Galactic Contamination Research Articles

Optimization of foreground moment deprojection for semi-blind CMB polarization reconstruction

Upcoming Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments, aimed at measuring primordial CMB polarization B-modes, require exquisite control of instrumental systematics and Galactic foreground contamination. Blind minimum-variance techniques, like the Needlet Internal Linear Combination (NILC), have proven effective in reconstructing the CMB polarization signal and mitigating foregrounds and systematics across diverse sky models without suffering from foreground mismodelling errors. Still, residual foreground contamination from NILC may bias the recovered CMB polarization at large angular scales when confronted with the most complex foreground scenarios.By adding constraints to NILC to deproject statistical moments of the Galactic emission, the Constrained Moment ILC (cMILC) method has been demonstrated to further enhance foreground subtraction, albeit with an associated increase in overall noise variance. Faced with this trade-off between foreground bias reduction and overall variance minimization, there is still no recipe on which moments to deproject and which are better suited for blind variance minimization. To address this, we introduce the optimized cMILC (ocMILC) pipeline, which performs full automated optimization of the required number and set of foreground moments to deproject, pivot parameter values, and deprojection coefficients across the sky and angular scales, depending on the actual sky complexity, available frequency coverage, and experiment sensitivity. The optimal number of moments for deprojection, before paying significant noise penalty, is determined through a data diagnosis inspired by the Generalized NILC (GNILC) method.Validated on B-mode simulations of the PICO space mission concept with four challenging foreground models, ocMILC exhibits lower Galactic foreground contamination compared to NILC and cMILC at all angular scales, with limited noise penalty. This multi-layer optimization enables the ocMILC pipeline to achieve unbiased posteriors of the tensor-to-scalar ratio, regardless of foreground complexity.

Illuminating the Dark Side of Cosmic Star Formation. III. Building the Largest Homogeneous Sample of Radio-selected Dusty Star-forming Galaxies in COSMOS with PhoEBO

In the last decades, an increasing scientific interest has been growing in the elusive population of dark (i.e., lacking an optical/near-IR, hereafter NIR, counterpart) dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). Although extremely promising for their likely contribution to the cosmic star formation rate density (SFRD) and for their possible role in the evolution of the first massive and passive galaxies around z ∼ 3, the difficulty in selecting statistically significant samples of dark DSFGs is limiting their scientific potentialities. This work presents the first panchromatic study of a sample of 263 radio-selected NIR-dark (RS-NIRdark) galaxies discovered in the COSMOS field following the procedure by Talia et al. These sources are selected as radio-bright galaxies (S 3 GHz > 12.65 μJy) with no counterpart in the NIR-selected COSMOS2020 catalog (Ks ≳ 25.5 mag). For these sources, we build a new photometric catalog including accurate photometry from the optical to the radio obtained with a new deblending pipeline (Photometry Extractor for Blended Objects, or PhoEBO). We employ this catalog to estimate the photo-zs and the physical properties of the galaxies through an spectral energy distribution-fitting procedure performed with two different codes (Magphys and Cigale). Finally, we estimate the active galactic nucleus contamination in our sample by performing a series of complementary tests. The high values of the median extinction (A v ∼ 4) and star formation rate (SFR ∼ 500 M ⊙ yr−1) confirm the likely DSFG nature of the RS-NIRdark galaxies. The median photo-z (z ∼ 3) and the presence of a significant tail of high-z candidates (z > 4.5) suggest that these sources are important contributors to the cosmic SFRD and the evolutionary path of galaxies at high redshifts.

Deep learning approach for identification of H ii regions during reionization in 21-cm observations – II. Foreground contamination

ABSTRACT The upcoming Square Kilometre Array Observatory will produce images of neutral hydrogen distribution during the epoch of reionization by observing the corresponding 21-cm signal. However, the 21-cm signal will be subject to instrumental limitations such as noise and galactic foreground contamination that pose a challenge for accurate detection. In this study, we present the SegU-Net v2 framework, an enhanced version of our convolutional neural network, built to identify neutral and ionized regions in the 21-cm signal contaminated with foreground emission. We trained our neural network on 21-cm image data processed by a foreground removal method based on Principal Component Analysis achieving an average classification accuracy of 71 per cent between redshift z = 7 and 11. We tested SegU-Net v2 against various foreground removal methods, including Gaussian Process Regression, Polynomial Fitting, and Foreground-Wedge Removal. Results show comparable performance, highlighting SegU-Net v2’s independence on these pre-processing methods. Statistical analysis shows that a perfect classification score with ${\rm AUC}=95~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ is possible for 8 < z < 10. While the network prediction lacks the ability to correctly identify ionized regions at higher redshift and differentiate well the few remaining neutral regions at lower redshift due to low contrast between 21-cm signal, noise, and foreground residual in images. Moreover, as the photon sources driving reionization are expected to be located inside ionized regions, we show that SegU-Net v2 can be used to correctly identify and measure the volume of isolated bubbles with $V_{\rm ion}\gt (10\, {\rm cMpc})^3$ at z > 9, for follow-up studies with infrared/optical telescopes to detect these sources.

The advantage of Bolometric Interferometry for controlling Galactic foreground contamination in CMB primordial B-modes measurements

In the quest for the faint primordial B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background, three are the key requirements for any present or future experiment: an utmost sensitivity, excellent control over instrumental systematic effects and over Galactic foreground contamination. Bolometric Interferometry (BI) is a novel technique that matches them all by combining the sensitivity of bolometric detectors, the control of instrumental systematics from interferometry and a software-based, tunable, in-band spectral resolution due to its ability to perform band-splitting during data analysis (spectral imaging). In this paper, we investigate how the spectral imaging capability of BI can help in detecting residual contamination in case an over-simplified model of foreground emission is assumed in the analysis. To mimic this situation, we focus on the next generation of ground-based CMB experiment, CMB-S4, and compare its anticipated sensitivities, frequency and sky coverage with a hypothetical version of the same experiment based on BI, CMB-S4/BI, assuming that lineof-sight (LOS) frequency decorrelation is present in dust emission but is not accounted for during component separation. We show results from a Monte-Carlo analysis based on a parametric component separation method (FGBuster), highlighting how BI has the potential to diagnose the presence of foreground residuals in estimates of the tensor-to-scalar ratio r in the case of unaccounted Galactic dust LOS frequency decorrelation.

Measuring the CMB primordial B-modes with Bolometric Interferometry

The Q&U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QL’BIC) is the first bolometric interferometer designed to measure the primordial B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Bolometric interferometry is a novel technique that combines the sensitivity of bolometric detectors with the control of systematic effects that is typical of interferometry, both key features in the quest for the faint signal of the primordial B-modes. A unique feature is the so-called “spectral imaging”, i.e., the ability to recover the sky signal in several sub-bands within the physical band during data analysis. This feature provides an in-band spectral resolution of ∆v/v ~ 0.04 that is unattainable by a traditional imager. This is a key tool for controlling the Galactic foregrounds contamination. In this paper, we describe the principles of bolometric interferometry, the current status of the QU BIC experiment and future prospects.

COSMOS2020: The galaxy stellar mass function

Context. How galaxies form, assemble, and cease their star formation is a central question within the modern landscape of galaxy evolution studies. These processes are indelibly imprinted on the galaxy stellar mass function (SMF), and its measurement and understanding is key to uncovering a unified theory of galaxy evolution. Aims. We present constraints on the shape and evolution of the galaxy SMF, the quiescent galaxy fraction, and the cosmic stellar mass density across 90% of the history of the Universe from z = 7.5 → 0.2 as a means to study the physical processes that underpin galaxy evolution. Methods. The COSMOS survey is an ideal laboratory for studying representative galaxy samples. Now equipped with deeper and more homogeneous near-infrared coverage exploited by the COSMOS2020 catalog, we leverage the large 1.27 deg2 effective area to improve sample statistics and understand spatial variations (cosmic variance) – particularly for rare, massive galaxies – and push to higher redshifts with greater confidence and mass completeness than previous studies. We divide the total stellar mass function into star-forming and quiescent subsamples through NUVrJ color-color selection. The measurements are then fit with single- and double-component Schechter functions to infer the intrinsic galaxy stellar mass function, the evolution of its key parameters, and the cosmic stellar mass density out to z = 7.5. Finally, we compare our measurements to predictions from state-of-the-art cosmological simulations and theoretical dark matter halo mass functions. Results. We find a smooth, monotonic evolution in the galaxy stellar mass function since z = 7.5, in general agreement with previous studies. The number density of star-forming systems have undergone remarkably consistent growth spanning four decades in stellar mass from z = 7.5 → 2 whereupon high-mass systems become predominantly quiescent (“downsizing”). Meanwhile, the assembly and growth of low-mass quiescent systems only occurred recently, and rapidly. An excess of massive systems at z ≈ 2.5 − 5.5 with strikingly red colors, with some being newly identified, increase the observed number densities to the point where the SMF cannot be reconciled with a Schechter function. Conclusions. Systematics including cosmic variance and/or active galactic nuclei contamination are unlikely to fully explain this excess, and so we speculate that they may be dust-obscured populations similar to those found in far infrared surveys. Furthermore, we find a sustained agreement from z ≈ 3 − 6 between the stellar and dark matter halo mass functions for the most massive systems, suggesting that star formation in massive halos may be more efficient at early times.

Multiclustering needlet ILC for CMB B-mode component separation

ABSTRACT The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) primordial B-mode signal is predicted to be much lower than the polarized Galactic emission (foregrounds) in any region of the sky pointing to the need for sophisticated component separation methods. Among them, the blind Needlet Internal Linear Combination (NILC) has great relevance given our current poor knowledge of the B-mode foregrounds. However, the expected level of spatial variability of the foreground spectral properties complicates the NILC subtraction of the Galactic contamination. We therefore propose a novel extension of the NILC approach, the Multiclustering NILC (MC-NILC), which performs NILC variance minimization on separate regions of the sky (clusters) properly chosen to have similar spectral properties of the B-mode Galactic emission within them. Clusters are identified thresholding either the ratio of simulated foregrounds-only B modes (ideal case) or the one of cleaned templates of Galactic emission obtained from realistic simulations. In this work we present an application of MC-NILC to the future LiteBIRD satellite, which targets the observation of both reionization and recombination peaks of the primordial B-mode angular power spectrum with a total error on the tensor-to-scalar ratio δr < 0.001. We show that MC-NILC provides a CMB solution with residual foreground and noise contamination that is significantly lower than the NILC one and the primordial signal targeted by LiteBIRD at all angular scales for the ideal case and at the reionization peak for a realistic ratio. Thus, MC-NILC will represent a powerful method to mitigate B-mode foregrounds for future CMB polarization experiments.

Constraints on galaxy formation from the cosmic-far-infrared-background – optical-imaging cross-correlation using Herschel and UNIONS

ABSTRACT Using Herschel-SPIRE imaging and the Canada-France Imaging Survey (CFIS) Low Surface Brightness data products from the Ultraviolet Near-Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS), we present a cross-correlation between the cosmic far-infrared background and cosmic optical background fluctuations. The cross-spectrum is measured for two cases: all galaxies are kept in the images; or all individually detected galaxies are masked to produce ‘background’ maps. We report the detection of the cross-correlation signal at $\gtrsim 18\, \sigma$ ($\gtrsim 14\, \sigma$ for the background map). The part of the optical brightness variations that are correlated with the submm emission translates to an rms brightness of $\simeq 32.5\, {\rm mag}\, {\rm arcsec}^{-2}$ in the r band, a level normally unreachable for individual sources. A critical issue is determining what fraction of the cross-power spectrum might be caused by emission from Galactic cirrus. For one of the fields, the Galactic contamination is 10 times higher than the extragalactic signal; however, for the other fields, the contamination is around 20 per cent. An additional discriminant is that the cross-power spectrum is of the approximate form P(k) ∝ 1/k, much shallower than that of Galactic cirrus. We interpret the results in a halo-model framework, which shows good agreement with independent measurements for the scalings of star-formation rates in galaxies. The approach presented in this study holds great promise for future surveys such as FYST/CCAT-prime combined with Euclid or the Vera Rubin Observatory (LSST), which will enable a detailed exploration of the evolution of star formation in galaxies.

The globular cluster system of the nearest Seyfert II galaxy Circinus

Context. The globular cluster (GC) system of Circinus galaxy has not been probed previously partly because of the location of the galaxy at −3.8° Galactic latitude, which suffers severely from interstellar extinction, stellar crowding, and Galactic foreground contamination. However, the deep near-infrared (NIR) photometry by the VISTA Variables in the Via Láctea Extended Survey (VVVX) in combination with the precise astrometry of Gaia EDR3 allow us to map GCs in this region. Aims. Our long-term goal is to study and characterise the distributions of GCs and ultra-compact dwarfs in Circinus galaxy, which is the nearest Seyfert II galaxy. Here we conduct the first pilot search for GCs in this galaxy. Methods. We used NIR VVVX photometry in combination with Gaia EDR3 astrometric features, such as astrometric excess noise and the ratio of the sum of the blue photometer (BP) and red photometer (RP) to the broad G passband (BRexcess), to build the first homogeneous catalogue of GCs in Circinus galaxy. A robust combination of selection criteria allows us to effectively clean interlopers from our sample. Results We report the detection of ∼70 GC candidates in this galaxy at a 3σ confidence level. They show a bimodal colour distribution with the blue peak at (G − Ks)0 = 0.985±0.127 mag with a dispersion of 0.211±0.091 mag and the red peak at (G − Ks)0 = 1.625±0.177 mag with a dispersion of 0.482±0.114 mag. A GC specific frequency (S​N) of 1.3±0.2 was derived for the galaxy, and we estimated a total population of 120±40 GCs. Based on the projected radial distribution it appears that Circinus has a different distribution of GC candidates than MW and M 31. Conclusions. We demonstrate that Circinus galaxy hosts a sizeable number of cluster candidates. This result is the first leap towards understanding the evolution of old stellar clusters in this galaxy.

An extreme blue nugget, UV-bright starburst at z = 3.613 with 90 per cent of Lyman continuum photon escape

ABSTRACT We present the discovery and analysis of J1316+2614 at z = 3.6130, a UV-bright star-forming galaxy (MUV ≃ −24.7) with large escape of Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation. J1316+2614 is a young (≃10 Myr) star-forming galaxy with SFR ≃ 500 M⊙ yr−1 and a starburst mass of log(M⋆/M⊙) ≃ 9.7. It shows a very steep UV continuum, βUV = −2.59 ± 0.05, consistent with residual dust obscuration, E(B − V) ≃ 0. LyC emission is detected with high significance (≃17σ) down to 830 Å, for which a very high relative (absolute) LyC escape fraction $f_{\rm esc} \rm (LyC) \simeq 0.92$ (≃0.87) is inferred. The contribution of a foreground or active galactic nucleus contamination to the LyC signal is discussed, but is unlikely. J1316+2614 is the most powerful ionizing source known among the star-forming galaxy population, both in terms of production (QH ≈ 1056 s−1) and escape of ionizing photons ($f_{\rm esc} \rm (LyC) \approx 0.9$). Nebular emission in Ly α, H β, and other rest-frame optical lines are detected, but these are weak ($EW_{0} \rm [H\beta ] \simeq 35$ Å), with their strengths reduced roughly by $\simeq 90{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. J1316+2614 is the first case known where the effect of large escape of ionizing photons on the strength of nebular lines and continuum emission is clearly observed. Gas inflows are detected in J1316+2614 from the blue-dominated peak Ly α emission (with a blue-to-red peak line ratio Iblue/Ired ≃ 3.7) and redshifted interstellar medium absorption (≃100 km s−1). Our results suggest that J1316+2614 is undergoing a gas compaction event, possibly representing a short-lived phase in the evolution of massive and compact galaxies, where strong gas inflows have triggered an extreme star formation episode and nearly 100 per cent LyC photons are escaping.

CMB spectral distortions revisited: A new take on μ distortions and primordial non-Gaussianities from FIRAS data

Deviations from the blackbody spectral energy distribution of the CMB are a precise probe of physical processes active both in the early universe (such as those connected to particle decays and inflation) and at later times (e.g. reionization and astrophysical emissions). Limited progress has been made in the characterization of these spectral distortions after the pioneering measurements of the FIRAS instrument on the COBE satellite in the early 1990s, which mainly targeted the measurement of their average amplitude across the sky. Since at present no follow-up mission is scheduled to update the FIRAS measurement, in this work we re-analyze the FIRAS data and produce a map of $\mu$-type spectral distortion across the sky. We provide an updated constraint on the $\mu$ distortion monopole $|\langle\mu\rangle|<47\times 10^{-6}$ at 95\% confidence level that sharpens the previous FIRAS estimate by a factor of $\sim 2$. We also constrain primordial non-Gaussianities of curvature perturbations on scales $10\lesssim k\lesssim 5\times 10^4$ through the cross-correlation of $\mu$ distortion anisotropies with CMB temperature and, for the first time, the full set of polarization anisotropies from the Planck satellite. We obtain upper limits on $f_{\rm NL}\lesssim 3.6 \times 10^6$ and on its running $n_{\rm NL}\lesssim 1.4$ that are limited by the FIRAS sensitivity but robust against galactic and extragalactic foreground contaminations. We revisit previous similar analyses based on data of the Planck satellite and show that, despite their significantly lower noise, they yield similar or worse results to ours once all the instrumental and astrophysical uncertainties are properly accounted for. Our work is the first to self-consistently analyze data from a spectrometer and demonstrate the power of such instrument to carry out this kind of science case with reduced systematic uncertainties.

Clustering redshifts with the 21cm-galaxy cross-bispectrum

ABSTRACT The cross-correlation between 21-cm intensity mapping (IM) experiments and photometric surveys of galaxies (or any other cosmological tracer with a broad radial kernel) is severely degraded by the loss of long-wavelength radial modes due to Galactic foreground contamination. Higher-order correlators are able to restore some of these modes due to the non-linear coupling between them and the local small-scale clustering induced by gravitational collapse. We explore the possibility of recovering information from the bispectrum between a photometric galaxy sample and an IM experiment, in the context of the clustering-redshifts technique. We demonstrate that the bispectrum is able to calibrate the redshift distribution of the photometric sample to the required accuracy of future experiments such as the Rubin Observatory, using future single-dish and interferometric 21-cm observations, in situations where the two-point function is not able to do so due to foreground contamination. We also show how this calibration is affected by the photometric redshift width σz,0 and maximum scale kmax. We find that it is important to reach scales $k \gtrsim 0.3\, h\, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, with the constraints saturating at around $k\sim 1\, h\, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ for next-generation experiments.

Extragalactic fast X-ray transient candidates discovered byChandra(2000–2014)

Context.Extragalactic fast X-ray transients (FXRTs) are short flashes of X-ray photons of unknown origin that last a few seconds to hours.Aims.Our ignorance about their physical mechanisms and progenitor systems is due in part to the lack of clear multiwavelength counterparts in most cases, because FXRTs have only been identified serendipitously.Methods.We develop a systematic search for FXRTs in theChandraSource Catalog (Data Release 2.0; 169.6 Ms over 592.4 deg2, using only observations with |b|&gt; 10° and before 2015), using a straightforward X-ray flare search algorithm and incorporating various multiwavelength constraints to rule out Galactic contamination and characterize the candidates.Results.We report the detection of 14 FXRT candidates from a parent sample of 214 701 sources. Candidates have peak 0.5–7 keV fluxes between 1 × 10−13and 2 × 10−10erg cm−2s−1andT90values from 4 to 48 ks. The sample can be subdivided into two groups: six “nearby” FXRTs that occurred withind ≲ 100 Mpc and eight “distant” FXRTs with likely redshifts ≳0.1. Three distant FXRT candidates exhibit light curves with a plateau (≈1–3 ks duration) followed by a power-law decay and X-ray spectral softening, similar to what was observed for the previously reported FXRT CDF-S XT2, a proposed magnetar-powered binary neutron star merger event. After applying completeness corrections, we calculate event rates for the nearby and distant samples of 53.7−15.1+22.6and 28.2−6.9+9.8deg−2yr−1, respectively.Conclusions.This novel sample ofChandra-detected extragalactic FXRT candidates, although modest in size, breaks new ground in terms of characterizing the diverse properties, nature, and possible progenitors of these enigmatic events.

QUBIC I: Overview and science program

The Q & U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) is a novel kind of polarimeter optimized for the measurement of the B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is one of the major challenges of observational cosmology. The signal is expected to be of the order of a few tens of nK, prone to instrumental systematic effects and polluted by various astrophysical foregrounds which can only be controlled through multichroic observations. QUBIC is designed to address these observational issues with a novel approach that combines the advantages of interferometry in terms of control of instrumental systematic effects with those of bolometric detectors in terms of wide-band, background-limited sensitivity. The QUBIC synthesized beam has a frequency-dependent shape that results in the ability to produce maps of the CMB polarization in multiple sub-bands within the two physical bands of the instrument (150 and 220 GHz). These features make QUBIC complementary to other instruments and makes it particularly well suited to characterize and remove Galactic foreground contamination. In this article, first of a series of eight, we give an overview of the QUBIC instrument design, the main results of the calibration campaign, and present the scientific program of QUBIC including not only the measurement of primordial B-modes, but also the measurement of Galactic foregrounds.We give forecasts for typical observations and measurements: with three years of integration on the sky and assuming perfect foreground removal as well as stable atmospheric conditions from our site in Argentina, our simulations show that we can achieve a statistical sensitivity to the effective tensor-to-scalar ratio (including primordial and foreground B-modes) σ(r)=0.015.

Hunting for Runaways from the Orion Nebula Cluster

Abstract We use Gaia DR2 to hunt for runaway stars from the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC). We search a region extending 45° around the ONC and out to 1 kpc to find sources that have overlapped in angular position with the cluster in the last ∼10 Myr. We find ∼17,000 runaway/walkaway candidates that satisfy this 2D traceback condition. Most of these are expected to be contaminants, e.g., caused by Galactic streaming motions of stars at different distances. We thus examine six further tests to help identify real runaways, namely: (1) possessing young stellar object (YSO) colors and magnitudes based on Gaia optical photometry; (2) having IR excess consistent with YSOs based on 2MASS and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer photometry; (3) having a high degree of optical variability; (4) having closest approach distances well-constrained to within the cluster half-mass radius; (5) having ejection directions that avoid the main Galactic streaming contamination zone; and (6) having a required radial velocity (RV) for 3D overlap of reasonable magnitude (or, for the 7% of candidates with measured RVs, satisfying 3D traceback). Thirteen sources, not previously noted as Orion members, pass all these tests, while another twelve are similarly promising, except they are in the main Galactic streaming contamination zone. Among these 25 ejection candidates, ten with measured RVs pass the most restrictive 3D traceback condition. We present full lists of runaway/walkaway candidates, estimate the high-velocity population ejected from the ONC, and discuss its implications for cluster formation theories via comparison with numerical simulations.

Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Dusty Star-forming Galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei in the Equatorial Survey

Abstract We present a catalog of 510 radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs, primarily blazars) and 287 dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) detected by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope at significance in frequency bands centered on 148 GHz (2 mm), 218 GHz (1.4 mm), and 277 GHz (1.1 mm), from a 480 deg2 strip centered at R.A. 00h on the celestial equator with additional 360 deg2 shallower auxiliary fields at other longitudes. The combination of the deepest available 218 GHz wide-field imaging, our 277 GHz data, and multiband filtering results in the most sensitive wide-field millimeter-wave DSFG selection to date, with rms noise level referenced to 218 GHz reaching below 2 mJy. We have developed new techniques to remove Galactic contamination (including evidence for CO (2−1) line emission) from the extragalactic catalog, yielding a catalog of 321 Galactic sources in addition to the extragalactic catalog. We employ a new flux debiasing method that accounts for the heterogeneous sample selection in the presence of Galactic cuts. We present the spectral properties and source counts of the AGNs and DSFGs. The DSFG spectra depart from the Rayleigh–Jeans regime of an optically thin modified blackbody between 218 and 277 GHz, consistent with optically thick emission or an additional cold dust component. For AGNs with 148 and 218 GHz flux density &gt;50 mJy, we estimate the interyear rms fractional deviation in flux density due to source variability to be 40% with a 0.98 interband correlation coefficient. We provide source counts for AGNs in the range of 8–2870 mJy and for DSFGs in the range of 8–90 mJy. Our DSFG counts probe both the brighter, lensed population and the fainter, unlensed population. At 277 GHz we report the first measurements of source counts at these flux densities, finding an excess above most model count predictions. Finally, we present 30 of the brightest DSFGs that were selected for multifrequency study as candidate high-z lensed systems.

An Assessment of Contamination in the Thermal-SZ Map Using Cross-correlations

Abstract We search for potential galactic and extragalactic dust contamination in thermal Sunyaev–Zeldovich maps derived from the Planck data. To test for contamination, we apply a variety of galactic dust and cosmic infrared background (CIB) models to the data as part of the y map reconstruction process. We evaluate the level of contamination by cross-correlating these y maps with mass tracers based on weak lensing data. The lensing data we use are the convergence map, κ, from the Red Sequence Cluster Lensing survey, and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing potential map, ϕ, from the Planck Collaboration. We make a CIB-subtracted y map and measure the cross-correlation between it and the lensing data. By comparing it with CIB-contaminated cross-correlation, we find that the cross-correlation between κ and y is only slightly contaminated by CIB signal, at the level of 6.8 ± 3.5%, which implies that previous detections of κ × y are robust to CIB contamination. However, we find that ϕ × y is more significantly contaminated, by 16.7 ± 3.5%, because the CMB lensing potential probes higher redshift sources that overlap more with the CIB sources. We find that Galactic dust does not significantly contaminate either cross-correlation signal.

Cosmological-scale coherent orientations of quasar optical polarization vectors in thePlanckera

Gigaparsec scale alignments of the quasar optical polarization vectors have been proven to be robust against a scenario of contamination by the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM). This claim has been established by means of optical polarization measurements of the starlight surrounding the lines of sight of the 355 quasars for which reliable optical polarization measurements are available. In this paper, we take advantage of the full-sky and high quality polarization data released by thePlancksatellite to provide an independent, complementary, and up-to-date estimation of the contamination level of the quasar optical polarization data by the Galactic dust. Our analysis reveals signatures of Galactic dust contamination at the two sigma level for about 30 percent of the quasar optical polarization data sample. The remaining 70 percent of the lines of sight do not show Galactic dust contamination above the two sigma level, suggesting low to negligible contamination of the quasar optical polarization signal. We further found arguments suggesting that Galactic thermal dust cannot fully account for the reported quasar optical polarization alignments. Based on the measurements of the ratio of the polarized intensity of the dust in the submillimeter to the degree of linear polarization of the quasar in the optical, we provide a new and independent quality criteria to apply to the quasar optical polarization sample. We argue that, unless correction is applied, such a criterion should be imposed on the data for future investigations in the framework of the cosmological-scale correlations of quasar optical polarization vector orientations that still could compete with the isotropic principle of the cosmological paradigm.

Constraining cosmology with the cosmic microwave and infrared backgrounds correlation

We explore the use of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) as a tracer of the large scale structures for cross-correlating with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and exploit the integrated Sachs–Wolfe (ISW) effect. We used an improved linear CIB model from our previous work and derived the theoretical CIB×ISW cross-correlation for different Planck HFI frequencies (217, 353, 545 and 857 GHz) and IRAS (3000 GHz). As expected, we predict a positive cross-correlation between the CIB and the CMB whose amplitude decreases rapidly at small scales. We perform a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) analysis of the predicted cross-correlation. In the ideal case when the cross-correlation is obtained over 70% (40%) of the sky without residual contaminants (e.g. galactic dust) in maps, the S/N ranges from 4.2 to 5.6 (3.2 to 4.3); the highest S/N comes from 857 GHz. A Fisher matrix analysis shows that an ISW signal detected with a S/N this high on the 40% sky can considerably improve the constraints on the cosmological parameters; constraints on the equation of state of the dark energy especially are improved by 80%. We then performed a more realistic analysis considering the effect of residual galactic dust contamination in CIB maps. We calculated the dust power spectra for different frequencies and sky fractions that dominate the CIB power spectra at the lower multipoles we are interested in. Considering a conservative 10% residual level of galactic dust in the CIB power spectra, we observe that the S/N drops drastically, which makes it very challenging to detect the ISW. To determine the capability of current maps to detect the ISW effect through this method, we measured the cross-correlation of the CIB and the CMB Planck maps on the so-called GASS field, which covers an area of ∼11% in the southern hemisphere. We find that with such a small sky fraction and the dust residuals in the CIB maps, we do not detect any ISW signal, and the measured cross-correlation is consistent with zero. To avoid degrading the S/N for the ISW measurement by more than 10% on the 40% sky, we find that the dust needs to be cleaned up to the 0.01% level on the power spectrum.

Exploring cosmic origins with CORE: Gravitational lensing of the CMB

Lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is now a well-developed probe of the clustering of the large-scale mass distribution over a broad range of redshifts. By exploiting the non-Gaussian imprints of lensing in the polarization of the CMB, the CORE mission will allow production of a clean map of the lensing deflections over nearly the full-sky. The number of high-S/N modes in this map will exceed current CMB lensing maps by a factor of 40, and the measurement will be sample-variance limited on all scales where linear theory is valid. Here, we summarise this mission product and discuss the science that will follow from its power spectrum and the cross-correlation with other clustering data. For example, the summed mass of neutrinos will be determined to an accuracy of 17 meV combining CORE lensing and CMB two-point information with contemporaneous measurements of the baryon acoustic oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies, three times smaller than the minimum total mass allowed by neutrino oscillation measurements. Lensing has applications across many other science goals of CORE, including the search for B-mode polarization from primordial gravitational waves. Here, lens-induced B-modes will dominate over instrument noise, limiting constraints on the power spectrum amplitude of primordial gravitational waves. With lensing reconstructed by CORE, one can “delens” the observed polarization internally, reducing the lensing B-mode power by 60 %. This can be improved to 70 % by combining lensing and measurements of the cosmic infrared background from CORE, leading to an improvement of a factor of 2.5 in the error on the amplitude of primordial gravitational waves compared to no delensing (in the null hypothesis of no primordial B-modes). Lensing measurements from CORE will allow calibration of the halo masses of the tens of thousands of galaxy clusters that it will find, with constraints dominated by the clean polarization-based estimators. The 19 frequency channels proposed for CORE will allow accurate removal of Galactic emission from CMB maps. We present initial findings that show that residual Galactic foreground contamination will not be a significant source of bias for lensing power spectrum measurements with CORE.