust” models for Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME). The 3 mm and 1 cm data could be explained by a flatter dust emissivity at wavelengths shorter than 2 mm, potentially in concert with AME in some regions.

Modeling Rotational Disruption of Grains and Microwave Emission from Spinning Dust in AGB Envelopes

Abstract Radio observations of some asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star envelopes show excess emission at frequencies below 100 GHz that cannot be explained by thermal dust emission (hereafter anomalous microwave emission (AME)). Moreover, AGB envelopes are a common place where gas molecules condense to form nanoparticles (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and large grains. In this paper, we study whether electric dipole emission from rapidly spinning nanoparticles can reproduce the AME observed toward AGB stars. To properly model the size distribution of nanoparticles in the AGB envelope, we take into account both the increase of nanoparticles due to rotational disruption of large grains spun up by radiative torques and the decrease of the smallest nanoparticles due to rotational disruption driven by stochastic gas collisions. We then perform detailed modeling of microwave emission from rapidly spinning nanoparticles from both C-rich and O-rich AGB envelopes using the grain-size distribution constrained by rotational disruption. We find that spinning dust emission is dominant over thermal dust emission at frequencies below 100 GHz. We attempt to fit the observational data of AME using our spinning dust model and demonstrate that spinning dust can reproduce the observed AME in six AGB stars. Finally, we discuss how microwave emission from spinning dust in AGB envelopes could be observed with high-resolution upcoming radio telescopes such the Next Generation Very Large Array and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Band 1. This would be a major leap for understanding AGB envelopes’ formation, evolution, and internal structures of dust. Observations would help to distinguish the carrier of AME via comparisons of C-rich and O-rich stars, because polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed in C-rich AGB stars, while silicates are formed in O-rich stars.