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D. Molinari

Publications and source records attributed to D. Molinari.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

LiteBIRD Science Goals and Forecasts: Primordial Magnetic Fields

We present detailed forecasts for the constraints on primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) that will be obtained with the LiteBIRD satellite. The constraints are driven by the effects of PMFs on the CMB anisotropies: the gravitational effects of magnetically-induced perturbations; the effects on the thermal and ionization history of the Universe; the Faraday rotation imprint on the CMB polarization; and the non-Gaussianities induced in polarization anisotropies. LiteBIRD represents a sensitive probe for PMFs and by exploiting all the physical effects, it will be able to improve the current limit coming from Planck. In particular, thanks to its accurate $B$-mode polarization measurement, LiteBIRD will improve the constraints on infrared configurations for the gravitational effect, giving $B_{\rm 1\,Mpc}^{n_{\rm B} =-2.9} < 0.8$ nG at 95% C.L., potentially opening the possibility to detect nanogauss fields with high significance. We also observe a significant improvement in the limits when marginalized over the spectral index, $B_{1\,{\rm Mpc}}^{\rm marg}< 2.2$ nG at 95% C.L. From the thermal history effect, which relies mainly on $E$-mode polarization data, we obtain a significant improvement for all PMF configurations, with the marginalized case, $\sqrt{\langle B^2\rangle}^{\rm marg}<0.50$ nG at 95% C.L. Faraday rotation constraints will take advantage of the wide frequency coverage of LiteBIRD and the high sensitivity in $B$ modes, improving the limits by orders of magnitude with respect to current results, $B_{1\,{\rm Mpc}}^{n_{\rm B} =-2.9} < 3.2$ nG at 95% C.L. Finally, non-Gaussianities of the $B$-mode polarization can probe PMFs at the level of 1 nG, again significantly improving the current bounds from Planck. Altogether our forecasts represent a broad collection of complementary probes, providing conservative limits on PMF characteristics that will be achieved with LiteBIRD.

astro-ph.CO

Planck intermediate results. LV. Reliability and thermal properties of high-frequency sources in the Second Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources

We describe an extension of the most recent version of the Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources (PCCS2), produced using a new multi-band Bayesian Extraction and Estimation Package (BeeP). BeeP assumes that the compact sources present in PCCS2 at 857 GHz have a dust-like spectral energy distribution, which leads to emission at both lower and higher frequencies, and adjusts the parameters of the source and its SED to fit the emission observed in Planck's three highest frequency channels at 353, 545, and 857 GHz, as well as the IRIS map at 3000 GHz. In order to reduce confusion regarding diffuse cirrus emission, BeeP's data model includes a description of the background emission surrounding each source, and it adjusts the confidence in the source parameter extraction based on the statistical properties of the spatial distribution of the background emission. BeeP produces the following three new sets of parameters for each source: (a) fits to a modified blackbody (MBB) thermal emission model of the source; (b) SED-independent source flux densities at each frequency considered; and (c) fits to an MBB model of the background in which the source is embedded. BeeP also calculates, for each source, a reliability parameter, which takes into account confusion due to the surrounding cirrus. We define a high-reliability subset (BeeP/base), containing 26 083 sources (54.1 per cent of the total PCCS2 catalogue), the majority of which have no information on reliability in the PCCS2. The results of the BeeP extension of PCCS2, which are made publicly available via the PLA, will enable the study of the thermal properties of well-defined samples of compact Galactic and extra-galactic dusty sources.

astro-ph.GA

The large scale polarization explorer (LSPE) for CMB measurements: performance forecast

[Abridged] The measurement of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation is one of the current frontiers in cosmology. In particular, the detection of the primordial B-modes, could reveal the presence of gravitational waves in the early Universe. The detection of such component is at the moment the most promising technique to probe the inflationary theory describing the very early evolution of the Universe. We present the updated performance forecast of the Large Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE), a program dedicated to the measurement of the CMB polarization. LSPE is composed of two instruments: Strip, a radiometer-based telescope on the ground in Tenerife, and SWIPE (Short-Wavelength Instrument for the Polarization Explorer) a bolometer-based instrument designed to fly on a winter arctic stratospheric long-duration balloon. The program is among the few dedicated to observation of the Northern Hemisphere, while most of the international effort is focused into ground-based observation in the Southern Hemisphere. Measurements are currently scheduled in Winter 2021/22 for SWIPE, with a flight duration up to 15 days, and in Summer 2021 with two years observations for Strip. We describe the main features of the two instruments, identifying the most critical aspects of the design, in terms of impact into performance forecast. We estimate the expected sensitivity of each instrument and propagate their combined observing power to the sensitivity to cosmological parameters, including the effect of scanning strategy, component separation, residual foregrounds and partial sky coverage. We also set requirements on the control of the most critical systematic effects and describe techniques to mitigate their impact. LSPE can reach a sensitivity in tensor-to-scalar ratio of $\sigma_r<0.01$, and improve constrains on other cosmological parameters.

astro-ph.IM

Planck intermediate results. LVII. Joint Planck LFI and HFI data processing

We present the NPIPE processing pipeline, which produces calibrated frequency maps in temperature and polarization from data from the Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) and High Frequency Instrument (HFI) using high-performance computers. NPIPE represents a natural evolution of previous Planck analysis efforts, and combines some of the most powerful features of the separate LFI and HFI analysis pipelines. The net effect of the improvements is lower levels of noise and systematics in both frequency and component maps at essentially all angular scales, as well as notably improved internal consistency between the various frequency channels. Based on the NPIPE maps, we present the first estimate of the Solar dipole determined through component separation across all nine Planck frequencies. The amplitude is ($3366.6 \pm 2.7$)$\mu$K, consistent with, albeit slightly higher than, earlier estimates. From the large-scale polarization data, we derive an updated estimate of the optical depth of reionization of $\tau = 0.051 \pm 0.006$, which appears robust with respect to data and sky cuts. There are 600 complete signal, noise and systematics simulations of the full-frequency and detector-set maps. As a Planck first, these simulations include full time-domain processing of the beam-convolved CMB anisotropies. The release of NPIPE maps and simulations is accompanied with a complete suite of raw and processed time-ordered data and the software, scripts, auxiliary data, and parameter files needed to improve further on the analysis and to run matching simulations.

astro-ph.CO

Progress report on the Large Scale Polarization Explorer

The Large Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE) is a cosmology program for the measurement of large scale curl-like features (B-modes) in the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background. Its goal is to constrain the background of inflationary gravity waves traveling through the universe at the time of matter-radiation decoupling. The two instruments of LSPE are meant to synergically operate by covering a large portion of the northern microwave sky. LSPE/STRIP is a coherent array of receivers planned to be operated from the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, for the control and characterization of the low-frequency polarized signals of galactic origin; LSPE/SWIPE is a balloon-borne bolometric polarimeter based on 330 large throughput multi-moded detectors, designed to measure the CMB polarization at 150 GHz and to monitor the polarized emission by galactic dust above 200 GHz. The combined performance and the expected level of systematics mitigation will allow LSPE to constrain primordial B-modes down to a tensor/scalar ratio of $10^{-2}$. We here report the status of the STRIP pre-commissioning phase and the progress in the characterization of the key subsystems of the SWIPE payload (namely the cryogenic polarization modulation unit and the multi-moded TES pixels) prior to receiver integration.

astro-ph.IM

Planck intermediate results. LVI. Detection of the CMB dipole through modulation of the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect: Eppur si muove II

The largest temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the dipole, which has been measured with increasing accuracy for more than three decades, particularly with the Planck satellite. The simplest interpretation of the dipole is that it is due to our motion with respect to the rest frame of the CMB. Since current CMB experiments infer temperature anisotropies from angular intensity variations, the dipole modulates the temperature anisotropies with the same frequency dependence as the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect. We present the first, and significant, detection of this signal in the tSZ maps and find that it is consistent with direct measurements of the CMB dipole, as expected. The signal contributes power in the tSZ maps, which is modulated in a quadrupolar pattern, and we estimate its contribution to the tSZ bispectrum, noting that it contributes negligible noise to the bispectrum at relevant scales.

astro-ph.CO

Is the lack of power anomaly in the CMB correlated with the orientation of the Galactic plane?

The lack of power at large angular scales in the CMB temperature anisotropy pattern is a feature known to depend on the size of the Galactic mask. Not only the large scale anisotropy power in the CMB is lower than the best-fit $\Lambda$CDM model predicts, but most of the power seems to be localised close to the Galactic plane, making high-Galactic latitude regions more anomalous. We assess how likely the latter behaviour is in a $\Lambda$CDM model by extracting simulations from the {\it Planck} 2018 fiducial model. By comparing the former to {\it Planck} data in different Galactic masks, we reproduce the anomaly found in previous works, at a statistical significance of $\sim 3 \, \sigma$. This result suggests the existence of a bizzarre correlation between the particular orientation of the Galaxy and the lack of power anomaly. To test this hypothesis, we perform random rotations of the {\it Planck} 2018 data and compare these to similarly rotated $\Lambda$CDM realisations. We find that, among all possible rotations, the lower-tail probability of the observed high-Galactic latitude data variance is still low at the level of $2.8 \, \sigma$. Furthermore, the lowering trend of the variance when moving from low- to high-Galactic latitude is anomalous in the data at $\sim 3\,\sigma$ when comparing to $\Lambda$CDM rotated realisations. This shows that the lack of power at high Galactic latitude is substantially stable against the "look elsewhere" effect induced by random rotations of the Galaxy orientation. Moreover, this analysis turns out to be substantially stable if we employ, in place of generic $\Lambda$CDM simulations, a specific set whose variance is constrained to reproduce the observed data variance.

astro-ph.CO

Planck intermediate results. LIV. The Planck Multi-frequency Catalogue of Non-thermal Sources

This paper presents the Planck Multi-frequency Catalogue of Non-thermal (i.e. synchrotron-dominated) Sources (PCNT) observed between 30 and 857 GHz by the ESA Planck mission. 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, 29400 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 nine Planck channels. 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 Bright Planck Multi-frequency Catalogue of Non-thermal Sources PCNTb, where only those objects with a S/N>4 at both 30 and 143 GHz were selected. In this catalogue 1146 compact sources are detected outside the adopted Planck GAL070 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 with S/N>4 in all nine Planck channels, 75 of which are found outside the Planck mask adopted here. The remaining 76 sources inside the Galactic mask are very likely Galactic objects.

astro-ph.CO

Planck intermediate results. LIII. Detection of velocity dispersion from the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect

Using the ${\it Planck}$ 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 ${\it Planck}$ foreground-cleaned `${\tt 2D-ILC\,}$' maps. By using the Meta Catalogue of X-ray detected Clusters of galaxies (MCXC), we determine the normalized ${\it rms}$ 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 $\langle \left(ΔT/T \right)^{2} \rangle = (1.64 \pm 0.48) \times 10^{-11}$. 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 $\langle \left(ΔT/T \right)^{2} \rangle = (1.35 \pm 0.48) \times 10^{-11}$, 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 $\langle v^{2} \rangle =(123\,000 \pm 71\,000)\,({\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1})^{2}$, which is consistent with findings from other large-scale structure studies, and provides direct evidence of statistical homogeneity on scales of $600\,h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$. 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.

astro-ph.CO

Planck 2018 results. XI. Polarized dust foregrounds

The study of polarized dust emission has become entwined with the analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. We use new Planck maps to characterize Galactic dust emission as a foreground to the CMB polarization. We present Planck EE, BB, and TE power spectra of dust polarization at 353 GHz for six nested sky regions covering from 24 to 71 % of the sky. We present power-law fits to the angular power spectra, yielding evidence for statistically significant variations of the exponents over sky regions and a difference between the values for the EE and BB spectra. The TE correlation and E/B power asymmetry extend to low multipoles that were not included in earlier Planck polarization papers. We also report evidence for a positive TB dust signal. Combining data from Planck and WMAP, we determine the amplitudes and spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of polarized foregrounds, including the correlation between dust and synchrotron polarized emission, for the six sky regions as a function of multipole. This quantifies the challenge of the component separation procedure required for detecting the reionization and recombination peaks of primordial CMB B modes. The SED of polarized dust emission is fit well by a single-temperature modified blackbody emission law from 353 GHz to below 70 GHz. For a dust temperature of 19.6 K, the mean spectral index for dust polarization is $\beta_{\rm d}^{P} = 1.53\pm0.02 $. By fitting multi-frequency cross-spectra, we examine the correlation of the dust polarization maps across frequency. We find no evidence for decorrelation. If the Planck limit for the largest sky region applies to the smaller sky regions observed by sub-orbital experiments, then decorrelation might not be a problem for CMB experiments aiming at a primordial B-mode detection limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r\simeq0.01$ at the recombination peak.

astro-ph.GA

Exploring cosmic origins with CORE: mitigation of systematic effects

We present an analysis of the main systematic effects that could impact the measurement of CMB polarization with the proposed CORE space mission. We employ timeline-to-map simulations to verify that the CORE instrumental set-up and scanning strategy allow us to measure sky polarization to a level of accuracy adequate to the mission science goals. We also show how the CORE observations can be processed to mitigate the level of contamination by potentially worrying systematics, including intensity-to-polarization leakage due to bandpass mismatch, asymmetric main beams, pointing errors and correlated noise. We use analysis techniques that are well validated on data from current missions such as Planck to demonstrate how the residual contamination of the measurements by these effects can be brought to a level low enough not to hamper the scientific capability of the mission, nor significantly increase the overall error budget. We also present a prototype of the CORE photometric calibration pipeline, based on that used for Planck, and discuss its robustness to systematics, showing how CORE can achieve its calibration requirements. While a fine-grained assessment of the impact of systematics requires a level of knowledge of the system that can only be achieved in a future study phase, the analysis presented here strongly suggests that the main areas of concern for the CORE mission can be addressed using existing knowledge, techniques and algorithms.

astro-ph.CO

Exploring cosmic origins with CORE: effects of observer peculiar motion

We discuss the effects on the CMB, CIB, and thermal SZ effect due to the peculiar motion of an observer with respect to the CMB rest frame, which induces boosting effects. We investigate the scientific perspectives opened by future CMB space missions, focussing on the CORE proposal. The improvements in sensitivity offered by a mission like CORE, together with its high resolution over a wide frequency range, will provide a more accurate estimate of the CMB dipole. The extension of boosting effects to polarization and cross-correlations will enable a more robust determination of purely velocity-driven effects that are not degenerate with the intrinsic CMB dipole, allowing us to achieve a S/N ratio of 13; this improves on the Planck detection and essentially equals that of an ideal cosmic-variance-limited experiment up to a multipole l of 2000. Precise inter-frequency calibration will offer the opportunity to constrain or even detect CMB spectral distortions, particularly from the cosmological reionization, because of the frequency dependence of the dipole spectrum, without resorting to precise absolute calibration. The expected improvement with respect to COBE-FIRAS in the recovery of distortion parameters (in principle, a factor of several hundred for an ideal experiment with the CORE configuration) ranges from a factor of several up to about 50, depending on the quality of foreground removal and relative calibration. Even for 1% accuracy in both foreground removal and relative calibration at an angular scale of 1 deg, we find that dipole analyses for a mission like CORE will be able to improve the recovery of the CIB spectrum amplitude by a factor of 17 in comparison with current results based on FIRAS. In addition to the scientific potential of a mission like CORE for these analyses, synergies with other planned and ongoing projects are also discussed.

astro-ph.CO

Exploring Cosmic Origins with CORE: B-mode Component Separation

We demonstrate that, for the baseline design of the CORE satellite mission, the polarized foregrounds can be controlled at the level required to allow the detection of the primordial cosmic microwave background (CMB) $B$-mode polarization with the desired accuracy at both reionization and recombination scales, for tensor-to-scalar ratio values of ${r\gtrsim 5\times 10^{-3}}$. We consider detailed sky simulations based on state-of-the-art CMB observations that consist of CMB polarization with $\tau=0.055$ and tensor-to-scalar values ranging from $r=10^{-2}$ to $10^{-3}$, Galactic synchrotron, and thermal dust polarization with variable spectral indices over the sky, polarized anomalous microwave emission, polarized infrared and radio sources, and gravitational lensing effects. Using both parametric and blind approaches, we perform full component separation and likelihood analysis of the simulations, allowing us to quantify both uncertainties and biases on the reconstructed primordial $B$-modes. Under the assumption of perfect control of lensing effects, CORE would measure an unbiased estimate of $r=\left(5 \pm 0.4\right)\times 10^{-3}$ after foreground cleaning. In the presence of both gravitational lensing effects and astrophysical foregrounds, the significance of the detection is lowered, with CORE achieving a $4\sigma$-measurement of $r=5\times 10^{-3}$ after foreground cleaning and $60$% delensing. For lower tensor-to-scalar ratios ($r=10^{-3}$) the overall uncertainty on $r$ is dominated by foreground residuals, not by the 40% residual of lensing cosmic variance. Moreover, the residual contribution of unprocessed polarized point-sources can be the dominant foreground contamination to primordial B-modes at this $r$ level, even on relatively large angular scales, $\ell \sim 50$. Finally, we report two sources of potential bias for the detection of the primordial $B$-modes.[abridged]

astro-ph.CO

Exploring Cosmic Origins with CORE: Cluster Science

We examine the cosmological constraints that can be achieved with a galaxy cluster survey with the future CORE space mission. Using realistic simulations of the millimeter sky, produced with the latest version of the Planck Sky Model, we characterize the CORE cluster catalogues as a function of the main mission performance parameters. We pay particular attention to telescope size, key to improved angular resolution, and discuss the comparison and the complementarity of CORE with ambitious future ground-based CMB experiments that could be deployed in the next decade. A possible CORE mission concept with a 150 cm diameter primary mirror can detect of the order of 50,000 clusters through the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE). The total yield increases (decreases) by 25% when increasing (decreasing) the mirror diameter by 30 cm. The 150 cm telescope configuration will detect the most massive clusters ($>10^{14}\, M_\odot$) at redshift $z>1.5$ over the whole sky, although the exact number above this redshift is tied to the uncertain evolution of the cluster SZE flux-mass relation; assuming self-similar evolution, CORE will detect $\sim 500$ clusters at redshift $z>1.5$. This changes to 800 (200) when increasing (decreasing) the mirror size by 30 cm. CORE will be able to measure individual cluster halo masses through lensing of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies with a 1-$\sigma$ sensitivity of $4\times10^{14} M_\odot$, for a 120 cm aperture telescope, and $10^{14} M_\odot$ for a 180 cm one. [abridged]

astro-ph.CO

Exploring Cosmic Origins with CORE: Extragalactic sources in Cosmic Microwave Background maps

We discuss the potential of a next generation space-borne Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiment for studies of extragalactic sources. Our analysis has particular bearing on the definition of the future space project, CORE, that has been submitted in response to ESA's call for a Medium-size mission opportunity as the successor of the Planck satellite. Even though the effective telescope size will be somewhat smaller than that of Planck, CORE will have a considerably better angular resolution at its highest frequencies, since, in contrast with Planck, it will be diffraction limited at all frequencies. The improved resolution implies a considerable decrease of the source confusion, i.e. substantially fainter detection limits. In particular, CORE will detect thousands of strongly lensed high-z galaxies distributed over the full sky. The extreme brightness of these galaxies will make it possible to study them, via follow-up observations, in extraordinary detail. Also, the CORE resolution matches the typical sizes of high-z galaxy proto-clusters much better than the Planck resolution, resulting in a much higher detection efficiency; these objects will be caught in an evolutionary phase beyond the reach of surveys in other wavebands. Furthermore, CORE will provide unique information on the evolution of the star formation in virialized groups and clusters of galaxies up to the highest possible redshifts. Finally, thanks to its very high sensitivity, CORE will detect the polarized emission of thousands of radio sources and, for the first time, of dusty galaxies, at mm and sub-mm wavelengths, respectively.

astro-ph.GA

Constraints on cosmological birefringence from Planck and Bicep2/Keck data

The polarization of cosmic microwave background (CMB) can be used to constrain cosmological birefringence, the rotation of the linear polarization of CMB photons potentially induced by parity violating physics beyond the standard model. This effect produces non-null CMB cross correlations between temperature and B mode-polarization, and between E- and B-mode polarization. Both cross-correlations are otherwise null in the standard cosmological model. We use the recently released 2015 Planck likelihood in combination with the Bicep2/Keck/Planck (BKP) likelihood to constrain the birefringence angle $α$. Our findings, that are compatible with no detection, read $α= 0.0^{\circ} \pm 1.3^{\circ} \mbox{ (stat)} \pm 1^{\circ} \mbox{ (sys)} $ for {\sc Planck} data and $α= 0.30^{\circ} \pm 0.27^{\circ} \mbox{ (stat)} \pm 1^{\circ} \mbox{(sys)} $ for BKP data. We finally forecast the expected improvements over present constraints when the Planck BB, TB and EB spectra at high $\ell$ will be included in the analysis.

astro-ph.CO

Efficient and automatic methods for flexible regression on spatiotemporal data, with applications to groundwater monitoring

Fitting statistical models to spatiotemporal data requires finding the right balance between imposing smoothness and following the data. In the context of p-splines, we propose a Bayesian framework for choosing the smoothing parameter which allows the construction of fully-automatic data-driven methods for fitting flexible models to spatiotemporal data. A computationally efficient implementation, exploiting the sparsity of the arising design and penalty matrices, is proposed. The findings are illustrated using a simulation and two examples, all concerned with the modelling of contaminants in groundwater, which suggest that the proposed strategy is more stable that competing strategies based on the use of criteria such as GCV and AIC.

stat.AP

Low Variance at large scales of WMAP 9 year data

We use an optimal estimator to study the variance of the WMAP 9 CMB field at low resolution, in both temperature and polarization. Employing realistic Monte Carlo simulation, we find statistically significant deviations from the $Λ$CDM model in several sky cuts for the temperature field. For the considered masks in this analysis, which cover at least the 54% of the sky, the WMAP 9 CMB sky and $Λ$CDM are incompatible at $ \ge 99.94%$ C.L. at large angles ($>5^\circ$). We find instead no anomaly in polarization. As a byproduct of our analysis, we present new, optimal estimates of the WMAP 9 CMB angular power spectra from the WMAP 9 year data at low resolution.

astro-ph.CO