Primordial Signal Research Articles

Detection ofB-Mode Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background with Data from the South Pole Telescope

Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background generates a curl pattern in the observed polarization. This "B-mode" signal provides a measure of the projected mass distribution over the entire observable Universe and also acts as a contaminant for the measurement of primordial gravity-wave signals. In this Letter we present the first detection of gravitational lensing B modes, using first-season data from the polarization-sensitive receiver on the South Pole Telescope (SPTpol). We construct a template for the lensing B-mode signal by combining E-mode polarization measured by SPTpol with estimates of the lensing potential from a Herschel-SPIRE map of the cosmic infrared background. We compare this template to the B modes measured directly by SPTpol, finding a nonzero correlation at 7.7σ significance. The correlation has an amplitude and scale dependence consistent with theoretical expectations, is robust with respect to analysis choices, and constitutes the first measurement of a powerful cosmological observable.

Optimal bispectrum estimator and simulations of the CMB lensing-integrated Sachs Wolfe non-Gaussian signal

In this paper we present the tools to optimally extract the Lensing-Integrated Sachs Wolfe (L-ISW) bispectrum signal from future CMB data. We implement two different methods to simulate the non-Gaussian CMB maps with the L-ISW signal: a non-perturbative method based on the FLINTS lensing code and the separable mode expansion method. We implement the Komatsu, Spergel and Wandelt (KSW) optimal estimator analysis for the Lensing-ISW bispectrum and we test it on the non-Gaussian simulations in the case of a realistic CMB experimental settings with an inhomogeneous sky coverage. We show that the estimator approaches the Cramer-Rao bound and that Wiener filtering the L-ISW simulations gives a slight improvement on the estimate of $f_{NL}^{L-ISW}$ of $\leq 10%$. For a realistic CMB experimental setting accounting for anisotropic noise and masked sky, we show that the linear term of the estimator is highly correlated to the cubic term and it is necessary to recover the signal and the optimal error bars. We also show that the L-ISW bispectrum, if not correctly accounted for, yields an underestimation of the $f_{NL}^{local}$ error bars of $\simeq 4%$. A joint analysis of the non-Gaussian shapes and/or L-ISW template subtraction is needed in order to recover unbiased results of the primordial non-Gaussian signal from ongoing and future CMB experiments.

P2 receptor networks regulate signaling duration over a wide dynamic range of ATP concentrations

The primordial intercellular signaling molecule ATP acts through two families of cell-surface P2 receptors - the P2Y family of G-protein-coupled receptors and the P2X family of ligand-gated cation channels. Multiple P2 receptors are expressed in a variety of cell types. However, the significance of these networks of receptors in any biological system remains unknown. Using osteoblasts as a model system, we found that a low concentration of ATP (10 µM, ATPlow) induced transient elevation of cytosolic Ca(2+), whereas a high concentration of ATP (1 mM, ATPhigh) elicited more sustained elevation. Moreover, graded increases in the Ca(2+) signal were achieved over a remarkable million-fold range of ATP concentrations (1 nM to 1 mM). Next, we demonstrated that ATPlow caused transient nuclear localization of the Ca(2+)-regulated transcription factor NFATc1; whereas, ATPhigh elicited more sustained localization. When stimulated with ATPhigh, osteoblasts from P2X7 loss-of-function mice showed only transient Ca(2+)-NFATc1 signaling; in contrast, sustained signaling was observed in wild-type cells. Additional experiments revealed a role for P2Y receptors in mediating transient signaling induced by low ATP concentrations. Thus, distinct P2 receptors with varying affinities for ATP account for this wide range of sensitivity to extracellular nucleotides. Finally, ATPhigh, but not ATPlow, was shown to elicit robust expression of the NFAT target gene Ptgs2 (encoding COX-2), consistent with a crucial role for the duration of Ca(2+)-NFAT signaling in regulating target gene expression. Taken together, ensembles of P2 receptors provide a mechanism by which cells sense ATP over a wide concentration range and transduce this input into distinct cellular signals.

The contribution of star-forming galaxies to fluctuations in the cosmic background light

Star-forming galaxies which are too faint to be detected individually produce intensity fluctuations in the cosmic background light. This contribution needs to be taken into account as a foreground when using the primordial signal to constrain cosmological parameters. The extragalactic fluctuations are also interesting in their own right as they depend on the star formation history of the Universe and the way in which this connects with the formation of cosmic structure. We present a new framework which allows us to predict the occupation of dark matter haloes by star-forming galaxies and uses this information, in conjunction with an N-body simulation of structure formation, to predict the power spectrum of intensity fluctuations in the infrared background. We compute the emission from galaxies at far-infrared, millimetre and radio wavelengths. Our method gives accurate predictions for the clustering of galaxies for both the one-halo and two-halo terms. We illustrate our new framework using a previously published model which reproduces the number counts and redshift distribution of galaxies selected by their emission at m. Without adjusting any of the model parameters, the predictions show encouraging agreement at high frequencies and on small angular scales with recent estimates of the extragalactic fluctuations in the background made from early data analysed by the Planck Collaboration. There are, however, substantial discrepancies between the model predictions and observations on large angular scales and at low frequencies, which illustrates the usefulness of the intensity fluctuations as a constraint on galaxy formation models.

The South Pole Telescope: Latest Results and Future Prospects

AbstractThe South Pole Telescope is a 10 meter telescope optimized for sensitive, high-resolution measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy and millimeter-wavelength sky. In November 2011, the SPT completed the 2500 deg2 SPT-SZ survey. The survey has led to several major cosmological results, derived from measurements of the fine angular scale primary and secondary CMB anisotropies, the discovery of galaxy clusters via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect and the resulting mass-limited cluster catalog, and the discovery of a population of distant, dusty star forming galaxies (DSFGs). In January 2012, the SPT was equipped with a new polarization sensitive camera, SPTpol, which will enable detection of the contribution to the CMB polarization power spectrum from lensing by large scale structure (the so-called “lensing B-modes”) and, on larger angular scales, a detection or improved upper limit on the primordial inflationary signal (“gravitational-wave B-modes”), thereby constraining the energy scale of Inflation. Development is underway for SPT-3G, the third-generation camera for SPT. The SPT-3G survey will cross the threshold from statistical detection of B-mode CMB lensing to imaging the fluctuations at high signal-to-noise; enabling the separation of lensing and inflationary B-modes and improving the constraint on the sum of the neutrino masses Σmν to a level relevant for exploring the neutrino mass hierarchy.

Cosmic shear bispectrum from second-order perturbations in general relativity

Future lensing surveys will be nearly full sky and reach an unprecedented depth, probing scales closer and closer to the Hubble radius. This motivates the study of the cosmic shear beyond the small-angle approximation, including general relativistic corrections that are usually suppressed on sub-Hubble scales. The complete expression of the reduced cosmic shear at second order including all relativistic effects was derived in [F. Bernardeau, C. Bonvin, and F. Vernizzi, Phys. Rev. D 81, 083002 (2010).]. In the present paper we compute the resulting cosmic shear bispectrum when all these effects are properly taken into account and we compare it to primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type. The new general relativistic effects are generically smaller than the standard nonlinear couplings. However, their relative importance increases at small multipoles and for small redshifts of the sources. The dominant effect among these nonstandard corrections is due to the inhomogeneity of the source redshift. In the squeezed limit, its amplitude can become of the order of the standard couplings when the redshift of the sources is below 0.5. Moreover, while the standard nonlinear couplings depend on the angle between the short and long mode, the relativistic corrections do not and overlap almost totally with local type non-Gaussianity. We find that they can contaminate the search for a primordial local signal by ${f}_{\mathrm{NL}}^{\mathrm{loc}}\ensuremath{\gtrsim}10$.

The Evolution of the Wnt Pathway

Wnt genes are important regulators of embryogenesis and cell differentiation in vertebrates and insects. New data revealed by comparative genomics have now shown that members of the Wnt signaling pathway can be found in all clades of metazoans, but not in fungi, plants, or unicellular eukaryotes. This article focuses on new data from recent genomic analyses of several basal metazoan organisms, providing evidence that the Wnt pathway was a primordial signaling pathway during evolution. The formation of a Wnt signaling center at the site of gastrulation was instrumental for the formation of a primary, anterior-posterior body axis, which can be traced throughout animal evolution.

The Keck Array: A Multi Camera CMB Polarimeter at the South Pole

The Keck array is a new multi-camera Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarimeter. Each camera contains 256 polarization pairs of antenna-coupled transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers. We recently deployed three of five cameras at the geographic South Pole, and plan to deploy the final two cameras in early 2012. This new telescope is an ideal instrument to search for the primordial B-mode polarization signal imprinted in the CMB by inflationary gravitational waves. We will discuss the design of the detectors and receivers, the status of current observations, and report on progress toward upgrading the instrument with the full compliment of polarized receivers.

Signal Extraction Based on an Improved EMD Method

The main purpose of this paper is to propose an improved empirical mode decomposition (EMD) approach based on principal component analysis (PCA). EMD is a time-frequency analytical method used to deal with non-linear and non-stable signals. But it generally fails to separate IMFs from primordial signal consisting of several adjacent frequencies,especially when noise is strong.In this papar the PCA is introduced to solve this problem.First,PCA is used to pro-process sample signal to get principal components. Then several signals are reconstructed by principal components.Reconstructing signals can separate adjacent frequencies and depress noise.With the EMD method again,right characteristic information is obtained from intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). Simulated signal is analyzed by the proposed method, as shown by example. Compared to the EMD method, this improved method is proved to be superior to the traditional EMD method in extracting the characteristics of signal,which consisting adjacent frequencies and interfered by strong noise.

The CMB bispectrum in the squeezed limit

The CMB bispectrum generated by second-order effects at recombination can be calculated analytically when one of the three modes has a wavelength much longer than the other two and is outside the horizon at recombination. This was pointed out in [1] and here we correct their results. We derive a simple formula for the bispectrum, fNLloc = −(1/6+cos 2θ)⋅(1−1/2⋅dln (lS2CS)/dln lS), where CS is the short scale spectrum and θ the relative orientation between the long and the short modes. This formula is exact and takes into account all effects at recombination, including recombination-lensing, but neglects all late-time effects such as ISW-lensing. The induced bispectrum in the squeezed limit is small and will negligibly contaminate the Planck search for a local primordial signal: this will be biased only by fNLloc ≈ −0.4. The above analytic formula includes the primordial non-Gaussianity of any single-field model. It also represents a consistency check for second-order Boltzmann codes: we find substantial agreement with the current version of the CMBquick code.

STOCHASTIC GRAVITATIONAL WAVE BACKGROUND FROM COALESCING BINARY BLACK HOLES

We estimate the stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background signal from the field population of coalescing binary stellar mass black holes (BHs) throughout the Universe. This study is motivated by recent observations of BH-Wolf-Rayet star systems and by new estimates in the metallicity abundances of star forming galaxies that imply BH-BH systems are more common than previously assumed. Using recent analytical results of the inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms for coalescing binary BH systems, we estimate the resulting stochastic GW background signal. Assuming average quantities for the single source energy emissions, we explore the parameter space of chirp mass and local rate density required for detection by advanced and third generation interferometric GW detectors. For an average chirp mass of 8.7$M_{\odot}$, we find that detection through 3 years of cross-correlation by two advanced detectors will require a rate density, $r_0 \geq 0.5 \rm{Mpc}^{-3} \rm{Myr}^{-1}$. Combining data from multiple pairs of detectors can reduce this limit by up to 40%. Investigating the full parameter space we find that detection could be achieved at rates $r_0 \sim 0.1 \rm{Mpc}^{-3} \rm{Myr}^{-1}$ for populations of coalescing binary BH systems with average chirp masses of $\sim 15M_{\odot}$ which are predicted by recent studies of BH-Wolf-Rayet star systems. While this scenario is at the high end of theoretical estimates, cross-correlation of data by two Einstein Telescopes could detect this signal under the condition $r_0 \geq 10^{-3} \rm{Mpc}^{-3} \rm{Myr}^{-1}$. Such a signal could potentially mask a primordial GW background signal of dimensionless energy density, $\Omega_{\rm{GW}}\sim 10^{-10}$, around the (1--500) Hz frequency range.

A uroguanylin-GUCY2C endocrine axis regulates feeding in mice

Intestinal enteroendocrine cells are critical to central regulation of caloric consumption, since they activate hypothalamic circuits that decrease appetite and thereby restrict meal size by secreting hormones in response to nutrients in the gut. Although guanylyl cyclase and downstream cGMP are essential regulators of centrally regulated feeding behavior in invertebrates, the role of this primordial signaling mechanism in mammalian appetite regulation has eluded definition. In intestinal epithelial cells, guanylyl cyclase 2C (GUCY2C) is a transmembrane receptor that makes cGMP in response to the paracrine hormones guanylin and uroguanylin, which regulate epithelial cell dynamics along the crypt-villus axis. Here, we show that silencing of GUCY2C in mice disrupts satiation, resulting in hyperphagia and subsequent obesity and metabolic syndrome. This defined an appetite-regulating uroguanylin-GUCY2C endocrine axis, which we confirmed by showing that nutrient intake induces intestinal prouroguanylin secretion into the circulation. The prohormone signal is selectively decoded in the hypothalamus by proteolytic liberation of uroguanylin, inducing GUCY2C signaling and consequent activation of downstream anorexigenic pathways. Thus, evolutionary diversification of primitive guanylyl cyclase signaling pathways allows GUCY2C to coordinate endocrine regulation of central food acquisition pathways with paracrine control of intestinal homeostasis. Moreover, the uroguanylin-GUCY2C endocrine axis may provide a therapeutic target to control appetite, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.

Interaction of Carbon Monoxide with Transition Metals: Evolutionary Insights into Drug Target Discovery

The perception that carbon monoxide (CO) is poisonous and life-threatening for mammalian organisms stems from its intrinsic propensity to bind iron in hemoglobin, a reaction that ultimately leads to impaired oxygen delivery to tissues. From evolutionary and chemical perspectives, however, CO is one of the most essential molecules in the formation of biological components and its interaction with transition metals is at the origin of primordial cell signaling. Not surprisingly, mammals have gradually evolved systems to finely control the synthesis and the sensing of this gaseous molecule. Cells are indeed continuously exposed to small quantities of CO produced endogenously during the degradation of heme by constitutive and inducible heme oxygenase enzymes. We have gradually learnt that heme oxygenase-derived carbon monoxide (CO) serves as a ubiquitous signaling mediator which could be exploited for therapeutic purposes. The development of transition metal carbonyls as prototypic carbon monoxide-releasing molecules (CO-RMs) represents a novel stratagem for a safer delivery of CO-based pharmaceuticals in the treatment of various pathological disorders. This review will look back at evolution to analyze and argue that a dynamic interaction of CO with specific intracellular metal centers is the common denominator for the diversified beneficial effects mediated by this gaseous molecule.

Statistics of the excursion sets in models with local primordial non-Gaussianity

We use the statistics of regions above or below a temperature threshold (excursion sets) to study the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy in models with primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type. By computing the full-sky spatial distribution and clustering of pixels above/below threshold from a large set of simulated maps with different levels of non-Gaussianity, we find that a positive value of the dimensionless non-linearity parameter f_NL enhances the number density of the cold CMB excursion sets along with their clustering strength, and reduces that of the hot ones. We quantify the robustness of this effect, which may be important to discriminate between the simpler Gaussian hypothesis and non-Gaussian scenarios, arising either from non-standard inflation or alternative early-universe models. The clustering of hot and cold pixels exhibits distinct non-Gaussian signatures, particularly at angular scales of about 75 arcmin (i.e. around the Doppler peak), which increase linearly with f_NL. Moreover, the clustering changes strongly as a function of the smoothing angle. We propose several statistical tests to maximize the detection of a local primordial non-Gaussian signal, and provide some theoretical insights within this framework, including an optimal selection of the threshold level. We also describe a procedure which aims at minimizing the cosmic variance effect, the main limit within this statistical framework.

Gravitational wave background from sub-luminous GRBs: prospects for second- and third-generation detectors

We assess the detection prospects of a gravitational wave background associated with sub-luminous gamma-ray bursts (SL-GRBs). We assume that the central engines of a significant proportion of these bursts are provided by newly born magnetars and consider two plausible GW emission mechanisms. Firstly, the deformation-induced triaxial GW emission from a newly born magnetar. Secondly, the onset of a secular bar-mode instability, associated with the long lived plateau observed in the X-ray afterglows of many gamma-ray bursts (Corsi & Meszaros 2009a). With regards to detectability, we find that the onset of a secular instability is the most optimistic scenario: under the hypothesis that SL-GRBs associated with secularly unstable magnetars occur at a rate of (48; 80)Gpc^{-3}yr^{-1} or greater, cross-correlation of data from two Einstein Telescopes (ETs) could detect the GW background associated to this signal with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 or greater after 1 year of observation. Assuming neutron star spindown results purely from triaxial GW emissions, we find that rates of around (130;350)Gpc^{-3}yr^{-1} will be required by ET to detect the resulting GW background. We show that a background signal from secular instabilities could potentially mask a primordial GW background signal in the frequency range where ET is most sen- sitive. Finally, we show how accounting for cosmic metallicity evolution can increase the predicted signal-to-noise ratio for background signals associated with SL-GRBs.

Constraints on standard and non-standard early universe models from CMB B-mode polarization

We investigate the observational signatures of three models of theearly Universe in the B-mode polarization of the CosmicMicrowave Background (CMB) radiation. In addition to the standardsingle field inflationary model, we also consider the constraintsobtainable on the loop quantum cosmology model (from Loop QuantumGravity) and on cosmic strings, expected to be copiously producedduring the latter stages of Brane inflation. We first examine theobservational features of the three models, and then use currentB-mode polarization data from the BICEP and QUaD experiments toconstrain their parameters. We also examine the detectability ofthe primordial B-mode signal predicted by these models andforecast the parameter constraints achievable with future CMBpolarization experiments. We find that: (a) since B-modepolarization measurements are mostly unaffected by parameterdegeneracies, they provide the cleanest probe of these earlyUniverse models; (b) using the BICEP and QUaD data we obtain thefollowing parameter constraints: r = 0.02+0.31−0.26(1σ for the tensor-to-scalar ratio in the single fieldinflationary model); m < 1.36 × 10−8Mpland k* < 2.43 × 10−4 Mpc−1 (1σ forthe mass and scale parameters in the loop quantum cosmologymodel); and Gμ < 5.77 × 10−7 (1σ for the cosmicstring tension); (c) future CMB observations (both satellitemissions and forthcoming sub-orbital experiments) will providemuch more rigorous tests of these early Universe models.

Non‐Gaussianity and the Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropies

We review in a pedagogical way the present status of the impact of non‐Gaussianity (NG) on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. We first show how to set the initial conditions at second order for the CMB anisotropies when some primordial NG is present. However, there are many sources of NG in CMB anisotropies, beyond the primordial one, which can contaminate the primordial signal. We mainly focus on the NG generated from the post inflationary evolution of the CMB anisotropies at second order in perturbation theory at large and small angular scales, such as the ones generated at the recombination epoch. We show how to derive the equations to study the second‐order CMB anisotropies and provide analytical computations to evaluate their contamination to primordial NG (complemented with numerical examples). We also offer a brief summary of other secondary effects. This paper requires basic knowledge of the theory of cosmological perturbations at the linear level.

Demagnified gravitational waves from cosmological double neutron stars and gravitational wave foreground cleaning around 1 Hz

Gravitational waves (GWs) from cosmological double neutron star binaries ($\mathrm{NS}+\mathrm{NS}$) can be significantly demagnified by the strong gravitational lensing effect, and the proposed future missions such as the Big Bang Observer or Deci-hertz Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory might miss some of the demagnified GW signals below a detection threshold. The undetectable binaries would form a GW foreground, which might hamper detection of a very weak primordial GW signal. We discuss the outlook of this potential problem, using a simple model based on the singular isothermal sphere lens profile. Fortunately, it is expected that, for a presumable merger rate of $\mathrm{NS}+\mathrm{NSs}$, the residual foreground would be below the detection limit ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\mathrm{GW},\mathrm{lim}}\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}$ realized with the Big Bang Observer/Deci-hertz Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory by correlation analysis.

THE MASS FUNCTION OF VOID GROUPS AS A PROBE OF PRIMORDIAL NON-GAUSSIANITY

The primordial non-Gaussianity signal, if measured accurately, will allow us to distinguish between different candidate models for cosmic inflation. Since the galaxy groups located in void regions are rare events, their abundance may be a sensitive probe of primordial non-Gaussianity. We construct an analytic model for the mass function of void groups in the framework of the extended Press-Schechter theory with non-Gaussian initial conditions and investigate how it depends on the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter. A feasibility study is conducted by fitting the analytic mass function of void groups to the observational results from the galaxy group catalog of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 by adjusting the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter.

Power spectra of CMB polarization by scattering in clusters

Mapping CMB polarization is an essential ingredient of current cosmological research. Particularly challenging is the measurement of an extremely weak B-mode polarization that can potentially yield unique insight on inflation. Achieving this objective requires very precise measurements of the secondary polarization components on both large and small angular scales. Scattering of the CMB in galaxy clusters induces several polarization effects whose measurements can probe cluster properties. Perhaps more important are levels of the statistical polarization signals from the population of clusters. Power spectra of five of these polarization components are calculated and compared with the primary polarization spectra. These spectra peak at multipoles $\ell \geq 3000$, and attain levels that are unlikely to appreciably contaminate the primordial polarization signals.