arXiv subjects

A. Curto

Publications and source records attributed to A. Curto.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Planck 2013 results. IX. HFI spectral response

The Planck High Frequency Instrument (HFI) spectral response was determined through a series of ground based tests conducted with the HFI focal plane in a cryogenic environment prior to launch. The main goal of the spectral transmission tests was to measure the relative spectral response (including out-of-band signal rejection) of all HFI detectors. This was determined by measuring the output of a continuously scanned Fourier transform spectrometer coupled with all HFI detectors. As there is no on-board spectrometer within HFI, the ground-based spectral response experiments provide the definitive data set for the relative spectral calibration of the HFI. The spectral response of the HFI is used in Planck data analysis and component separation, this includes extraction of CO emission observed within Planck bands, dust emission, Sunyaev-Zeldovich sources, and intensity to polarization leakage. The HFI spectral response data have also been used to provide unit conversion and colour correction analysis tools. Verifications of the HFI spectral response data are provided through comparisons with photometric HFI flight data. This validation includes use of HFI zodiacal emission observations to demonstrate out-of-band spectral signal rejection better than 10^8. The accuracy of the HFI relative spectral response data is verified through comparison with complementary flight-data based unit conversion coefficients and colour correction coefficients. These coefficients include those based upon HFI observations of CO, dust, and Sunyaev-Zeldovich emission. General agreement is observed between the ground-based spectral characterization of HFI and corresponding in-flight observations, within the quoted uncertainty of each; explanations are provided for any discrepancies.

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arXiv2013

Planck 2013 results. XXX. Cosmic infrared background measurements and implications for star formation

We present new measurements of CIB anisotropies using Planck. Combining HFI data with IRAS, the angular auto- and cross frequency power spectrum is measured from 143 to 3000 GHz, and the auto-bispectrum from 217 to 545 GHz. The total areas used to compute the CIB power spectrum and bispectrum are about 2240 and 4400 deg^2, respectively. After careful removal of the contaminants, and a complete study of systematics, the CIB power spectrum and bispectrum are measured with unprecedented signal to noise ratio from angular multipoles ell~150 to 2500, and ell~130 to 1100, respectively. Two approaches are developed for modelling CIB power spectrum anisotropies. The first approach takes advantage of the unique measurements by Planck at large angular scales, and models only the linear part of the power spectrum, with a mean bias of dark matter halos hosting dusty galaxies at a given redshift weighted by their contribution to the emissivities. The second approach is based on a model that associates star-forming galaxies with dark matter halos and their subhalos, using a parametrized relation between the dust-processed infrared luminosity and (sub-)halo mass. The two approaches simultaneously fit all auto- and cross- power spectra very well. We find that the star formation history is well constrained up to z~2. However, at higher redshift, the accuracy of the star formation history measurement is strongly degraded by the uncertainty in the spectral energy distribution of CIB galaxies. We also find that CIB galaxies have warmer temperatures as redshift increases. The CIB bispectrum is steeper than that expected from the power spectrum, although well fitted by a power law; this gives some information about the contribution of massive halos to the CIB bispectrum.

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arXiv2013

Exploring local fNL estimators based on the binned bispectrum

We explore different estimators of the local non-linear coupling parameter, fNL, based on the binned bispectrum presented in Bucher et al. Using simulations of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)-7yr data, we compare the performance of a regression neural network with a χ^2-minimization and study the dependence of the results on the presence of the linear term in the analysis and on the use of inpainting for masked regions. Both methods obtain similar results and are robust to the use of inpainting, but the neural network estimator converges considerably faster. We also examine the performance of a simplified χ^2 estimator that assumes a diagonal matrix and has the linear term subtracted, which considerably reduces the computational time; in this case inpainting is found to be crucial. The estimators are also applied to real WMAP-7yr data, yielding constraints at 95% confidence level of -3< fNL <83.

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arXiv2013

Planck 2013 results. XIII. Galactic CO emission

Rotational transition lines of CO play a major role in molecular radio astronomy and in particular in the study of star formation and the Galactic structure. Although a wealth of data exists in the Galactic plane and some well-known molecular clouds, there is no available CO high sensitivity all-sky survey to date. Such all-sky surveys can be constructed using the \Planck\ HFI data because the three lowest CO rotational transition lines at 115, 230 and 345 GHz significantly contribute to the signal of the 100, 217 and 353 GHz HFI channels respectively. Two different component separation methods are used to extract the CO maps from Planck HFI data. The maps obtained are then compared to one another and to existing external CO surveys. From these quality checks the best CO maps in terms of signal to noise and/or residual foreground contamination are selected. Three sets of velocity-integrated CO emission maps are produced: Type 1 maps of the CO (1-0), (2-1), and (3-2) rotational transitions with low foreground contamination but moderate signal-to-noise ratio; Type 2 maps for the (1-0) and (2-1) transitions with a better signal-to-noise ratio; and one Type 3 map, a line composite map with the best signal-to-noise ratio in order to locate the faintest molecular regions. The maps are described in detail. They are shown to be fully compatible with previous surveys of parts of the Galactic Plane and also of fainter regions out of the Galactic plane. The Planck HFI velocity-integrated CO maps for the (1-0), (2-1), and (3-2) rotational transitions provide an unprecedented all-sky CO view of the Galaxy. These maps are also of great interest to monitor potential CO contamination on CMB \Planck\ studies.

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arXiv2013

Planck 2013 results. XV. CMB power spectra and likelihood

We present the Planck likelihood, a complete statistical description of the two-point correlation function of the CMB temperature fluctuations. We use this likelihood to derive the Planck CMB power spectrum over three decades in l, covering 2 <= l <= 2500. The main source of error at l <= 1500 is cosmic variance. Uncertainties in small-scale foreground modelling and instrumental noise dominate the error budget at higher l's. For l < 50, our likelihood exploits all Planck frequency channels from 30 to 353 GHz through a physically motivated Bayesian component separation technique. At l >= 50, we employ a correlated Gaussian likelihood approximation based on angular cross-spectra derived from the 100, 143 and 217 GHz channels. We validate our likelihood through an extensive suite of consistency tests, and assess the impact of residual foreground and instrumental uncertainties on cosmological parameters. We find good internal agreement among the high-l cross-spectra with residuals of a few uK^2 at l <= 1000. We compare our results with foreground-cleaned CMB maps, and with cross-spectra derived from the 70 GHz Planck map, and find broad agreement in terms of spectrum residuals and cosmological parameters. The best-fit LCDM cosmology is in excellent agreement with preliminary Planck polarisation spectra. The standard LCDM cosmology is well constrained by Planck by l <= 1500. For example, we report a 5.4 sigma deviation from n_s /= 1. Considering various extensions beyond the standard model, we find no indication of significant departures from the LCDM framework. Finally, we report a tension between the best-fit LCDM model and the low-l spectrum in the form of a power deficit of 5-10% at l <~ 40, significant at 2.5-3 sigma. We do not elaborate further on its cosmological implications, but note that this is our most puzzling finding in an otherwise remarkably consistent dataset. (Abridged)

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arXiv2013

Planck 2013 results. XVIII. Gravitational lensing-infrared background correlation

The multi-frequency capability of the Planck satellite provides information both on the integrated history of star formation (via the cosmic infrared background, or CIB) and on the distribution of dark matter (via the lensing effect on the cosmic microwave background, or CMB). The conjunction of these two unique probes allows us to measure directly the connection between dark and luminous matter in the high redshift (1 < z <3) Universe. We use a three-point statistic optimized to detect the correlation between these two tracers. Following a thorough discussion of possible contaminants and a suite of consistency tests, using lens reconstructions at 100, 143 and 217 GHz and CIB measurements at 100-857 GHz, we report the first detection of the correlation between the CIB and CMB lensing. The well matched redshift distribution of these two signals leads to a detection significance with a peak value of 42 σat 545 GHz and a correlation as high as 80% across these two tracers. Our full set of multi-frequency measurements (both CIB auto- and CIB-lensing cross-spectra) are consistent with a simple halo-based model, with a characteristic mass scale for the halos hosting CIB sources of log_{10}(M/M_sun) = 10.5 \pm 0.6. Leveraging the frequency dependence of our signal, we isolate the high redshift contribution to the CIB, and constrain the star formation rate (SFR) density at z>1. We measure directly the SFR density with around 2 sigma significance for three redshift bins between z=1 and 7, thus opening a new window into the study of the formation of stars at early times.

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arXiv2013

Planck 2013 results. XII. Component separation

Planck has produced detailed all-sky observations over nine frequency bands between 30 and 857 GHz. These observations allow robust reconstruction of the primordial cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature fluctuations over nearly the full sky, as well as new constraints on Galactic foregrounds. This paper describes the component separation framework adopted by Planck. We test four foreground-cleaned CMB maps derived using qualitatively different component separation algorithms. The quality of our reconstructions is evaluated through detailed simulations and internal comparisons, and shown through various tests to be internally consistent and robust for CMB power spectrum and cosmological parameter estimation up to l = 2000. The parameter constraints on LambdaCDM cosmologies derived from these maps are consistent with those presented in the cross-spectrum based Planck likelihood analysis. We choose two of the CMB maps for specific scientific goals. We also present maps and frequency spectra of the Galactic low-frequency, CO, and thermal dust emission. The component maps are found to provide a faithful representation of the sky, as evaluated by simulations. For the low-frequency component, the spectral index varies widely over the sky, ranging from about beta = -4 to -2. Considering both morphology and prior knowledge of the low frequency components, the index map allows us to associate a steep spectral index (beta < -3.2) with strong anomalous microwave emission, corresponding to a spinning dust spectrum peaking below 20 GHz, a flat index of beta > -2.3 with strong free-free emission, and intermediate values with synchrotron emission.

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arXiv2013

Planck 2013 results. XXV. Searches for cosmic strings and other topological defects

Planck data have been used to provide stringent new constraints on cosmic strings and other defects. We describe forecasts of the CMB power spectrum induced by cosmic strings, calculating these from network models and simulations using line-of-sight Boltzmann solvers. We have studied Nambu-Goto cosmic strings, as well as field theory strings for which radiative effects are important, thus spanning the range of theoretical uncertainty in strings models. We have added the angular power spectrum from strings to that for a simple adiabatic model, with the extra fraction defined as $f_{10}$ at multipole $\ell=10$. This parameter has been added to the standard six parameter fit using COSMOMC with flat priors. For the Nambu-Goto string model, we have obtained a constraint on the string tension of $Gμ/c^2 < 1.5 x 10^{-7}$ and $f_{10} < 0.015$ at 95% confidence that can be improved to $Gμ/c^2 < 1.3 x 10^{-7}$ and $f_{10} < 0.010$ on inclusion of high-$\ell$ CMB data. For the abelian-Higgs field theory model we find, $Gμ_{AH}/c^2 < 3.2 x 10^{-7}$ and $f_{10} < 0.028$. The marginalized likelihoods for $f_{10}$ and in the $f_{10}$--$Ω_b h^2$ plane are also presented. We have also obtained constraints on $f_{10}$ for models with semi-local strings and global textures for which $Gμ/c^2 < 1.1 x 10^{-6}$. We have made complementarity searches for the specific non-Gaussian signatures of cosmic strings, calibrating with all-sky Planck resolution CMB maps generated from networks of post-recombination strings. We have obtained upper limits on the string tension at 95% confidence of $Gμ/c^2 < 8.8 x 10^{-7}$ using modal bispectrum estimation and $Gμ/c^2 < 7.8 x 10^{-7}$ for real space searches with Minkowski functionals. These are conservative upper bounds because only post-recombination string contributions have been included in the non-Gaussian analysis.

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arXiv2013

Forecasts on the contamination induced by unresolved point sources in primordial non-Gaussianity beyond Planck

In this paper we present forecasts of the contamination on different shapes of the primordial non-Gaussianity fnl parameter -- detectable on future Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) high--resolution anisotropy maps -- produced by unresolved extragalactic point sources at frequencies of cosmological interest (45--375 GHz). We consider two scenarios: an ideal (noiseless) mission and a possible future space-borne satellite, with instrumental characteristics similar to the ones proposed for the Cosmic Origins Explorer (COrE). The local, equilateral, orthogonal and flat shapes are considered in both temperature (intensity) and polarized emission data. The angular power spectrum and bispectrum of extragalactic point sources are estimated by state-of-the-art models of source number counts. The impact of all the most relevant (far--IR and radio selected) source populations on these shapes at COrE frequencies is studied. The results of this analysis show that unresolved extragalactic point sources should not induce a very relevant non-Gaussian signal in the frequency range 100--200 GHz, thus not preventing a correct estimate of the CMB primordial fnl parameter. Polarization information allows one to significantly reduce the error--bars in the fnl parameter and the bias induced by unresolved sources and, hence, to widen the range of frequencies for fnl studies. On the contrary, at nu < 100 GHz or nu > 225 GHz, important non-Gaussian deviations in CMB anisotropy maps are expected due to unresolved extragalactic sources.

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arXiv2012

The effect of the linear term on the wavelet estimator of primordial non-Gaussianity

In this work we present constraints on different shapes of primordial non-Gaussianity using the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) 7-year data and the spherical Mexican hat wavelet fnl estimator including the linear term correction. In particular we focus on the local, equilateral and orthogonal shapes. We first analyse the main statistical properties of the wavelet estimator and show the conditions to reach optimality. We include the linear term correction in our estimators and compare the estimates with the values already published using only the cubic term. The estimators are tested with realistic WMAP simulations with anisotropic noise and the WMAP KQ75 sky cut. The inclusion of the linear term correction shows a negligible improvement (< 1 per cent) in the error-bar for any of the shapes considered. The results of this analysis show that, in the particular case of the wavelet estimator, the optimality for WMAP anisotropy levels is basically achieved with the mean subtraction and in practical terms there is no need of including a linear term once the mean has been subtracted. Our best estimates are now: local fnl = 39.0 +/ 21.4, equilateral fnl = -62.8 +/- 154.0 and orthogonal fnl = -159.8 +/- 115.1 (all cases 68 per cent CL). We have also computed the expected linear term correction for simulated Planck maps with anisotropic noise at 143 GHz following the Planck Sky Model and including a mask. The improvement achieved in this case for the local fnl error-bar is also negligible (0.4 per cent).

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arXiv2012

Constraints on fNL from Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-year data using a neural network classifier

We present a multi-class neural network (NN) classifier as a method to measure nonGaussianity, characterised by the local non-linear coupling parameter fNL, in maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. The classifier is trained on simulated non-Gaussian CMB maps with a range of known fNL values by providing it with wavelet coefficients of the maps; we consider both the HealPix (HW) wavelet and the spherical Mexican hat wavelet (SMHW). When applied to simulated test maps, the NN classfier produces results in very good agreement with those obtained using standard chi2 minimization. The standard deviations of the fNL estimates for WMAPlike simulations were σ = 22 and σ = 33 for the SMHW and the HW, respectively, which are extremely close to those obtained using classical statistical methods in Curto et al. and Casaponsa et al. Moreover, the NN classifier does not require the inversion of a large covariance matrix, thus avoiding any need to regularise the matrix when it is not directly invertible, and is considerably faster.

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arXiv2011

Planck early results. III. First assessment of the Low Frequency Instrument in-flight performance

The scientific performance of the Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) after one year of in-orbit operation is presented. We describe the main optical parameters and discuss photometric calibration, white noise sensitivity, and noise properties. A preliminary evaluation of the impact of the main systematic effects is presented. For each of the performance parameters, we outline the methods used to obtain them from the flight data and provide a comparison with pre-launch ground assessments, which are essentially confirmed in flight.

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arXiv2011

Planck Early Results. V. The Low Frequency Instrument data processing

We describe the processing of data from the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) used in production of the Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalogue (ERCSC). In particular, we discuss the steps involved in reducing the data from telemetry packets to cleaned, calibrated, time-ordered data (TOD) and frequency maps. Data are continuously calibrated using the modulation of the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation induced by the motion of the spacecraft. Noise properties are estimated from TOD from which the sky signal has been removed using a generalized least square map-making algorithm. Measured 1/f noise knee-frequencies range from 100mHz at 30GHz to a few tens of mHz at 70GHz. A destriping code (Madam) is employed to combine radiometric data and pointing information into sky maps, minimizing the variance of correlated noise. Noise covariance matrices required to compute statistical uncertainties on LFI and Planck products are also produced. Main beams are estimated down to the approx -10dB level using Jupiter transits, which are also used for geometrical calibration of the focal plane.

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arXiv2011

Constraints on general primordial non-Gaussianity using wavelets for the Wilkinson Microwave anisotropy probe 7-year data

We present constraints on the non-linear coupling parameter fnl with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data. We use the method based on the spherical Mexican hat wavelet (SMHW) to measure the fnl parameter for three of the most interesting shapes of primordial non-Gaussianity: local, equilateral and orthogonal. Our results indicate that this parameter is compatible with a Gaussian distribution within the two sigma confidence level (CL) for the three shapes and the results are consistent with the values presented by the WMAP team. We have included in our analysis the impact on fnl due to contamination by unresolved point sources. The point sources add a positive contribution of Delta(fnl) = 2.5 \pm 3.0, Delta(fnl) = 37 \pm 18 and Delta(fnl) = 25 \pm 14 for the local, equilateral and orthogonal cases respectively. As mentioned by the WMAP team, the contribution of the point sources to the orthogonal and equilateral form is expected to be larger than the local one and thus it cannot be neglected in future constraints on these parameters. Taking into account this contamination, our best estimates for fnl are -16.0 \leq fnl \leq 76.0, -382 \leq fnl \leq 202 and -394 \leq fnl \leq 34 at 95% CL for the local, equilateral and orthogonal cases respectively. The three shapes are compatible with zero at 95% CL (2σ). Our conclusion is that the WMAP 7-year data are consistent with Gaussian primordial fluctuations within ~2σ CL. We stress however the importance of taking into account the unresolved point sources in the measurement of fnl in future works, especially when using more precise data sets such as the forthcoming Planck data.

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arXiv2011

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-yr constraints on fNL with a fast wavelet estimator

A new method to constrain the local non-linear coupling parameter fNL based on a fast wavelet decomposition is presented. Using a multiresolution wavelet adapted to the HEALPix pixelization, we have developed a method that is 10^2 times faster than previous estimators based on isotropic wavelets and 10^3 faster than the KSW bispectrum estimator, at the resolution of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data. The method has been applied to the WMAP 7-yr V+W combined map, imposing constraints on fNL of -69 < fNL < 65 at the 95 per cent CL. This result has been obtained after correcting for the contribution of the residual point sources which has been estimated to be fNL = 7 +/- 6. In addition, a Gaussianity analysis of the data has been carried out using the third order moments of the wavelet coefficients, finding consistency with Gaussianity. Although the constrainsts imposed on fNL are less stringent than those found with optimal estimators, we believe that a very fast method, as the one proposed in this work, can be very useful, especially bearing in mind the large amount of data that will be provided by future experiments, such as the Planck satellite. Moreover, the localisation of wavelets allows one to carry out analyses on different regions of the sky. As an application, we have separately analysed the two hemispheres defined by the dipolar modulation proposed by Hoftuft et al. (2009). We do not find any significant asymmetry regarding the estimated value of fNL in those hemispheres.

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arXiv2010

On the optimality of the spherical Mexican hat wavelet estimator for the primordial non-Gaussianity

We study the spherical Mexican hat wavelet (SMHW) as a detector of primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. For this purpose we define third order statistics based on the wavelet coefficient maps and the original map. We find the dependence of these statistics in terms of the non-linear coupling parameter fnl and the bispectrum of this type of non-Gaussianity. We compare the analytical values for these statistics with the results obtained with non-Gaussian simulations for an ideal full-sky CMB experiment without noise. We study the power of this method to detect fnl, i. e. the variance of this parameter, and compare it with the variance obtained from the primary bispectrum for the same experiment. Finally we apply our wavelet based estimator on WMAP-like maps with incomplete sky and inhomogeneous noise and compare with the optimal bispectrum estimator. The results show that the wavelet cubic statistics are as efficient as the bispectrum as optimal detectors of this type of primordial non-Gaussianity.

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arXiv2009

Improved constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 5-yr data

We present new constraints on the non-linear coupling parameter fnl with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data. We use an updated method based on the spherical Mexican hat wavelet (SMHW) which provides improved constraints on the fnl parameter. This paper is a continuation of a previous work by Curto et al. where several third order statistics based on the SMHW were considered. In this paper, we use all the possible third order statistics computed from the wavelet coefficient maps evaluated at 12 angular scales. The scales are logarithmically distributed from 6.9 arcmin to 500 arcmin. Our analysis indicates that fnl is constrained to -18 < fnl < +80 at 95% confidence level (CL) for the combined V+W WMAP map. This value has been corrected by the presence of undetected point sources, which adds a positive contribution of Delta_fnl = 6 +- 5. Our result excludes at ~99% CL the best-fitting value fnl=87 reported by Yadav & Wandelt. We have also constrained fnl for the Q, V and W frequency bands separately, finding compatibility with zero at 95 % CL for the Q and V bands but not for the W band. We have performed some further tests to understand the cause of this deviation which indicate that systematics associated to the W radiometers could be responsible for this result. Finally we have performed a Galactic North-South analysis for fnl. We have not found any asymmetry, i.e. the best-fitting fnl for the northern pixels is compatible with the best-fitting fnl for the southern pixels.

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arXiv2008

WMAP 5-year constraints on fnl with wavelets

We present a Gaussianity analysis of the WMAP 5-year Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy data maps. We use several third order estimators based on the spherical Mexican hat wavelet. We impose constraints on the local non-linear coupling parameter fnl using well motivated non-Gaussian simulations. We analyse the WMAP maps at resolution of 6.9 arcmin for the Q, V, and W frequency bands. We use the KQ75 mask recommended by the WMAP team which masks out 28% of the sky. The wavelet coefficients are evaluated at 10 different scales from 6.9 to 150 arcmin. With these coefficients we compute the third order estimators which are used to perform a chi-squared analysis. The chi-squared statistic is used to test the Gaussianity of the WMAP data as well as to constrain the fnl parameter. Our results indicate that the WMAP data are compatible with the Gaussian simulations, and the fnl parameter is constrained to -8 < fnl < +111 at 95% CL for the combined V+W map. This value has been corrected for the presence of undetected point sources, which add a positive contribution of Delta_fnl = 3+-5 in the V+W map. Our results are very similar to those obtained by Komatsu et al (2008) using the bispectrum.

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