Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

J. Patrick Leahy

Publications and source records attributed to J. Patrick Leahy.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

All-sky modeling of Galactic emission at radio and microwave frequencies

We present a new all-sky model of low-frequency diffuse Galactic emission in the regime where synchrotron, free-free, and spinning dust dominate. The model extends the Planck 2015 diffuse component-separation analysis by incorporating recent radio and microwave surveys. We fit 35 full- and partial-sky maps at 1 degree resolution, including S-PASS at 2.30 GHz, C-BASS at 4.76 GHz, and QUIJOTE at 10-20 GHz, together with reprocessed WMAP and Planck LFI data from the Cosmoglobe collaboration and Planck HFI channels. Using a Bayesian parametric approach with Commander, we derive spatially varying amplitude and spectral parameter maps for the dominant low-frequency foreground components in total intensity. The main products are a full-sky synchrotron amplitude and spectral-index solution, an all-sky characterization of spinning dust emission with a single-component log-normal spectral model, and a reconstructed all-sky total-intensity map at 4.76 GHz tracing diffuse synchrotron emission with reduced systematics relative to Haslam 408 MHz. The revised low-frequency anchoring increases the recovered synchrotron amplitude: at 4.76 GHz, it is approximately a factor of two higher than the Planck 2015 prediction. The model achieves RMS temperature residuals below 10 $\mathrmμ$K over 95% of the sky up to 353 GHz, with fractional residuals below 1.5% in the Galactic plane and below 5% across QUIJOTE bands. Residual angular power spectra lie more than two orders of magnitude below the CMB spectrum. These products describe the transition between radio and microwave emission and provide a new reference for foreground modeling and sky-simulation applications.

astro-ph.GA↗

The C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS): New Constraints on the Integrated Radio Spectrum of M 31

The Andromeda galaxy (M31) is our closest neighbouring spiral galaxy, making it an ideal target for studying the physics of the interstellar medium in a galaxy very similar to our own. Using new observations of M31 at 4.76GHz by the C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS), and all available radio data at $1^\circ$ resolution, we produce the integrated spectrum and put new constraints on the synchrotron spectral index and anomalous microwave emission (AME) from M31. We use aperture photometry and spectral modelling to fit for the integrated spectrum of M31, and subtract a comprehensive model of nearby background radio sources. The AME in M31 is detected at $3σ$ significance with a peak near 30GHz and flux density $0.27\pm0.09$Jy. The synchrotron spectral index of M31 is flatter than our own Galaxy at $α= -0.66 \pm 0.03$ with no strong evidence of spectral curvature. The emissivity of AME, averaged over the total emission from M31 is lower than typical AME sources in our Galaxy, implying that AME is not uniformly distributed throughout M31 and instead is likely confined to sub-regions -- this will need to be confirmed using future higher resolution observations around 20--30GHz.

astro-ph.GA↗

CS-ROMER: A novel compressed sensing framework for Faraday depth reconstruction

The reconstruction of Faraday depth structure from incomplete spectral polarization radio measurements using the RM Synthesis technique is an under-constrained problem requiring additional regularisation. In this paper we present cs-romer: a novel object-oriented compressed sensing framework to reconstruct Faraday depth signals from spectro-polarization radio data. Unlike previous compressed sensing applications, this framework is designed to work directly with data that are irregularly sampled in wavelength-squared space and to incorporate multiple forms of compressed sensing regularisation. We demonstrate the framework using simulated data for the VLA telescope under a variety of observing conditions, and we introduce a methodology for identifying the optimal basis function for reconstruction of these data, using an approach that can also be applied to datasets from other telescopes and over different frequency ranges. In this work we show that the delta basis function provides optimal reconstruction for VLA L-band data and we use this basis with observations of the low-mass galaxy cluster Abell 1314 in order to reconstruct the Faraday depth of its constituent cluster galaxies. We use the cs-romer framework to de-rotate the Galactic Faraday depth contribution directly from the wavelength-squared data and to handle the spectral behaviour of different radio sources in a direction-dependent manner. The results of this analysis show that individual galaxies within Abell 1314 deviate from the behaviour expected for a Faraday-thin screen such as the intra-cluster medium and instead suggest that the Faraday rotation exhibited by these galaxies is dominated by their local environments.

astro-ph.IM↗

A GPU-based Imager with Polarised Primary-beam Correction

The next generation of radio telescopes will strive for unprecedented dynamic range across wide fields of view, and direction-dependent gains such as the gain from the primary-beam pattern, or leakage of one Stokes product into another, must be removed from the cleaned images if dynamic range is to reach its full potential. Unfortunately, such processing is extremely computationally intensive, and is made even more challenging by the very large volumes of data that these instruments will generate. Here we describe a new GPU-based imager, aimed primarily at use with the ASKAP telescope, that is capable of generating cleaned, full-polarisation images that include wide-field, primary-beam, and polarisation leakage corrections.

astro-ph.IM↗

The C-Band All-Sky Survey: Instrument design, status, and first-look data

The C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS) aims to produce sensitive, all-sky maps of diffuse Galactic emission at 5 GHz in total intensity and linear polarization. These maps will be used (with other surveys) to separate the several astrophysical components contributing to microwave emission, and in particular will allow an accurate map of synchrotron emission to be produced for the subtraction of foregrounds from measurements of the polarized Cosmic Microwave Background. We describe the design of the analog instrument, the optics of our 6.1 m dish at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, the status of observations, and first-look data.

astro-ph.GA↗

Optical Polarimetry of the Jets of Nearby Radio Galaxies: I. The Data

We present an overview of new HST imaging polarimetry of six nearby radio galaxies with optical jets. These observations triple the number of extragalactic jets with subarcsecond-resolution optical polarimetry. We discuss the polarization characteristics and optical morphology of each jet. We find evidence of high optical polarization, averaging 20%, but reaching upwards of $\sim 50%$ in some objects, confirming that the optical emission is synchrotron, and that the components of the magnetic fields perpendicular to the line of sight are well ordered. We find a wide range of polarization morphologies, with each jet having a somewhat different relationship between total intensity and polarized flux and the polarization position angle. We find two trends in all of these jets. First, jet ``edges'' are very often associated with high fractional optical polarizations, as also found in earlier radio observations of these and other radio jets. In these regions, the magnetic field vectors appear to track the jet direction, even at bends, where we see particularly high fractional polarizations. This indicates a strong link between the local magnetic field and jet dynamics. Second, optical flux maximum regions are usually well separated from maxima in fractional polarization and often are associated with polarization minima. This trend is not found in radio data and was found in our optical polarimetry of M87 with HST. However, unlike in M87, we do not find a general trend for near-90$^\circ$ rotations in the optical polarization vectors near flux maxima. We discuss possibilities for interpreting these trends, as well as implications for jet dynamics, magnetic field structure and particle acceleration.

astro-ph↗

The Jet and Circumnuclear Environment of 3C 293

We present the new HST near-infrared polarimetry, broad and narrow-band imaging, and MERLIN 4.5GHz Multi-Frequency Synthesis radio imaging of 3C 293, a unique radio galaxy whose host is an obvious merger remnant, in an exceptionally under-dense region of space. We have discovered near-infrared, optical, and ultra-violet synchrotron emission from the jet. In the optical, the jet is mostly obscured by a dust lane, but three knots are clear in our HST NICMOS images at 1.6 and 2.0 microns, clearly aligning with features in the radio. The outer jet knot is highly polarized (~15%) at 2 microns, confirming the synchrotron emission mechanism. The radio-IR spectral index steepens significantly with distance from the nucleus, as in 3C 273 and in contrast to M 87. The inner knot is visible (with hindsight) on the WFPC2 and STIS images obtained for the earlier 3CR HST snapshot surveys. There is no [Fe II] emission seen associated with the jet, constraining the role of shock-induced ionisation by the jet. Overall there is a strong implication that the NIR jet emission is indeed synchrotron. From our NIR images, the core of the galaxy is clearly identifiable with the main feature in the western extension of the radio ``jet'' image, although no unresolved AGN component is identifiable even at K-band, consistent with an FRII-like nucleus obscured by an optically thick torus. The galaxy appears to have a single nucleus, with any multiple nuclei falling within the central </~100 pc.

astro-ph↗

Optical Structure and Physics of the M87 Jet

We summarize HST observations of the M87 jet, concentrating on polarimetry and spectral index maps, and compare its optical and radio structures. The evidence now supports a stratified model for the structure of the jet, whereby high-energy, optical synchrotron emitting particles occupy physically different regions of the jet, closer to the jet axis, with different magnetic field configurations. It is in these regions where the shocks that produce the knots in the inner jet appear to originate. Knot regions have optical spectra which are much flatter than average for the jet, with the flattest-spectrum regions coinciding with flux maxima of knots. These same regions are preceded by regions where perpendicular magnetic fields are seen. Thus not only do we see all the necessary ingredients for {\it in situ} particle acceleration in the knots, but there is now fairly direct evidence for it as well. By tracking the changes in radio-optical and optical spectral index in the knot regions, we can comment on acceleration and cooling timescales in each knot.

astro-ph↗

The Optical-Near-IR Spectrum of the M87 Jet From HST Observations

We present 1998 HST observations of M87 which yield the first single-epoch optical and radio-optical spectral index images of the jet at $0.15''$ resolution. We find $<α_{ro} > \approx 0.67$, comparable to previous measurements, and $<α_o > \approx 0.9$ ($F_ν\propto ν^{-α}$), slightly flatter than previous workers. Reasons for this discrepancy are discussed. These observations reveal a large variety of spectral slopes. Bright knots exhibit flatter spectra than interknot regions. The flattest spectra ($α_o \sim 0.5-0.6$; comparable to or flatter than $α_{ro}$) are found in two inner jet knots (D-East and HST-1) which contain the fastest superluminal components. In knots A, B and C, $α_o$ and $α_{ro}$ are essentially anti-correlated. Near the flux maxima of knots HST-1 and F, changes in $α_{ro}$ lag changes in $α_o$, but in knots D and E, the opposite relationship is observed. This is further evidence that radio and optical emissions in the M87 jet come from substantially different physical regions. The delays observed in the inner jet are consistent with localized particle acceleration, with $t_{acc} << t_{cool}$ for optically emitting electrons in knots HST-1 and F, and $t_{acc} \sim t_{cool}$ for optically emitting electrons in knots D and E. Synchrotron models yield $ν_B \gsim 10^{16}$ Hz for knots D, A and B, and somewhat lower values, $ν_B \sim 10^{15}- 10^{16}$ Hz, in other regions. If X-ray emissions from knots A, B and D are co-spatial with optical and radio emission, we can strongly rule out the ``continuous injection'' model. Because of the short lifetimes of X-ray synchrotron emitting particles, the X-ray emission likely fills volumes much smaller than the optical emission regions.

astro-ph↗