Estimating the spectral indices of correlated astrophysical foregrounds by a second-order statistical approach

We present the first tests of a new method, the correlated component analysis (CCA) based on second-order statistics, to estimate the mixing matrix, a key ingredient to separate astrophysical foregrounds superimposed to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). In the present application, the mixing matrix is parametrized in terms of the spectral indices of Galactic synchrotron and thermal dust emissions, while the free–free spectral index is prescribed by basic physics, and is thus assumed to be known. We consider simulated observations of the microwave sky with angular resolution and white stationary noise at the nominal levels for the Planck satellite, and realistic foreground emissions, with a position-dependent synchrotron spectral index. We work with two sets of Planck frequency channels: the low-frequency set, from 30 to 143 GHz, complemented with the Haslam 408 MHz map, and the high-frequency set, from 217 to 545 GHz. The concentration of intense free–free emission on the Galactic plane introduces a steep dependence of the spectral index of the global Galactic emission with Galactic latitude, close to the Galactic equator. This feature makes difficult for the CCA to recover the synchrotron spectral index in this region, given the limited angular resolution of Planck , especially at low frequencies. A cut of a narrow strip around the Galactic equator  (| b | < 3°)  , however, allows us to overcome this problem. We show that, once this strip is removed, the CCA allows an effective foreground subtraction, with residual uncertainties inducing a minor contribution to errors on the recovered CMB power spectrum.     

A model of diffuse Galactic radio emission from 10 MHz to 100 GHz

Understanding diffuse Galactic radio emission is interesting both in its own right and for minimizing foreground contamination of cosmological measurements. cosmic microwave background experiments have focused on frequencies ≳10 GHz, whereas 21-cm tomography of the high-redshift universe will mainly focus on ≲0.2 GHz, for which less is currently known about Galactic emission. Motivated by this, we present a global sky model derived from all publicly available total power large-area radio surveys, digitized with optical character recognition when necessary and compiled into a uniform format, as well as the new Villa Elisa data extending the 1.42-GHz map to the entire sky. We quantify statistical and systematic uncertainties in these surveys by comparing them with various global multifrequency model fits. We find that a principal component based model with only three components can fit the 11 most accurate data sets (at 10, 22, 45 and 408 MHz and 1.42, 2.326, 23, 33, 41, 61, 94 GHz) to an accuracy around 1–10 per cent depending on frequency and sky region. Both our data compilation and our software returning a predicted all-sky map at any frequency from 10 MHz to 100 GHz are publicly available at http://space.mit.edu/home/angelica/gsm .     

Analysis of the thin layer of Galactic warm ionized gas in the range

We present an analysis of the thin layer of Galactic warm ionized gas at an angular resolution ∼10 arcmin. This is carried out using radio continuum data at 1.4, 2.7 and 5 GHz in the coordinate region     . For this purpose, we evaluate the zero level of the 2.7- and 5-GHz surveys using auxiliary data at 2.3 GHz and 408 MHz. The derived zero-level corrections are   T _zero(2.7 GHz) = 0.15 ± 0.06 K  and   T _zero(5 GHz) = 0.1 ± 0.05 K  . We separate the thermal (free–free) and non-thermal (synchrotron) component by means of a spectral analysis performed adopting an antenna temperature spectral index −2.1 for the free–free emission, a realistic spatial distribution of indices for the synchrotron radiation and by fitting, pixel-by-pixel, the Galactic spectral index. We find that at 5 GHz, for  | b | = 0°  , the fraction of thermal emission reaches a maximum value of 82 per cent, while at 1.4 GHz, the corresponding value is 68 per cent. In addition, for the thermal emission, the analysis indicates a dominant contribution of the diffuse component relative to the source component associated with discrete H  ii regions.     

Detecting Sunyaev–Zel'dovich clusters with Planck– II. Foreground components and optimized filtering schemes

The Planck mission is the most sensitive all-sky cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment currently planned. The High-Frequency Instrument (HFI) will be especially suited for observing clusters of galaxies by their thermal Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect. In order to assess Planck 's SZ capabilities in the presence of spurious signals, a simulation is presented that combines maps of the thermal and kinetic SZ effects with a realization of the CMB, in addition to Galactic foregrounds (synchrotron emission, free–free emission, thermal emission from dust, CO-line radiation) as well as the submillimetric emission from celestial bodies of our Solar system. Additionally, observational issues such as the finite angular resolution and spatially non-uniform instrumental noise of Planck 's sky maps are taken into account, yielding a set of all-sky flux maps, the autocorrelation and cross-correlation properties of which are examined in detail. In the second part of the paper, filtering schemes based on scale-adaptive and matched filtering are extended to spherical data sets, that enable the amplification of the weak SZ signal in the presence of all contaminations stated above. The theory of scale-adaptive and matched filtering in the framework of spherical maps is developed, the resulting filter kernel shapes are discussed and their functionality is verified.     

Sunyaev–Zel'dovich cluster survey simulations for Planck

We examine the ability of the future Planck mission to provide a catalogue of galaxy clusters observed via their Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) distortion in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). For this purpose we produce full-sky SZ maps based on N -body simulations and scaling relations between cluster properties for several cosmological models. We extrapolate the N -body simulations by a mass function to high redshifts in order to obtain a realistic SZ background. The simulated Planck observations include, besides the thermal and kinematic SZ effects, contributions from the primordial CMB, extragalactic point sources as well as Galactic dust, free–free and synchrotron emission. A harmonic-space maximum-entropy method is used to separate the SZ signal from contaminating components in combination with a cluster detection algorithm based on thresholding and flux integration to identify clusters and to obtain their fluxes. We estimate a survey sensitivity limit (depending on the quality of the recovered cluster flux) and provide cluster survey completeness and purity estimates. We find that, given our modelling and detection algorithm, Planck will reliably detect at least several thousands of clusters over the full sky. The exact number depends on the particular cosmological model (up to 10 000 cluster detections in a concordance ΛCDM model with  σ₈= 0.9  ). We show that the Galaxy does not significantly affect the cluster detection. Furthermore, the dependence of the thermal SZ power spectrum on the matter variance on scales of  8 h ⁻¹  Mpc and the quality of its reconstruction by the employed method are investigated. Our simulations suggest that the Planck cluster sample will not only be useful as a basis for follow-up observations, but also will have the ability to provide constraints on cosmological parameters.     

A preferred-direction statistic for sky maps

Large patterns could exist on the microwave sky as a result of various non-standard possibilities for the large-scale Universe – rotation or shear, non-trivial topology, and single topological defects are specific examples. All-sky (or nearly all-sky) CMB data sets allow us, uniquely, to constrain such exotica, and it is therefore worthwhile to explore a wide range of statistical tests. We describe one such statistic here, which is based on determining gradients and is useful for assessing the level of 'preferred directionality' or 'stripiness' in the map. This method is more general than other techniques for picking out specific patterns on the sky, and it also has the advantage of being easily calculable for the mega-pixel maps which will soon be available. For the purposes of illustration, we apply this statistic to the four-year COBE DMR data. For future CMB maps, we expect this to be a useful statistical test of the large-scale structure of the Universe. In principle, the same statistic could also be applied to sky maps at other wavelengths, to CMB polarization maps, and to catalogues of discrete objects. It may also be useful as a means of checking for residual directionality (e.g. from Galactic or ecliptic signals) in maps.     

Cassiopeia A: dust factory revealed via submillimetre polarimetry

If Type II supernovae – the evolutionary end points of short-lived, massive stars – produce a significant quantity of dust  (>0.1 M_⊙)  then they can explain the rest-frame far-infrared emission seen in galaxies and quasars in the first Gyr of the Universe. Submillimetre (submm) observations of the Galactic supernova remnant, Cas A, provided the first observational evidence for the formation of significant quantities of dust in Type II supernovae. In this paper, we present new data which show that the submm emission from Cas A is polarized at a level significantly higher than that of its synchrotron emission. The orientation is consistent with that of the magnetic field in Cas A, implying that the polarized submm emission is associated with the remnant. No known mechanism would vary the synchrotron polarization in this way and so we attribute the excess polarized submm flux to cold dust within the remnant, providing fresh evidence that cosmic dust can form rapidly. This is supported by the presence of both polarized and unpolarized dust emission in the north of the remnant where there is no contamination from foreground molecular clouds. The inferred dust polarization fraction is unprecedented  ( f _pol∼ 30 per cent)  which, coupled with the brief time-scale available for grain alignment (<300 yr), suggests that supernova dust differs from that seen in other Galactic sources (where   f _pol= 2−7  per cent) or that a highly efficient grain alignment process must operate in the environment of a supernova remnant.     

Fe emission and ionized excess absorption in the luminous quasar 3C 109 with XMM–Newton

The Parkes High-Latitude pulsar survey covers a region of the sky enclosed by Galactic longitudes 220° < l < 260° and Galactic latitudes | b | < 60°. The observations have been performed using the 20-cm multibeam receiver on the Parkes 64-m radio telescope. A total of 6456 pointings of 265 s each have been collected. The system adopted provided a sensitivity limit, for long-period pulsars with 5 per cent duty cycles, of ∼0.5 mJy. Data analysis resulted in the detection of 42 pulsars of which 18 were new discoveries. Four of these belong to the class of the millisecond – or recycled – pulsars; three of these four are in binary systems. The double pulsar system J0737−3039 is among those and has been presented elsewhere. Here, we discuss the other discoveries and provide timing parameters for the objects for which we have a phase-connected solution.     

Too large and overlooked? Extended free–free emission towards massive star formation regions

We present Australia Telescope Compact Array observations towards six massive star formation regions, which, from their strong 24 GHz continuum emission but no compact 8 GHz continuum emission, appeared good candidates for hypercompact H  ii regions. However, the properties of the ionized gas derived from the 19 to 93 GHz continuum emission and  H70α+ H57α  radio recombination line data show the majority of these sources are, in fact, regions of spatially extended, optically thin free–free emission. These extended sources were missed in the previous 8 GHz observations due to a combination of spatial filtering, poor surface brightness sensitivity and primary beam attenuation.
We consider the implications that a significant number of these extended H  ii regions may have been missed by previous surveys of massive star formation regions. If the original sample of 21 sources is representative of the population as a whole, the fact that six contain previously undetected extended free–free emission suggests a large number of regions have been mis-classified. Rather than being very young objects prior to UCH  ii region formation, they are, in fact, associated with extended H  ii regions and thus significantly older. In addition, inadvertently ignoring a potentially substantial flux contribution (up to ∼0.5 Jy) from free–free emission has implications for dust masses derived from sub-mm flux densities. The large spatial scales probed by single-dish telescopes, which do not suffer from spatial filtering, are particularly susceptible and dust masses may be overestimated by up to a factor of ∼2.     

Is LkHα 264 like a young, extremely active Sun?

We combine calibrated International Ultraviolet Explorer ( IUE ) archive data and new low-resolution optical data for the T Tauri star LkH α 264 covering the region from 1200 to 7000 Å. The UV continuum is well fitted by the combination of a blackbody at 4300 K plus hydrogenic free–free and free–bound emission from a dense plasma at 3.5×10⁴ K plus the emission by a second blackbody. This last component is at T ≈8700 K and covers about 4 per cent of the stellar surface. We interpret this last component to be the result of emission from one or various hotspots. The interesting result is that this combined emission also fits the observed optical continuum well. We conclude that this star is an analogue of the Sun, however displaying a much higher level of activity.     

The Galactic disc distribution of planetary nebulae with warm dust emission features – I

We investigate the Galactic disc distribution of a sample of planetary nebulae characterized in terms of their mid-infrared spectral features. The total number of Galactic disc PNe with 8–13 μm spectra is brought up to 74 with the inclusion of 24 new objects, the spectra of which we present for the first time. 54 PNe have clearly identified warm dust emission features, and form a sample that we use to construct the distribution of the C/O chemical balance in Galactic disc PNe. The dust emission features complement the information on the progenitor masses brought by the gas-phase N/O ratios: PNe with unidentified infrared emission bands have the highest N/O ratios, while PNe with the silicate signature have either very high N enrichment or close to none. We find a trend for a decreasing proportion of O-rich PNe towards the third and fourth Galactic quadrants. Two independent distance scales confirm that the proportion of O-rich PNe decreases from     per cent inside the solar circle to     per cent outside. PNe with warm dust are also the youngest. PNe with no warm dust are uniformly distributed in C/O and N/O ratios, and do not appear to be confined to     They also have higher 6-cm fluxes, as expected from more evolved PNe. We show that the IRAS fluxes are a good representation of the bolometric flux for compact and IR-bright PNe, which are probably optically thick. Selection of objects with     should probe a good portion of the Galactic disc for these young, dense and compact nebulae, and the dominant selection effects are rooted in the PN catalogues.     

Foreground removal from CMB temperature maps using an MLP neural network

One of the main obstacles for extracting the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) signal from observations in the mm-submm range is the foreground contamination by emission from Galactic components: mainly synchrotron, free-free and thermal dust emission. Due to the statistical nature of the intrinsic CMB signal it is essential to minimize the systematic errors in the CMB temperature determinations. Following the available knowledge of the spectral behavior of the Galactic foregrounds simple power law-like spectra have been assumed. The feasibility of using a simple neural network for extracting the CMB temperature signal from the combined signal CMB and the foregrounds has been investigated. As a specific example, we have analysed simulated data, as expected from the ESA Planck CMB mission. A simple multilayer perceptron neural network with 2 hidden layers can provide temperature estimates over more than 80 per cent of the sky that are to a high degree uncorrelated with the foreground signals. A single network will be able to cover the dynamic range of the Planck noise level over the entire sky.     

Foregrounds for 21-cm observations of neutral gas at high redshift

We investigate a number of potential foregrounds for an ambitious goal of future radio telescopes such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR): spatial tomography of neutral gas at high redshift in 21-cm emission. While the expected temperature fluctuations due to unresolved radio point sources is highly uncertain, we point out that free–free emission from the ionizing haloes that reionized the Universe should define a minimal bound. This emission is likely to swamp the expected brightness temperature fluctuations, making proposed detections of the angular patchwork of 21-cm emission across the sky unlikely to be viable. Hα observations with JWST could place an upper bound on the contribution of high-redshift sources to the free–free background. An alternative approach is to discern the topology of reionization from spectral features due to 21-cm emission along a pencil-beam slice. This requires tight control of the frequency-dependence of the beam in order to prevent foreground sources from contributing excessive variance. We also investigate potential contamination by galactic and extragalactic radio recombination lines (RRLs). These are unlikely to be show-stoppers, although little is known about the distribution of RRLs away from the Galactic plane. The mini-halo emission signal is always less than that of the intergalactic medium (IGM), making mini-haloes unlikely to be detectable. If they are seen, it will be only in the very earliest stages of structure formation at high redshift, when the spin temperature of the IGM has not yet decoupled from the cosmic microwave background.     

A new superwind galaxy: XMM–Newton observations of NGC 6810

We present the first imaging X-ray observation of the highly inclined  ( i = 78°)  Sab Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 6810 using XMM–Newton , which reveals soft X-ray emission that extends out to a projected height of ∼7 kpc away from the plane of the galaxy. The soft X-ray emission beyond the optical disc of the galaxy is most plausibly extraplanar, although it could instead come from large galactic radius. This extended X-ray emission is spatially associated with diffuse Hα emission, in particular with a prominent 5-kpc-long Hα filament on the north-west of the disc. A fraction ≲35 per cent of the total soft X-ray emission of the galaxy arises from projected heights  | z | ≥ 2 kpc  . Within the optical disc of the galaxy the soft X-ray emission is associated with the star-forming regions visible in ground-based Hα and XMM–Newton optical monitor near-UV imaging. The temperature, supersolar α-element-to-iron abundance ratio, soft X-ray/Hα correlation, and X-ray to far-infrared (FIR) flux ratio of NGC 6810 are all consistent with local starbursts with winds, although the large base radius of the outflow would make NGC 6810 one of the few 'disc-wide' superwinds currently known. Hard X-ray emission from NGC 6810 is weak, and the total   E = 2–10 keV  luminosity and spectral shape are consistent with the expected level of X-ray binary emission from the old and young stellar populations. The X-ray observations provide no evidence of any active galactic nucleus activity. We find that the optical, IR and radio properties of NGC 6810 are all consistent with a starburst galaxy, and that the old classification of this galaxy as a Seyfert 2 galaxy is probably incorrect.     

8–13 μm dust emission features in Galactic bulge planetary nebulae

A sample of 25 infrared-bright planetary nebulae (PNe) towards the Galactic bulge is analysed through 8–13 μm spectroscopy. The classification of the warm dust emission features provides a measure of the C/O chemical balance, and represents the first C/O estimates for bulge PNe. Out of 13 PNe with identified dust types, four PNe have emission features associated with C-based grains, while the remaining 9 have O-rich dust signatures. The low fraction of C-rich PNe, ≲ 30 per cent, contrasts with that for local PNe, around ∼ 80 per cent, although it follows the trend for a decreasing frequency of C-rich PNe with galactocentric radius (Paper I). We investigate whether the PNe discussed here are linked to the bulge stellar population (similar to type IV, or halo, PNe) or the inner Galactic disc (a young and super-metal-rich population). Although 60 per cent of the PNe with warm dust are convincing bulge members, none of the C-rich PNe satisfies our criteria, and they are probably linked to the inner Galactic disc. In the framework of single star evolution, the available information on bulge PNe points towards a progenitor population similar in age to that of local PNe (type I PNe are found in similar proportions), but super-metal-rich (to account for the scarcity of C-rich objects). Yet the metallicities of bulge PNe, as inferred from [O/H], fail to reach the required values – except for the C-rich objects. It is likely that the sample discussed here is derived from a mixed disc/bulge progenitor population and dominated by type IV PNe, as suggested by Peimbert. The much higher fraction of O-rich PNe in this sample than in the solar neighbourhood should result in a proportionally greater injection of silicate grains into the inner Galactic medium.     

Neural networks and the separation of cosmic microwave background and astrophysical signals in sky maps

We implement an independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm to separate signals of different origin in sky maps at several frequencies. Owing to its self-organizing capability, it works without prior assumptions on either the frequency dependence or the angular power spectrum of the various signals; rather, it learns directly from the input data how to identify the statistically independent components, on the assumption that all but, at most, one of the components have non-Gaussian distributions.
We have applied the ICA algorithm to simulated patches of the sky at the four frequencies (30, 44, 70 and 100 GHz) used by the Low Frequency Instrument of the European Space Agency's Planck satellite. Simulations include the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the synchrotron and thermal dust emissions, and extragalactic radio sources. The effects of the angular response functions of the detectors and of instrumental noise have been ignored in this first exploratory study. The ICA algorithm reconstructs the spatial distribution of each component with rms errors of about 1 per cent for the CMB, and 10 per cent for the much weaker Galactic components. Radio sources are almost completely recovered down to a flux limit corresponding to ≃0.7 σ _CMB, where σ _CMB is the rms level of the CMB fluctuations. The signal recovered has equal quality on all scales larger than the pixel size. In addition, we show that for the strongest components (CMB and radio sources) the frequency scaling is recovered with per cent precision. Thus, algorithms of the type presented here appear to be very promising tools for component separation. On the other hand, we have been dealing here with a highly idealized situation. Work to include instrumental noise, the effect of different resolving powers at different frequencies and a more complete and realistic characterization of astrophysical foregrounds is in progress.     

Submillimetre imaging of NGC 3079

Submillimetre mapping observations of the active edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3079 are presented. These maps at 850 and 450 μm were made with the Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT).
The source structure at these wavelengths consists of a central unresolved source embedded in diffuse disc emission, similar to that displayed at 1.2 mm. The disc emission is fitted with two optically thin, isothermal dust models which give temperatures of 12 and 31 K, similar to those derived previously by Braine et al. The core component is well described by a single-temperature fit (∼32 K). The combined dust mass from these observations, using the same mass absorption coefficient as Devereux & Young (1990) is 3.5×10⁸ M_⊙, of which ∼90 per cent resides in the cold component of the galactic disc. The effect of the cold dust component detected by SCUBA is thus to reduce the global gas-to-dust mass ratio from ∼1400 found in the above study to 85, very similar to the Galactic level. Calculations using the models of Draine & Lee and/or alternative molecular gas mass estimates yield gas-to-dust mass ratios in the range 60–190.
The data presented here, together with previously published 1.2-mm mapping observations and IRAS data, are inconsistent with detections made with the Infrared Space Observatory ( ISO ). In particular, the latter give an excess of flux at 200 and 180 μm relative to that predicted by our simple model fits (approximately a factor of 2–3).     

Far-infrared detection limits – I. Sky confusion due to Galactic cirrus

Fluctuations in the brightness of the background radiation can lead to confusion with real point sources. This type of confusion with background emission is relevant when making infrared (IR) observations with relatively large beam sizes, since the amount of fluctuation tends to increase with the angular scale. To quantitively assess the effect of the background emission on the detection of point sources for current and future far-IR observations by space-borne missions such as Spitzer , ASTRO-F , Herschel and Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics ( SPICA ), we have extended the Galactic emission map to a higher level of angular resolution than that of the currently available data. Using this high-resolution map, we estimate the sky confusion noise owing to the emission from interstellar dust clouds or cirrus, based on fluctuation analysis and detailed photometry over realistically simulated images. We find that the confusion noise derived by simple fluctuation analysis agrees well with the results from realistic simulations. Although sky confusion noise becomes dominant in long wavelength bands  (>100 μm)  with 60–90 cm aperture missions, it is expected to be two orders of magnitude lower for the next generation of space missions (with larger aperture sizes) such as Herschel and SPICA .     

A new search for distant radio galaxies in the Southern hemisphere – I. Sample definition and radio properties

This paper introduces a new program to find high-redshift radio galaxies in the Southern hemisphere through ultrasteep spectrum (USS) selection. We define a sample of 234 USS radio sources with spectral indices α⁸⁴³₄₀₈≤−1.0 ( S _ν∝ν^α) and flux densities S ₄₀₈≥ 200 mJy in a region of 0.35 sr, chosen by cross-correlating the revised 408 MHz Molonglo Reference Catalogue, the 843 MHz Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey and the 1400 MHz NRAO VLA Sky Survey in the overlap region −40° < δ < −30°. We present Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) high-resolution 1384 and 2368 MHz radio data for each source, which we use to analyse the morphological, spectral index and polarization properties of our sample. We find that 85 per cent of the sources have observed-frame spectral energy distributions that are straight over the frequency range 408–2368 MHz, and that, on average, sources with smaller angular sizes have slightly steeper spectral indices and lower fractional linear polarization. Fractional polarization is anticorrelated with flux density at both 1400 and 2368 MHz. We also use the ATCA data to determine observed-frame Faraday rotation measures for half of the sample.     

The UV-Excess survey of the northern Galactic plane

The UV-Excess survey of the northern Galactic plane images a  10°× 185°  wide band, centred on the Galactic equator using the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope in four bands (       i  5875) down to  ∼21–22  mag (     in       i  5875). The setup and data reduction procedures are described. Simulations of the colours of main-sequence stars, giant, supergiants, DA and DB white dwarfs and AM Canum Venaticorum stars are made, including the effects of reddening. A first look at the data of the survey (currently 30 per cent complete) is given.