Graca Rocha

Ground-based Precision Radial Velocity (PRV) measurements are inevitably impeded by contamination from telluric absorption features, particularly in the infrared region. Thus, it is crucial to improve modeling of the telluric absorption features down to the spectral noise level. As part of the efforts towards improved PRV measurements, we have taken an existing atmospheric trace gas retrieval algorithm (GFIT) and have successfully adapted it to fit the telluric absorption features in stellar spectra down to the spectral noise level (typically ∼1%). We have established a stellar spectral fitting processing pipeline, Stellar-GFIT, to analyze a series of stellar spectra observed by two spectrographs, PARVI (1.1–1.76 μm) commissioned at the Palomar Observatory (Palomar Mountain, CA) and iSHELL (1–5 μm) deployed on the IRTF (Mauna Kea, HI). For this, we have (1) implemented a Gaussian instrumental line shape function, (2) generated atmospheric models (consisting of temperature, pressure, and volume mixing ratios of all the known trace gases) for the particular observation sites and times, (3) employed the most up-to-date spectroscopic parameters in the target spectral regions, and finally (4) developed a series of spectral fitting intervals of ∼60 cm⁻¹ width, i.e., micro-windows, customized to the individual orders of each spectrograph. Stellar-GFIT is also capable of handling non-telluric features, such as transitions from a gas cell placed in the starlight beam and stellar features if a model spectrum template is available for the target star. We present spectrum fits from the observations of various target stars and discuss the performance and advantages of our novel approach. One of the major strengths of Stellar-GFIT is an ability to adjust the abundance of atmospheric trace gases simultaneously with determining the stellar doppler shift, mitigating any adverse impacts of short-timescale variations of water vapor.

This paper introduces a new Planck Catalog of Polarized and Variable Compact Sources (PCCS-PV) comprising 153 sources, the majority of which are extragalactic. The data include both the total flux density and linear polarization measured by Planck with frequency coverage from 30 to 353 GHz, and temporal spacing ranging from days to years. We classify most sources as beamed, extragalactic radio sources; the catalog also includes several radio galaxies, Seyfert galaxies, and Galactic and Magellanic Cloud sources, including H II regions and planetary nebulae. An advanced extraction method applied directly to the multifrequency Planck time-ordered data, rather than the mission sky maps, was developed to allow an assessment of the variability of polarized sources. Our analysis of the time-ordered data from the Planck mission, tod2flux, allowed us to catalog the time-varying emission and polarization properties for these sources at the full range of polarized frequencies employed by Planck, 30-353 GHz. PCCS-PV provides the time-and frequency-dependent, polarized flux densities for all 153 sources. To illustrate some potential applications of the PCCS-PV, we conducted preliminary comparisons of our measurements of selected sources with published data from other astronomical instruments. In summary, we find general agreement between the Planck and the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM) polarization measurements as well as with the Metsähovi 37 GHz values at closely similar epochs. These combined measurements also show the value of PCCS-PV results and the PCCS2 catalog for filling in missing spectral (or temporal) coverage and helping to define the spectral energy distributions of extragalactic sources. In turn, these results provide useful clues as to the physical properties of the sources.

The work presented here attempts at answering the following question: how do we decide when a given detection is a planet or just residual noise in exoplanet direct imaging data? To this end we implement a metric meant to replace the empirical frequentist-based thresholds for detection. Our method, implemented within a Bayesian framework, introduces an “evidence-based” approach to help decide whether a given detection is a true planet or just noise. We apply this metric jointly with a postprocessing technique and Karhunen–Loeve Image Processing (KLIP), which models and subtracts the stellar PSF from the image. As a proof of concept we implemented a new routine named PlanetEvidence that integrates the nested sampling technique (Multinest) with the KLIP algorithm. This is a first step to recast such a postprocessing method into a fully Bayesian perspective. We test our approach on real direct imaging data, specifically using GPI data of β Pictoris b, and on synthetic data. We find that for the former the method strongly favors the presence of a planet (as expected) and recovers the true parameter posterior distributions. For the latter case our approach allows us to detect (true) dim sources invisible to the naked eye as real planets, rather than background noise, and set a new lower threshold for detection at ∼2.5σ level. Further it allows us to quantify our confidence that a given detection is a real planet and not just residual noise.

The nature and energetics of feedback from thermal winds in quasars can be constrained via observations of the Sunyaev–Zeldovich Effect (SZE) induced by the bubble of thermal plasma blown into the intergalactic medium by the quasar wind. In this letter, we present evidence that we have made the first detection of such a bubble, associated with the hyperluminous quasar HE 0515-4414. The SZE detection is corroborated by the presence of extended emission line gas at the same position angle as the wind. Our detection appears on only one side of the quasar, consistent with the SZE signal arising from a combination of thermal and kinetic contributions. Estimates of the energy in the wind allow us to constrain the wind luminosity to the lower end of theoretical predictions, ∼0.01 per cent of the bolometric luminosity of the quasar. However, the age we estimate for the bubble, ∼0.1 Gyr, and the long cooling time, ∼0.6 Gyr, means that such bubbles may be effective at providing feedback between bursts of quasar activity.

This paper presents thePlanckMulti-frequency Catalogue of Non-thermal (i.e. synchrotron-dominated) Sources (PCNT) observed between 30 and 857 GHz by the ESAPlanckmission. This catalogue was constructed by selecting objects detected in the full mission all-sky temperature maps at 30 and 143 GHz, with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N)> 3 in at least one of the two channels after filtering with a particular Mexican hat wavelet. As a result, 29 400 source candidates were selected. Then, a multi-frequency analysis was performed using the Matrix Filters methodology at the position of these objects, and flux densities and errors were calculated for all of them in the ninePlanckchannels. This catalogue was built using a different methodology than the one adopted for thePlanckCatalogue of Compact Sources (PCCS) and the SecondPlanckCatalogue of Compact Sources (PCCS2), although the initial detection was done with the same pipeline that was used to produce them. The present catalogue is the first unbiased, full-sky catalogue of synchrotron-dominated sources published at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths and constitutes a powerful database for statistical studies of non-thermal extragalactic sources, whose emission is dominated by the central active galactic nucleus. Together with the full multi-frequency catalogue, we also define the BrightPlanckMulti-frequency Catalogue of Non-thermal Sources (PCNTb), where only those objects with aS/N > 4 at both 30 and 143 GHz were selected. In this catalogue 1146 compact sources are detected outside the adoptedPlanckGAL070 mask; thus, these sources constitute a highly reliable sample of extragalactic radio sources. We also flag the high-significance subsample (PCNThs), a subset of 151 sources that are detected withS/N > 4 in all ninePlanckchannels, 75 of which are found outside thePlanckmask adopted here. The remaining 76 sources inside the Galactic mask are very likely Galactic objects.

Using the Planck full-mission data, we present a detection of the temperature (and therefore velocity) dispersion due to the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) effect from clusters of galaxies. To suppress the primary CMB and instrumental noise we derive a matched filter and then convolve it with the Planck foreground-cleaned “2D-ILC” maps. By using the Meta Catalogue of X-ray detected Clusters of galaxies (MCXC), we determine the normalized rms dispersion of the temperature fluctuations at the positions of clusters, finding that this shows excess variance compared with the noise expectation. We then build an unbiased statistical estimator of the signal, determining that the normalized mean temperature dispersion of 1526 clusters is 〈(ΔT/T)² 〉 = (1.64 ± 0.48) × 10⁻¹¹. However, comparison with analytic calculations and simulations suggest that around 0.7 σ of this result is due to cluster lensing rather than the kSZ effect. By correcting this, the temperature dispersion is measured to be 〈(ΔT/T)²〉 = (1.35 ± 0.48) × 10⁻¹¹, which gives a detection at the 2.8 σ level. We further convert uniform-weight temperature dispersion into a measurement of the line-of-sight velocity dispersion, by using estimates of the optical depth of each cluster (which introduces additional uncertainty into the estimate). We find that the velocity dispersion is 〈υ²〉 = (123 000 ± 71 000) (km s⁻¹)², which is consistent with findings from other large-scale structure studies, and provides direct evidence of statistical homogeneity on scales of 600 h⁻¹ Mpc. Our study shows the promise of using cross-correlations of the kSZ effect with large-scale structure in order to constrain the growth of structure.

Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) is an international journal which publishes papers on all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics

Measurements of flux density are described for five planets, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, across the sixPlanckHigh Frequency Instrument frequency bands (100–857 GHz) and these are then compared with models and existing data. In our analysis, we have also included estimates of the brightness of Jupiter and Saturn at the three frequencies of thePlanckLow Frequency Instrument (30, 44, and 70 GHz). The results provide constraints on the intrinsic brightness and the brightness time-variability of these planets. The majority of the planet flux density estimates are limited by systematic errors, but still yield better than 1% measurements in many cases. Applying data fromPlanckHFI, theWilkinsonMicrowave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) to a model that incorporates contributions from Saturn’s rings to the planet’s total flux density suggests a best fit value for the spectral index of Saturn’s ring system ofβ_ring= 2.30 ± 0.03 over the 30–1000 GHz frequency range. Estimates of the polarization amplitude of the planets have also been made in the four bands that have polarization-sensitive detectors (100–353 GHz); this analysis provides a 95% confidence level upper limit on Mars’s polarization of 1.8, 1.7, 1.2, and 1.7% at 100, 143, 217, and 353 GHz, respectively. The average ratio between thePlanck-HFI measurements and the adopted model predictions for all five planets (excluding Jupiter observations for 353 GHz) is 1.004, 1.002, 1.021, and 1.033 for 100, 143, 217, and 353 GHz, respectively. Model predictions for planet thermodynamic temperatures are therefore consistent with the absolute calibration ofPlanck-HFI detectors at about the three-percent level. We compare our measurements with published results from recent cosmic microwave background experiments. In particular, we observe that the flux densities measured byPlanckHFI and WMAP agree to within 2%. These results allow experiments operating in the mm-wavelength range to cross-calibrate againstPlanckand improve models of radiative transport used in planetary science.

The six parameters of the standard ΛCDM model have best-fit values derived from the Planck temperature power spectrum that are shifted somewhat from the best-fit values derived from WMAP data. These shifts are driven by features in the Planck temperature power spectrum at angular scales that had never before been measured to cosmic-variance level precision. We have investigated these shifts to determine whether they are within the range of expectation and to understand their origin in the data. Taking our parameter set to be the optical depth of the reionized intergalactic medium τ, the baryon density ω_b, the matter density ω_m, the angular size of the sound horizon θ_∗, the spectral index of the primordial power spectrum, n_s, and A_se^{− 2τ} (where A_s is the amplitude of the primordial power spectrum), we have examined the change in best-fit values between a WMAP-like large angular-scale data set (with multipole moment ℓ < 800 in the Planck temperature power spectrum) and an all angular-scale data set (ℓ < 2500Planck temperature power spectrum), each with a prior on τ of 0.07 ± 0.02. We find that the shifts, in units of the 1σ expected dispersion for each parameter, are { Δτ,ΔA_se^{− 2τ},Δn_s,Δω_m,Δω_b,Δθ_∗ } = { −1.7,−2.2,1.2,−2.0,1.1,0.9 }, with a χ² value of 8.0. We find that this χ² value is exceeded in 15% of our simulated data sets, and that a parameter deviates by more than 2.2σ in 9% of simulated data sets, meaning that the shifts are not unusually large. Comparing ℓ < 800 instead to ℓ> 800, or splitting at a different multipole, yields similar results. We examined the ℓ < 800 model residuals in the ℓ> 800 power spectrum data and find that the features there that drive these shifts are a set of oscillations across a broad range of angular scales. Although they partly appear similar to the effects of enhanced gravitational lensing, the shifts in ΛCDM parameters that arise in response to these features correspond to model spectrum changes that are predominantly due to non-lensing effects; the only exception is τ, which, at fixed A_se^{− 2τ}, affects the ℓ> 800 temperature power spectrum solely through the associated change in A_s and the impact of that on the lensing potential power spectrum. We also ask, “what is it about the power spectrum at ℓ < 800 that leads to somewhat different best-fit parameters than come from the full ℓ range?” We find that if we discard the data at ℓ < 30, where there is a roughly 2σ downward fluctuation in power relative to the model that best fits the full ℓ range, the ℓ < 800 best-fit parameters shift significantly towards the ℓ < 2500 best-fit parameters. In contrast, including ℓ < 30, this previously noted “low-ℓ deficit” drives n_s up and impacts parameters correlated with n_s, such as ω_m and H₀. As expected, the ℓ < 30 data have a much greater impact on the ℓ < 800 best fit than on the ℓ < 2500 best fit. So although the shifts are not very significant, we find that they can be understood through the combined effects of an oscillatory-like set of high-ℓ residuals and the deficit in low-ℓ power, excursions consistent with sample variance that happen to map onto changes in cosmological parameters. Finally, we examine agreement between PlanckTT data and two other CMB data sets, namely the Planck lensing reconstruction and the TT power spectrum measured by the South Pole Telescope, again finding a lack of convincing evidence of any significant deviations in parameters, suggesting that current CMB data sets give an internally consistent picture of the ΛCDM model.

The characterization of the Galactic foregrounds has been shown to be the main obstacle in thechallenging quest to detect primordial B-modes in the polarized microwave sky. We make use of the Planck-HFI 2015 data release at high frequencies to place new constraints on the properties of the polarized thermal dust emission at high Galactic latitudes. Here, we specifically study the spatial variability of the dust polarized spectral energy distribution (SED), and its potential impact on the determination of the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r. We use the correlation ratio of the C^BB_ℓ angular power spectra between the 217 and 353 GHz channels as a tracer of these potential variations, computed on different high Galactic latitude regions, ranging from 80% to 20% of the sky. The new insight from Planck data is a departure of the correlation ratio from unity that cannot be attributed to a spurious decorrelation due to the cosmic microwave background, instrumental noise, or instrumental systematics. The effect is marginally detected on each region, but the statistical combination of all the regions gives more than 99% confidence for this variation in polarized dust properties. In addition, we show that the decorrelation increases when there is a decrease in the mean column density of the region of the sky being considered, and we propose a simple power-law empirical model for this dependence, which matches what is seen in the Planck data. We explore the effect that this measured decorrelation has on simulations of the BICEP2-Keck Array/Planck analysis and show that the 2015 constraints from these data still allow a decorrelation between the dust at 150 and 353 GHz that is compatible with our measured value. Finally, using simplified models, we show that either spatial variation of the dust SED or of the dust polarization angle are able to produce decorrelations between 217 and 353 GHz data similar to the values we observe in the data.