High Galactic Latitude Research Articles

Extended Red Emission in High Galactic Latitude Interstellar Clouds

We report initial results from an optical imaging survey of optically thin high Galactic latitude clouds, which is designed to study the surface brightness, structure, and spectral energy distribution of these objects. The primary aim of this paper is to study the extended red emission (ERE) that has been reported at high Galactic latitudes in earlier investigations and which is attributed to ultraviolet-excited photoluminescence of an as yet unidentified component of interstellar dust. We conduct this ongoing survey with remotely operated, fast, short focal length (0.5 m) telescopes equipped with absolutely calibrated CCD cameras yielding a field of view of 2° × 3°. The telescopes are located at New Mexico Skies at 7300 ft (2225 m) altitude near Mayhill, New Mexico. The optical surface brightness of our objects is typically a few percent of the brightness of the dark night sky, implying that the cloud SEDs must be deduced from differential surface brightness photometry in different filter bands. We find strong evidence for dust emission in the form of a broad (1000 A FWHM) ERE band with peak emission near 600 nm wavelength and peak intensity of ~5 × 10−9 ergs cm−2 s−1 A−1 sr−1 in optically thin clouds. This amounts to about 30% of the total optical surface brightness of these clouds, the remainder being consistent with expectations for dust-scattered light.

Two strong radio bursts at high and medium Galactic latitude

The Nasu Observatory, which is composed of eight 20 m elements, was constructed for observing radio transients over a wide field at 1400 MHz. We report on two radio transients detected in consecutive drift scanning observations at declination 32° over a period of about two months. One of the two transients, WJN J1039+3200, appeared at α = 10 h 39 m 40 s ± 10 s , δ = 32 ° ± 0.4 ° on March 4, 2005, and the other one, WJN J0645+3200, appeared at α = 06 h 45 m 25 s ± 10 s , δ = 32 ° ± 0.4 ° on March 24, 2005. Both exhibited flux densities in excess of 1 Jy, and the burst durations were up to two days. Since there are few examples of radio transients outside the Galactic plane, these are very important observations. We have previously reported on four radio transients with features that look like the two transients detected this time. Of these six WJN transients in total, five had a duration of up to two days, and one up to three days. Four of the transients were detected at high Galactic latitude of b > 30°. Counterparts of the six WJN transients included X-ray sources in four events and had a consistency of 66%. The consistency of γ-ray, PGC Galaxy, NVSS, and FIRST sources was concentrated at about 50%. We were not able to find any special features in the counterparts. The distribution was verified by making a log N–log S plot using data for the four previously detected transients and the new ones. As a result, the distribution of the radio transients that we observed might have an isotropic distribution not dependent on Galactic longitude and Galactic latitude. The detection probability was calculated based on the assumption of an isotropic distribution. The 2 σ upper probability limit for detection of transients of 1000 mJy or more is 0.0049 [deg −2 yr −1]. We cannot yet identify these two radio transients, because their features are different from any radio bursts observed in the past.

The Stellar Population and Origin of the Mysterious High‐Latitude Star‐forming Cloud CG 12

The mysterious high Galactic latitude cometary globule CG 12 has been observed with the ACIS detector on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. We detect 128 X-ray sources, of which half are likely young stars formed within the globule's head. This new population of 50 T Tauri stars and one new embedded protostar is far larger than the previously reported few intermediate-mass and two protostellar members of the cloud. Most of the newly discovered stars have masses 0.2-0.7 M?, and 9%-15% have K-band excesses from inner protoplanetary disks. X-ray properties provide an independent distance estimate consistent with CG 12's unusual location 200 pc above the Galactic plane. The star formation efficiency in CG 12 appears to be 15%-35%, far above that seen in other triggered molecular globules. The median photometric age found for the T Tauri population assuming Siess et al. (2000) isochrones is ~4 Myr with a large spread of <1-20 Myr and ongoing star formation in the molecular cores. The stellar age and spatial distributions are inconsistent with a simple radiation-driven implosion (RDI) model and suggest either that CG 12 is an atypically large shocked globule or that it has been subject to several distinct episodes of triggering and ablation. We report a previously unnoticed group of B-type stars northwest of CG 12 that may be the remnants of an OB association that produced multiple supernova explosions that could have shocked and ablated the cloud over a 15-30 Myr period. HD 120958 (B3e), the most luminous member of the group, may be currently driving an RDI shock into the CG 12 cloud.

Discovery of an Isolated Compact Object at High Galactic Latitude

We report the discovery of a at high Galactic latitude. The was initially identified as a ROSAT All-Sky Survey Bright Source Catalog X-ray source, 1RXS J141256.0+792204, statistically likely to possess a high X-ray to optical flux ratio. Further observations using Swift, Gemini-North, and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory refined the source position and confirmed the absence of any optical counterpart to an X-ray to optical flux ratio of FX(0.1–2.4 keV)/FV > 8700 (3 σ). Interpretation of 1RXS J141256.0+792204—which we have dubbed Calvera—as a typical X-ray-dim isolated neutron star would place it at z ≈ 5.1 kpc above the Galactic disk—in the Galactic halo—implying that it either has an extreme space velocity (vz 5100 km s−1) or has failed to cool according to theoretical predictions. Interpretations as a persistent anomalous X-ray pulsar or a compact central object present conflicts with these classes' typical properties. We conclude that the properties of Calvera are most consistent with those of a nearby (80-260 pc) radio pulsar, similar to the radio millisecond pulsars of 47 Tucanae, with further observations required to confirm this classification. If it is a millisecond pulsar, it is has an X-ray flux equal to the X-ray brightest millisecond pulsar (and so is tied for highest flux); the closest northern hemisphere millisecond pulsar; and potentially the closest known millisecond pulsar in the sky, making it an interesting target for X-ray study, a radio pulsar timing array, and LIGO.

Discovery of new nearby L and late-M dwarfs at low Galactic latitude from the DENIS data base

We report on new nearby L and late-M dwarfs (d phot ≤ 30 pc) discovered in our search for nearby ultracool dwarfs (I-J ≥ 3.0, later than M8.0) at low Galactic latitude (|b| < 15°) over 4800 deg 2 in the Deep Near Infrared Survey of the Southern Sky (DENIS) data base. We used late-M (≥ M8.0), L and T dwarfs with accurate trigonometric parallaxes to calibrate the Mj versus I-J colour-luminosity relation. The resulting photometric distances have standard errors of ∼ 15 per cent, which we used to select candidates d phot ≤ 30 pc. We measured proper motions from multi-epoch images found in the public archives ALADIN, DSS, 2MASS and DENIS, with at least three distinct epochs and time baselines of 10-21 yr. We then used a maximum reduced proper motion cut-off to select 28 candidates as ultracool dwarfs (M8.0-L8.0) and to reject one as a distant red star. No T dwarf candidates were found in this search, which required an object to be detected in all three DENIS bands. Our low-resolution optical spectra confirmed that 26 were indeed ultracool dwarfs, with spectral types from M8.0 to L5.5. Two contaminants and one rejected by the maximum reduced proper motion cut-off were all reddened F-K main sequence stars. 20 of these 26 ultracool dwarfs are new nearby ultracool dwarf members, three L dwarfs within 15 pc with one L3.5 at only ∼ 10 pc. We determine a stellar density of Φ J cor = (1.64 ± 0.46) x 10 -3 dwarfs pc -3 mag -1 over 11.1 ≤ M J ≤ 13.1 based on this sample of M8-L3.5 ultracool dwarfs. Our ultracool dwarf density value is in good agreement with the measurement by Cruz et al. of the ultracool dwarf density at high Galactic latitude.

A Minimal Spanning Tree algorithm for source detection in γ-ray images

We developed a source detection algorithm based on the Minimal Spanning Tree (MST), that is a graph-theoretical method useful for finding clusters in a given set of points. This algorithm is applied to γ-ray bi-dimensional images where the points correspond to the arrival direction of photons, and the possible sources are associated with the regions where they clusterize. Some filters to select these clusters and to reduce the spurious detections are introduced. An empirical study of the statistical properties of MST on random fields is carried out in order to derive some criteria to estimate the best filter values. We also introduce two parameters useful to verify the goodness of candidate sources. To show how the MST algorithm works in practice, we present an application to an EGRET observation of the Virgo field, at high Galactic latitude and with a low and rather uniform background, in which several sources are detected.

SpitzerIRS Observations of the Galactic Center: Shocked Gas in the Radio Arc Bubble

We present Spitzer IRS spectra (R ~600, 10 - 38 micron) of 38 positions in the Galactic Center (GC), all at the same Galactic longitude and spanning plus/minus 0.3 degrees in latitude. Our positions include the Arches Cluster, the Arched Filaments, regions near the Quintuplet Cluster, the ``Bubble'' lying along the same line-of-sight as the molecular cloud G0.11-0.11, and the diffuse interstellar gas along the line-of-sight at higher Galactic latitudes. From measurements of the [O IV], [Ne II], [Ne III], [Si II], [S III], [S IV], [Fe II], [Fe III], and H_2 S(0), S(1), and S(2) lines we determine the gas excitation and ionic abundance ratios. The Ne/H and S/H abundance ratios are ~ 1.6 times that of the Orion Nebula. The main source of excitation is photoionization, with the Arches Cluster ionizing the Arched Filaments and the Quintuplet Cluster ionizing the gas nearby and at lower Galactic latitudes including the far side of the Bubble. In addition, strong shocks ionize gas to O^{+3} and destroy dust grains, releasing iron into the gas phase (Fe/H ~ 1.3 times 10^{-6} in the Arched Filaments and Fe/H ~ 8.8 times 10^{-6} in the Bubble). The shock effects are particularly noticeable in the center of the Bubble, but O$^{+3}$ is present in all positions. We suggest that the shocks are due to the winds from the Quintuplet Cluster Wolf-Rayet stars. On the other hand, the H_2 line ratios can be explained with multi-component models of warm molecular gas in photodissociation regions without the need for H_2 production in shocks.

TheChandraView of DA 530: A Subenergetic Supernova Remnant with a Pulsar Wind Nebula?

DA 530 (G93.3+6.9) is a high Galactic latitude supernova (SN) remnant with a well-defined shell-like radio morphology and an exceptionally low X-ray-to-radio luminosity ratio. Based on a Chandra ACIS observation, we report the detection of an extended X-ray feature close to the center of the remnant at 5.3 σ above the background within a circle of 20'' radius. The spectrum of this feature can be characterized by a power law with photon index Γ = 1.6 ± 0.8. This feature, which is spatially coincident with a nonthermal radio source, most likely represents a pulsar wind nebula. We have further examined the spectrum of the diffuse X-ray emission from the remnant's interior, which has a background-subtracted count rate of ~0.06 s-1 at 0.3-3.5 keV. The emission spectrum can be described by a thermal plasma with a temperature of ~0.3-0.6 keV and an Si overabundance of 7 times solar. These spectral characteristics, together with the extremely low X-ray luminosity, suggest that the remnant arose from a SN with an anomalously low mechanical energy (<1050 ergs). The centrally filled thermal X-ray emission of the remnant may indicate an early thermalization of the SN ejecta by the circumstellar medium. Our results suggest that the remnant is likely the product of a core-collapse SN with a progenitor mass of 8-12 M☉. Similar remnants are probably common in the Galaxy but have rarely been studied.

COSMOSOMAS observations of the cosmic microwave background and Galactic foregrounds at 11 GHz: evidence for anomalous microwave emission at high Galactic latitude

We present observations with the new 11-GHz radiometer of the COSMOSOMAS experiment at the Teide Observatory (Tenerife). The sky region between 0°≤ RA ≤ 360° and 26°≤ Dec. ≤ 49° (ca. 6500 deg2) was observed with an angular resolution of . Two orthogonal independent channels in the receiving system measured total power signals from linear polarizations with a 2-GHz bandwidth. Maps with an average sensitivity of 50 μK per beam have been obtained for each channel. At high Galactic latitude (|b| > 30°) the 11-GHz data are found to contain the expected cosmic microwave background (CMB) as well as extragalactic radiosources, galactic synchrotron and free–free emission, and a dust-correlated component which is likely of Galactic origin. At the angular scales allowed by the window function of the experiment, the 100–240 μm dust-correlated component presents an amplitude ΔT∼ 9–13 μK while the CMB signal is of the order of 27 μK. The spectral behaviour of the dust-correlated signal is examined in the light of previous COSMOSOMAS data at 13–17 GHz and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data at 22–94 GHz in the same sky region. We detect a flattening in the spectral index of this signal below 20 GHz which rules out synchrotron radiation as being responsible for the emission. This anomalous dust emission can be described by a combination of free–free emission and spinning dust models with a flux density peaking around 20 GHz.

Gamma-rays from decaying dark matter

We study the prospects for detecting gamma-rays from decaying dark matter (DM),focusing in particular on gravitino DM in R-parity breaking vacua. Given thesubstantially different angular distribution of the predicted gamma-ray signalwith respect to the case of annihilating DM, and the relatively poor (of order0.1°) angular resolution of gamma-ray detectors, the best strategy for detection is in this caseto look for an exotic contribution to the gamma-ray flux at high galactic latitudes, wherethe decaying DM contribution would resemble an astrophysical extragalactic component,similar to the one inferred by EGRET observations. Upcoming experiments such asGLAST and AMS-02 may identify this exotic contribution and discriminate between it andastrophysical sources, or place significant constraints on the mass and lifetime of DMparticles.

The AGN Nature of 11 out of 12Swift/RXTEUnidentified Sources through Optical and X‐Ray Spectroscopy

The Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) is performing a high Galactic latitude survey in the 14-195 keV band at a flux limit of ~10^{-11} erg cm^{-2} s^{-1}, leading to the discovery of new high energy sources, most of which have not so far been properly classified. A similar work has also been performed with the RXTE slew survey leading to the discovery of 68 sources detected above 8 keV, many of which are still unclassified. Follow-up observations with the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) provide, for many of these objects, source localization with a positional accuracy of few arcsec, thus allowing the search for optical counterparts to be more efficient and reliable. We present the results of optical/X-ray follow-up studies of 11 Swift BAT detections and one AGN detected in the RXTE Slew Survey, aimed at identifying their counterparts and at assessing their nature. These data allowed, for the first time, the optical classification of 8 objects and a distance determination for 3 of them. For another object, a more refined optical classification than that available in the literature is also provided. For the remaining sources, optical spectroscopy provides a characterization of the source near in time to the X-ray measurement. The sample consists of 6 Seyfert 2 galaxies, 5 Seyferts of intermediate type 1.2-1.8, and one object of Galactic nature - an Intermediate Polar (i.e., magnetic) Cataclysmic Variable. Out of the 11 AGNs, 8 (~70%) including 2 Seyferts of type 1.2 and 1.5, are absorbed with NH > 10^{22} cm^{-2}. Up to 3 objects could be Compton thick (i.e. NH > 1.5 x 10^{24} cm^{-2}), but only in one case (Swift J0609.1-8636) does all the observational evidence strongly suggests this possibility.

Exploring the Variable Sky with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We quantify the variability of faint unresolved optical sources using a catalog based on multiple SDSS imaging observations. The catalog covers SDSS stripe 82, which lies along the celestial equator in the southern Galactic hemisphere (22h24m < ?J2000.0 < 04h08m, -1.27? < ?J2000.0 < +1.27?, ~290 deg2), and contains 34 million photometric observations in the SDSS ugriz system for 748,084 unresolved sources at high Galactic latitudes (b < -20?) that were observed at least four times in each of the ugri bands (with a median of 10 observations obtained over ~6 yr). In each photometric bandpass we compute various low-order light-curve statistics, such as rms scatter, ?2 per degree of freedom, skewness, and minimum and maximum magnitude, and use them to select and study variable sources. We find that 2% of unresolved optical sources brighter than g = 20.5 appear variable at the 0.05 mag level (rms) simultaneously in the g and r bands (at high Galactic latitudes). The majority (2 out of 3) of these variable sources are low-redshift (<2) quasars, although they represent only 2% of all sources in the adopted flux-limited sample. We find that at least 90% of quasars are variable at the 0.03 mag level (rms) and confirm that variability is as good a method for finding low-redshift quasars as the UV excess color selection (at high Galactic latitudes). We analyze the distribution of light-curve skewness for quasars and find that it is centered on zero. We find that about one-fourth of the variable stars are RR Lyrae stars, and that only 0.5% of stars from the main stellar locus are variable at the 0.05 mag level. The distribution of light-curve skewness in the g - r versus u - g color-color diagram on the main stellar locus is found to be bimodal (with one mode consistent with Algol-like behavior). Using over 600 RR Lyrae stars, we demonstrate rich halo substructure out to distances of 100 kpc. We extrapolate these results to the expected performance by the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and estimate that it will obtain well-sampled, 2% accurate, multicolor light curves for ~2 million low-redshift quasars and discover at least 50 million variable stars.

Determination of the Far‐Infrared Cosmic Background UsingCOBEDIRBE and WHAM Data

Determination of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) at far infrared wavelengths using COBE/DIRBE data is limited by the accuracy to which foreground interplanetary and Galactic dust emission can be modeled and subtracted. Previous determinations of the far infrared CIB (e.g., Hauser et al. 1998) were based on the detection of residual isotropic emission in skymaps from which the emission from interplanetary dust and the neutral interstellar medium were removed. In this paper we use the Wisconsin H-alpha Mapper (WHAM) Northern Sky Survey as a tracer of the ionized medium to examine the effect of this foreground component on determination of the CIB. We decompose the DIRBE far infrared data for five high Galactic latitude regions into H I and H-alpha correlated components and a residual component. We find the H-alpha correlated component to be consistent with zero for each region, and we find that addition of an H-alpha correlated component in modeling the foreground emission has negligible effect on derived CIB results. Our CIB detections and 2 sigma upper limits are essentially the same as those derived by Hauser et al. and are given by nu I_nu (nW m-2 sr-1) < 75, < 32, 25 +- 8, and 13 +- 3 at 60, 100, 140, and 240 microns, respectively. Our residuals have not been subjected to a detailed anisotropy test, so our CIB results do not supersede those of Hauser et al. We derive upper limits on the 100 micron emissivity of the ionized medium that are typically about 40% of the 100 micron emissivity of the neutral atomic medium. This low value may be caused in part by a lower dust-to-gas mass ratio in the ionized medium than in the neutral medium, and in part by a shortcoming of using H-alpha intensity as a tracer of far infrared emission.

CBI limits on 31 GHz excess emission in southern H II regions

We have mapped four regions of the southern Galactic plane at 31 GHz with the Cosmic Background Imager. From the maps, we have extracted the flux densities for six of the brightest H ii regions in the southern sky and compared them with multifrequency data from the literature. The fitted spectral index for each source was found to be close to the theoretical value expected for optically thin free–free emission, thus confirming that the majority of flux at 31 GHz is due to free–free emission from ionized gas with an electron temperature of ≈7000–8000 K. We also found that, for all six sources, the 31-GHz flux density was slightly higher than the predicted value from data in the literature. This excess emission could be due to spinning dust or another emission mechanism. Comparisons with 100-μm data indicate an average dust emissivity of 3.3 ± 1.7 μK (MJy sr−1)−1, or a 95 per cent confidence limit of <6.1 μK (MJy sr−1)−1. This is lower than that found in diffuse clouds at high Galactic latitudes by a factor of ∼3–4. The most significant detection (3.3σ) was found in G284.3−0.3 (RCW 49) and may account for up to ≈30 per cent of the total flux density observed at 31 GHz. Here, the dust emissivity of the excess emission is 13.6 ± 4.2 μK (MJy sr−1)−1 and is within the range observed at high Galactic latitudes. Low-level polarized emission was observed in all six sources with polarization fractions in the range 0.3–0.6 per cent. This is likely to be mainly due to instrumental leakage and is therefore an upper limit to the free–free polarization. It corresponds to an upper limit of ∼1 per cent for the polarization of anomalous emission.

An SiO Maser Search off the Galactic Plane

Abstract We searched for the SiO $J=1$-0, $v= 1$ and 2 maser lines at $\sim 43$ GHz in 277 2 MASS/MSX/IRAS sources off the Galactic plane ($\vert b\vert\gtrsim 3^{\circ}$), which resulted in 119 (112 new) detections. Among the new detections, two are very faint objects with MSX 12$\mu$m flux densities below 2 Jy. These are likely to be O-rich AGB-stars associated with dwarf-galaxy tidal tails. The sample also includes medium bright MSX objects at moderately high galactic latitudes ($3^{\circ}&amp;lt;\vert b\vert&amp;lt;5^{\circ}$) and in the IRAS gap at higher latitudes. A signature of a warp of the inner Galactic disk is found for a disk subsample. This warp appears relatively strongly in the area of $0^{\circ}&amp;lt;l&amp;lt;45^{\circ}$ and $3^{\circ}&amp;lt;\vert b\vert&amp;lt;5^{\circ}$. We also found a group of stars that does not follow to the Galactic rotation. This feature appears in the Galactic disk at $l\sim 27^{\circ}$, and extends more than $15^{\circ}$ in the galactic latitude, like a stream of tidal debris from a dwarf galaxy.

SPEARfar UV spectral imaging of highly ionized emission from the North Galactic Pole region

Aims. We present far ultraviolet (FUV: 912–1750 A) spectral imaging observations recorded with the SPEAR satellite of the interstellar OVI (1032 A), CIV (1550 A), SiIV (1394 A), SiII* (1533 A) and AlII (1671 A) emission lines originating in a 60 ◦ × 30 ◦ rectangular region lying close to the North Galactic Pole. These data represent the first large area, moderate spatial resolution maps of the distribution of UV spectral-line emission originating the both the highly ionized medium (HIM) and the warm ionized medium (WIM) recorded at high galactic latitudes. Methods. By assessing and removing a local continuum level that underlies these emission line spectra, we have obtained interstellar emission intensity maps for the aforementioned lines constructed in 8 ◦ × 8 ◦ spatial bins on the sky. Results. Our maps of OVI, CIV, SiIV and SiII* line emission show the highest intensity levels being spatially coincident with similarly high levels of soft X-ray emission originating in the edge of the Northern Polar Spur feature. However, the distribution of the low ionization AlII emission does not show this spatial correlation, and suggests that warm-neutral and/or partially ionized gas with a temperature <20 000 K may be quite pervasive at high galactic latitudes. The variation of the emission line intensity ratios as a function of sky position is contrasted with theoretical predictions concerning the physical state of interstellar gas in the galactic halo. The observed line ratios alone unfortunately do not provide us with a clear diagnostic tool to distinguish between the various physical production mechanisms responsible for both high and low ion states. However, our results do favor the hybrid model of Shull & Slavin (1994, ApJ, 427, 784) which incorporates the combined effects of turbulent mixing layers and isobarically cooling supernova remnant gas. For this highly ionized gas, our results are best explained assuming that the observed OVI halo emission is somewhat clumpy in nature, consistent with its production at interfaces between warm (T = 10 3 −10 4 K) and hotter (T = 10 6 K) soft X-ray emitting gas. CIV emission at these interfaces occurs in the intermediate temperature (T = 10 5 K) gas, which seems always present whenever OVI is strongly detected. Alternately, the data are also consistent with CIV emission being ubiquitous throughout the halo with a fairly constant level of emission line intensity (of ∼4000 LU), and our observations mostly reflect the superposition of spatially separate OVI emission originating at the cloud interfaces of random clumps of high latitude gas.

Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances. II. Zero‐Point Calibration

The luminosity of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) provides an excellent measure of galaxy distances and is easily determined in the resolved images of nearby galaxies observed with Hubble Space Telescope. There is now a large amount of archival data relevant to the TRGB methodology and which offers comparisons with other distance estimators. Zero-point issues related to the TRGB distance scale are reviewed in this paper. Consideration is given to the metallicity dependence of the TRGB, the transformations between HST flight systems and Johnson-Cousins photometry, the absolute magnitude scale based on Horizontal Branch measurements, and the effects of reddening. The zero-point of the TRGB is established with a statistical accuracy of 1%, modulo the uncertainty in the magnitude of the Horizontal Branch, with a typical rms uncertainty of 3% in individual galaxy distances at high Galactic latitude. The zero-point is consistent with the Cepheids period-luminosity relation scale but invites reconsideration of the claimed metallicity dependence with that method. The maser distance to NGC 4258 is consistent with TRGB but presently has lower accuracy.

Three‐Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) Observations: Polarization Analysis

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has mapped the entire sky in five frequency bands between 23 and 94 GHz with polarization-sensitive radiometers. We present 3 year full-sky maps of the polarization and analyze them for foreground emission and cosmological implications. These observations open up a new window for understanding how the universe began and help set a foundation for future observations. WMAP observes significant levels of polarized foreground emission due to both Galactic synchrotron radiation and thermal dust emission. Synchrotron radiation is the dominant signal at l < 50 and ν 40 GHz, while thermal dust emission is evident at 94 GHz. The least contaminated channel is at 61 GHz. We present a model of polarized foreground emission that captures the large angular scale characteristics of the microwave sky. After applying a Galactic mask that cuts 25.7% of the sky, we show that the high Galactic latitude rms polarized foreground emission, averaged over l = 4-6, ranges from ≈5 μK at 22 GHz to 0.6 μK at 61 GHz. By comparison, the levels of intrinsic CMB polarization for a ΛCDM model with an optical depth of τ = 0.09 and assumed tensor-to-scalar ratio r = 0.3 are ≈0.3 μK for E-mode polarization and ≈0.1 μK for B-mode polarization. To analyze the maps for CMB polarization at l < 16, we subtract a model of the foreground emission that is based primarily on a scaling WMAP's 23 GHz map. In the foreground-corrected maps, we detect l(l + 1)C/2π = 0.086 ± 0.029 (μK)2. This is interpreted as the result of rescattering of the CMB by free electrons released during reionization at zr = 10.9 for a model with instantaneous reionization. By computing the likelihood of just the EE data as a function of τ we find τ = 0.10 ± 0.03. When the same EE data are used in the full six-parameter fit to all WMAP data (TT, TE, EE), we find τ = 0.09 ± 0.03. Marginalization over the foreground subtraction affects this value by δτ < 0.01. We see no evidence for B modes, limiting them to l(l + 1)C/2π = -0.04 ± 0.03 (μK)2. We perform a template fit to the E-mode and B-mode data with an approximate model for the tensor scalar ratio. We find that the limit from the polarization signals alone is r < 2.2 (95% CL), where r is evaluated at k = 0.002 Mpc-1. This corresponds to a limit on the cosmic density of gravitational waves of ΩGWh2 < 5 × 10-12. From the full WMAP analysis, we find r < 0.55 (95% CL) corresponding to a limit of ΩGWh2 < 1 × 10-12 (95% CL). The limit on r is approaching the upper bound of predictions for some of the simplest models of inflation, r ~ 0.3.

The structure of the Galactic halo: SDSS versus SuperCOSMOS

The halo structure at high Galactic latitudes near both the north and south poles is studied using SDSS and SuperCOSMOS data. For the south cap halo, the archive of the SuperCOSMOS photographic photometry sky survey is used. The coincident source rate between SuperCOSMOS data in $B_J$ band from $16^m.5$ to $20^m.5$ and SDSS data is about 92%, in a common sky area in the south. While that in the $R_F$ band is about 85% from $16^m.5$ to $19^m.5$. Transformed to the SuperCOSMOS system and downgraded to the limiting magnitudes of SuperCOSMOS, the star counts in the northern Galactic cap from SDSS show up to an $16.9\pm6.3%$ asymmetric ratio (defined as relative fluctuations over the rotational symmetry structure) in the $B_J$ band, and up to $13.5\pm6.7%$ asymmetric ratio in the $R_F$ band. From SuperCOSMOS $B_J$ and $R_F$ bands, the structure of the southern Galactic hemisphere does not show the same obvious asymmetric structures as the northern sky does in both the original and downgraded SDSS star counts. An axisymmetric halo model with n=2.8 and q=0.7 can fit the projected number density from SuperCOSMOS fairly well, with an average error of about 9.17%. By careful analysis of the difference of star counts between the downgraded SDSS northern halo data and SuperCOSMOS southern halo data, it is shown that no asymmetry can be detected in the south Galactic cap at the accuracy of SuperCOSMOS, and the Virgo overdensity is likely a foreign component in the Galactic halo.

GLAST large area telescope multiwavelength planning

Gamma-ray astrophysics depends in many ways on multiwavelength studies. The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Large Area Telescope (LAT) Collaboration has started multiwavelength planning well before the scheduled 2007 launch of the observatory. Some of the high-priority multiwavelength needs include: (1) availability of contemporaneous radio and X-ray timing of pulsars; (2) expansion of blazar catalogs, including redshift measurements; (3) improved observations of molecular clouds, especially at high galactic latitudes; (4) simultaneous broad-band blazar monitoring; (5) characterization of gamma-ray transients, including gamma ray bursts; (6) radio, optical, X-ray and TeV counterpart searches for reliable and effective sources identification and characterization. Several of these activities are needed to be in place before launch.