Abstract
We present a numerical code to simulate maps of Galactic emission in intensity and polarization at microwave frequencies, aiding in the design of cosmic microwave background experiments. ...This python code builds on existing efforts to simulate the sky by providing an easy-to-use interface and is based on publicly available data from the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) and Planck satellite missions. We simulate synchrotron, thermal dust, free–free and anomalous microwave emission over the whole sky, in addition to the cosmic microwave background, and include a set of alternative prescriptions for the frequency dependence of each component, for example, polarized dust with multiple temperatures and a decorrelation of the signals with frequency, which introduce complexity that is consistent with current data. We also present a new prescription for adding small-scale realizations of these components at resolutions greater than current all-sky measurements. The usefulness of the code is demonstrated by forecasting the impact of varying foreground complexity on the recovered tensor-to-scalar ratio for the LiteBIRD satellite. The code is available at: https://github.com/bthorne93/PySM_public.
We estimate the spectral index, beta , of polarized synchrotron emission as observed in the 9 yr Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe sky maps using two methods, linear regression ("T-T plot") and ...maximum likelihood. We partition the sky into 24 disjoint sky regions and evaluate the spectral index for all polarization angles between 0degrees and 85degrees in steps of 5degrees.Averaging over polarization angles,we derive a mean spectral index of beta super(all-sky) = -2.99+ or -0.01 in the frequency range of 23-33 GHz. We find that the synchrotron spectral index steepens by 0.14 from low to high Galactic latitudes, in agreement with previous studies, with mean spectral indices of beta super(plane) = -2.98 + or - 0.01 and beta super(high-lat) = -3.12 + or - 0.04. In addition, we find a significant longitudinal variation along the Galactic plane with a steeper spectral index toward the Galactic center and anticenter than toward the Galactic spiral arms. This can be well modeled by an offset sinusoidal, beta (l) = -2.85 + 0.17 sin(2l - 90degrees). Finally, we study synchrotron emission in the BICEP2 field, in an attempt to understand whether the claimed detection of large-scale B-mode polarization could be explained in terms of synchrotron contamination. Adopting a spectral index of beta = -3.12, typical for high Galactic latitudes, we find that the most likely bias corresponds to about 2% of the reported signal (r = 0.003). The flattest index allowed by the data in this region is beta = -2.5, and under the assumption of a straight power-law frequency spectrum, we find that synchrotron emission can account for at most 20% of the reported BICEP2 signal.
Late blight, caused by the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans, is the most devastating potato disease in the world. Control of late blight in the United States and other developed countries ...relies extensively on fungicide application. We previously demonstrated that the wild diploid potato species Solanum bulbocastanum is highly resistant to all known races of P. infestans. Potato germplasm derived from S. bulbocastanum has shown durable and effective resistance in the field. Here we report the cloning of the major resistance gene RB in S. bulbocastanum by using a map-based approach in combination with a long-range (LR)-PCR strategy. A cluster of four resistance genes of the CC-NBS-LRR (coiled coil-nucleotide binding site-Leu-rich repeat) class was found within the genetically mapped RB region. Transgenic plants containing a LR-PCR product of one of these four genes displayed broad spectrum late blight resistance. The cloned RB gene provides a new resource for developing late blight-resistant potato varieties. Our results also demonstrate that LR-PCR is a valuable approach to isolate genes that cannot be maintained in the bacterial artificial chromosome system.
Future cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiments aim to measure an unprecedentedly small signal – the primordial gravity wave component of the polarization field B mode. To achieve ...this, they will analyse huge data sets, involving years of time-ordered data (TOD) from massively multi-detector focal planes. This creates the need for fast and precise methods to complement the maximum-likelihood (ML) approach in analysis pipelines. In this paper, we investigate fast map-making methods as applied to long duration, massively multi-detector, ground-based experiments, in the context of the search for B modes. We focus on two alternative map-making approaches: destriping and TOD filtering, comparing their performance on simulated multi-detector polarization data. We have written an optimized, parallel destriping code, the DEStriping CARTographer (descart), that is generalized for massive focal planes, including the potential effect of cross-correlated TOD 1/f noise. We also determine the scaling of computing time for destriping as applied to a simulated full-season data set for a realistic experiment. We find that destriping can outperform filtering in estimating both the large-scale E- and B-mode angular power spectra. In particular, filtering can produce significant spurious B-mode power via EB mixing. Whilst this can be removed, it contributes to the variance of B-mode bandpower estimates at scales near the primordial B-mode peak. For the experimental configuration we simulate, this has an effect on the possible detection significance for primordial B modes. Destriping is a viable alternative fast method to the full ML approach that does not cause the problems associated with filtering, and is flexible enough to fit into both ML and Monte Carlo pseudo-Cℓ pipelines.
We develop a time-ordered data simulator and map-maker for the proposed PIXIE Fourier transform spectrometer and use them to investigate the impact of polarization leakage, imperfect collimation, ...elliptical beams, sub-pixel effects, correlated noise and spectrometer mirror jitter on the PIXIE data analysis. We find that PIXIE is robust to all of these effects, with the exception of mirror jitter which could become the dominant source of noise in the experiment if the jitter is not kept significantly below 0.1μm s. Source code is available at https://github.com/amaurea/pixie.
A recent application of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to the WMAP 7 year W-band maps claims evidence that the CMB is “weakly random”, and that only 20% of the signal can be explained as a random ...Gaussian field. I here repeat this analysis, and in contrast to the original result find no evidence for deviation from the standard ΛCDM model. Instead, the results of the original analysis are consistent with not properly taking into account the correlations of the ΛCDM power spectrum.
ABSTRACT
The MeerKAT Exploration of Relics, Giant Halos, and Extragalactic Radio Sources (MERGHERS) survey is a planned project to study a large statistical sample of galaxy clusters with the MeerKAT ...observatory. Here we present the results of a 16-h pilot project, observed in response to the 2019 MeerKAT Shared Risk proposal call, to test the feasibility of using MeerKAT for a large cluster study using short (0.2–2.1 h) integration times. The pilot focuses on 1.28-GHz observations of 13 massive, low-to-intermediate redshift (0.22 < z < 0.65) clusters from the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich-selected Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) DR5 catalogue that show multiwavelength indications of dynamical disturbance. With a 70 per cent detection rate (9/13 clusters), this pilot study validates our proposed MERGHERS observing strategy and provides twelve detections of diffuse emission, eleven of them new, indicating the strength of MeerKAT for such types of studies. The detections (signal-to-noise ratio ≳ 6) are summarized as follows: two systems host both relic(s) and a giant radio halo, five systems host radio haloes, and two have candidate radio haloes. Power values, k-corrected to 1.4 GHz, assuming a fiducial spectral index of α = −1.3 ± 0.4, are consistent with known radio halo and relic scaling relations.
THE Q/U IMAGING EXPERIMENT INSTRUMENT Bischoff, C; Brizius, A; Buder, I ...
The Astrophysical journal,
05/2013, Letnik:
768, Številka:
1
Journal Article
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The Q/U Imaging ExperimenT (QUIET) is designed to measure polarization in the cosmic microwave background, targeting the imprint of inflationary gravitational waves at large angular ...scales(~1degrees). Between 2008 October and 2010 December, two independent receiver arrays were deployed sequentially on a 1.4 m side-fed Dragonian telescope. The polarimeters that form the focal planes use a compact design based on high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) that provides simultaneous measurements of the Stokes parameters Q, U, and I in a single module. The 17-element Q-band polarimeter array, with a central frequency of 43.1 GHz, has the best sensitivity (69 mu Ks super(1/2)) and the lowest instrumental systematic errors ever achieved in this band, contributing to the tensor-to-scalar ratio at r < 0.1. The 84-element W-band polarimeter array has a sensitivity of 87 mu Ks super(1/2) at a central frequency of 94.5 GHz. It has the lowest systematic errors to date, contributing at r < 0.01. The two arrays together cover multipoles in the range scriptl ~ 25-975. These are the largest HEMT-based arrays deployed to date. This article describes the design, calibration, performance, and sources of systematic error of the instrument.
Reliable and easy to use techniques for chromosome identification are critical for many aspects of cytogenetic research. Unfortunately, such techniques are not available in many plant species, ...especially those with a large number of small chromosomes. Here we demonstrate that fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) signals derived from bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) can be used as chromosome-specific cytogenetic DNA markers for chromosome identification in potato. We screened a potato BAC library using genetically mapped restriction fragment length polymorphism markers as probes. The identified BAC clones were then labeled as probes for FISH analysis. A set of 12 chromosome-specific BAC clones were isolated and the FISH signals derived from these BAC clones serve as convenient and reliable cytological markers for potato chromosome identification. We mapped the 5S rRNA genes, the 45S rRNA genes, and a potato late blight resistance gene to three specific potato chromosomes using the chromosome-specific BAC clones.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
We describe a Bayesian framework for estimating the time-domain noise covariance of cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations, typically parameterized in terms of a 1/f frequency profile. This ...framework is based on the Gibbs sampling algorithm, which allows for exact marginalization over nuisance parameters through conditional probability distributions. In this paper, we implement support for gaps in the data streams and marginalization over fixed time-domain templates, and also outline how to marginalize over confusion from CMB fluctuations, which may be important for high signal-to-noise experiments. As a by-product of the method, we obtain proper constrained realizations, which themselves can be useful for map making. To validate the algorithm, we demonstrate that the reconstructed noise parameters and corresponding uncertainties are unbiased using simulated data. The CPU time required to process a single data stream of 100,000 samples with 1000 samples removed by gaps is 3 s if only the maximum posterior parameters are required, and 21 s if one also wants to obtain the corresponding uncertainties by Gibbs sampling.
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