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M. Hobson

Publications and source records attributed to M. Hobson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Planck 2015 results. XIV. Dark energy and modified gravity

We study the implications of Planck data for models of dark energy (DE) and modified gravity (MG), beyond the cosmological constant scenario. We start with cases where the DE only directly affects the background evolution, considering Taylor expansions of the equation of state, principal component analysis and parameterizations related to the potential of a minimally coupled DE scalar field. When estimating the density of DE at early times, we significantly improve present constraints. We then move to general parameterizations of the DE or MG perturbations that encompass both effective field theories and the phenomenology of gravitational potentials in MG models. Lastly, we test a range of specific models, such as k-essence, f(R) theories and coupled DE. In addition to the latest Planck data, for our main analyses we use baryonic acoustic oscillations, type-Ia supernovae and local measurements of the Hubble constant. We further show the impact of measurements of the cosmological perturbations, such as redshift-space distortions and weak gravitational lensing. These additional probes are important tools for testing MG models and for breaking degeneracies that are still present in the combination of Planck and background data sets. All results that include only background parameterizations are in agreement with LCDM. When testing models that also change perturbations (even when the background is fixed to LCDM), some tensions appear in a few scenarios: the maximum one found is \sim 2 sigma for Planck TT+lowP when parameterizing observables related to the gravitational potentials with a chosen time dependence; the tension increases to at most 3 sigma when external data sets are included. It however disappears when including CMB lensing.

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Planck intermediate results. XLIII. The spectral energy distribution of dust in clusters of galaxies

Although infrared (IR) overall dust emission from clusters of galaxies has been statistically detected using data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), it has not been possible to sample the spectral energy distribution (SED) of this emission over its peak, and thus to break the degeneracy between dust temperature and mass. By complementing the IRAS spectral coverage with Planck satellite data from 100 to 857 GHz, we provide new constraints on the IR spectrum of thermal dust emission in clusters of galaxies. We achieve this by using a stacking approach for a sample of several hundred objects from the Planck cluster sample; this procedure averages out fluctuations from the IR sky, allowing us to reach a significant detection of the faint cluster contribution. We also use the large frequency range probed by Planck, together with component-separation techniques, to remove the contamination from both cosmic microwave background anisotropies and the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (tSZ) signal, which dominate below 353 GHz. By excluding dominant spurious signals or systematic effects, averaged detections are reported at frequencies between 353 and 5000 GHz. We confirm the presence of dust in clusters of galaxies at low and intermediate redshifts, yielding an SED with a shape similar to that of the Milky Way. Planck's beam does not allow us to investigate the detailed spatial distribution of this emission (e.g., whether it comes from intergalactic dust or simply the dust content of the cluster galaxies), but the radial distribution of the emission appears to follow that of the stacked SZ signal, and thus the extent of the clusters. The recovered SED allows us to constrain the dust mass responsible for the signal, as well as its temperature. We additionally explore the evolution of the IR emission as a function of cluster mass and redshift.

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Planck 2015 results. XIX. Constraints on primordial magnetic fields

We compute and investigate four types of imprint of a stochastic background of primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies: the impact of PMFs on the CMB spectra; the effect on CMB polarization induced by Faraday rotation; the impact of PMFs on the ionization history; magnetically-induced non-Gaussianities; and the magnetically-induced breaking of statistical isotropy. Overall, Planck data constrain the amplitude of PMFs to less than a few nanogauss. In particular, individual limits coming from the analysis of the CMB angular power spectra, using the Planck likelihood, are $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 4.4$ nG (where $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}$ is the comoving field amplitude at a scale of 1 Mpc) at 95% confidence level, assuming zero helicity, and $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 5.6$ nG for a maximally helical field.For nearly scale-invariant PMFs we obtain $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}<2.0$ nG and $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}<0.9$ nG if the impact of PMFs on the ionization history of the Universe is included. From the analysis of magnetically-induced non-Gaussianity we obtain three different values, corresponding to three applied methods, all below 5 nG. The constraint from the magnetically-induced passive-tensor bispectrum is $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 2.8$ nG. A search for preferred directions in the magnetically-induced passive bispectrum yields $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 4.5$ nG, whereas the the compensated-scalar bispectrum gives $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 3$ nG. The analysis of the Faraday rotation of CMB polarization by PMFs uses the Planck power spectra in $EE$ and $BB$ at 70 GHz and gives $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 1380$ nG. In our final analysis, we consider the harmonic-space correlations produced by Alfvén waves, finding no significant evidence for the presence of these waves. Together, these results comprise a comprehensive set of constraints on possible PMFs with Planck data.

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Planck 2015 results. II. Low Frequency Instrument data processing

We present an updated description of the Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) data processing pipeline, associated with the 2015 data release. We point out the places where our results and methods have remained unchanged since the 2013 paper and we highlight the changes made for the 2015 release, describing the products (especially timelines) and the ways in which they were obtained. We demonstrate that the pipeline is self-consistent (principally based on simulations) and report all null tests. For the first time, we present LFI maps in Stokes Q and U polarization. We refer to other related papers where more detailed descriptions of the LFI data processing pipeline may be found if needed.

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Planck 2015 results. XXVI. The Second Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources

The Second Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources is a catalogue of sources detected in single-frequency maps from the full duration of the Planck mission and supersedes previous versions of the Planck compact source catalogues. It consists of compact sources, both Galactic and extragalactic, detected over the entire sky. Compact sources detected in the lower frequency channels are assigned to the PCCS2, while at higher frequencies they are assigned to one of two sub-catalogues, the PCCS2 or PCCS2E, depending on their location on the sky. The first of these catalogues covers most of the sky and allows the user to produce subsamples at higher reliabilities than the target 80% integral reliability of the catalogue. The PCCS2E contains sources detected in sky regions where the diffuse emission makes it difficult to quantify the reliability of the detections. Both the PCCS2 and PCCS2E include polarization measurements, in the form of polarized flux densities, or upper limits, and orientation angles for all seven polarization-sensitive Planck channels. The improved data-processing of the full-mission maps and their reduced noise levels allow us to increase the number of objects in the catalogue, improving its completeness for the target 80 % reliability as compared with the previous versions, the PCCS and ERCSC catalogues.

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Planck intermediate results. XXXI. Microwave survey of Galactic supernova remnants

The all-sky Planck survey in 9 frequency bands was used to search for emission from all 274 known Galactic supernova remnants. Of these, 16 were detected in at least two Planck frequencies. The radio-through-microwave spectral energy distributions were compiled to determine the emission mechanism for microwave emission. In only one case, IC 443, is there high-frequency emission clearly from dust associated with the supernova remnant.In all cases, the low-frequency emission is from synchrotron radiation. A single power law, as predicted for a population of relativistic particles with energy distribution that extends continuously to high energies, is evident for many sources, including the Crab and PKS 1209-51/52. A decrease in flux density relative to the extrapolation of radio emission is evident in several sources. Their spectral energy distributions can be approximated as broken power laws, $S_ν\proptoν^{-α}$, with the spectral index, alpha, increasing by 0.5-1 above a break frequency in the range 10-60 GHz. The break could be due to synchrotron losses.

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Planck 2015 results. III. LFI systematic uncertainties

We present the current accounting of systematic effect uncertainties for the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) that are relevant to the 2015 release of the Planck cosmological results, showing the robustness and consistency of our data set, especially for polarization analysis. We use two complementary approaches: (i) simulations based on measured data and physical models of the known systematic effects; and (ii) analysis of difference maps containing the same sky signal ("null-maps"). The LFI temperature data are limited by instrumental noise. At large angular scales the systematic effects are below the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature power spectrum by several orders of magnitude. In polarization the systematic uncertainties are dominated by calibration uncertainties and compete with the CMB $E$-modes in the multipole range 10--20. Based on our model of all known systematic effects, we show that these effects introduce a slight bias of around $0.2\,σ$ on the reionization optical depth derived from the 70\,GHz $EE$ spectrum using the 30 and 353\,GHz channels as foreground templates. At 30\,GHz the systematic effects are smaller than the Galactic foreground at all scales in temperature and polarization, which allows us to consider this channel as a reliable template of synchrotron emission. We assess the residual uncertainties due to LFI effects on CMB maps and power spectra after component separation and show that these effects are smaller than the CMB amplitude at all scales. We also assess the impact on non-Gaussianity studies and find it to be negligible. Some residuals still appear in null maps from particular sky survey pairs, particularly at 30 GHz, suggesting possible straylight contamination due to an imperfect knowledge of the beam far sidelobes.

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Planck 2015 results. V. LFI calibration

We present a description of the pipeline used to calibrate the Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) timelines into thermodynamic temperatures for the Planck 2015 data release, covering four years of uninterrupted operations. As in the 2013 data release, our calibrator is provided by the spin-synchronous modulation of the cosmic microwave background dipole, but we now use the orbital component, rather than adopting the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) solar dipole. This allows our 2015 LFI analysis to provide an independent Solar dipole estimate, which is in excellent agreement with that of HFI and within $1σ$ (0.3% in amplitude) of the WMAP value. This 0.3% shift in the peak-to-peak dipole temperature from WMAP and a global overhaul of the iterative calibration code increases the overall level of the LFI maps by 0.45% (30 GHz), 0.64% (44 GHz), and 0.82% (70 GHz) in temperature with respect to the 2013 Planck data release, thus reducing the discrepancy with the power spectrum measured by WMAP. We estimate that the LFI calibration uncertainty is now at the level of 0.20% for the 70 GHz map, 0.26% for the 44 GHz map, and 0.35% for the 30 GHz map. We provide a detailed description of the impact of all the changes implemented in the calibration since the previous data release.

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Planck intermediate results. XXXVII. Evidence of unbound gas from the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect

By looking at the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (kSZ) in Planck nominal mission data, we present a significant detection of baryons participating in large-scale bulk flows around central galaxies (CGs) at redshift $z\approx 0.1$. We estimate the pairwise momentum of the kSZ temperature fluctuations at the positions of the CGC (Central Galaxy Catalogue) samples extracted from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (DR7) data. For the foreground-cleaned maps, we find $1.8$-$2.5σ$ detections of the kSZ signal, which are consistent with the kSZ evidence found in individual Planck raw frequency maps, although lower than found in the WMAP-9yr W band ($3.3σ$). We further reconstruct the peculiar velocity field from the CG density field, and compute for the first time the cross-correlation function between kSZ temperature fluctuations and estimates of CG radial peculiar velocities. This correlation function yields a $3.0$-$3.7$$σ$ detection of the peculiar motion of extended gas on Mpc scales, in flows correlated up to distances of 80-100 $h^{-1}$ Mpc. Both the pairwise momentum estimates and kSZ temperature-velocity field correlation find evidence for kSZ signatures out to apertures of 8 arcmin and beyond, corresponding to a physical radius of $> 1$ Mpc, more than twice the mean virial radius of halos. This is consistent with the predictions from hydro simulations that most of the baryons are outside the virialized halos. We fit a simple model, in which the temperature-velocity cross-correlation is proportional to the signal seen in a semi-analytic model built upon N-body simulations, and interpret the proportionality constant as an "effective" optical depth to Thomson scattering. We find $τ_T=(1.4\pm0.5)\times 10^{-4}$; the simplest interpretation of this measurement is that much of the gas is in a diffuse phase, which contributes little signal to X-ray or thermal SZ observations.

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Planck intermediate results. XL. The Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal from the Virgo cluster

The Virgo cluster is the largest Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) source in the sky, both in terms of angular size and total integrated flux. Planck's wide angular scale and frequency coverage, together with its high sensitivity, allow a detailed study of this large object through the SZ effect. Virgo is well resolved by Planck, showing an elongated structure, which correlates well with the morphology observed from X-rays, but extends beyond the observed X-ray signal. We find a good agreement between the SZ signal (or Compton paranmeter, y_c) observed by Planck and the expected signal inferred from X-ray observations and simple analytical models. Due to its proximity to us, the gas beyond the virial radius can be studied with unprecedented sensitivity by integrating the SZ signal over tens of square degrees. We study the signal in the outskirts of Virgo and compare it with analytical models and a constrained simulation of the environment of Virgo. Planck data suggest that significant amounts of low-density plasma surround Virgo out to twice the virial radius. We find the SZ signal in the outskirts of Virgo to be consistent with a simple model that extrapolates the inferred pressure at lower radii while assuming that the temperature stays in the keV range beyond the virial radius. The observed signal is also consistent with simulations and points to a shallow pressure profile in the outskirts of the cluster. This reservoir of gas at large radii can be linked with the hottest phase of the elusive warm/hot intergalactic medium. Taking the lack of symmetry of Virgo into account, we find that a prolate model is favoured by the combination of SZ and X-ray data, in agreement with predictions.

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Planck 2015 results. IV. Low Frequency Instrument beams and window functions

This paper presents the characterization of the in-flight beams, the beam window functions, and the associated uncertainties for the Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI). The structure of the paper is similar to that presented in the 2013 Planck release; the main differences concern the beam normalization and the delivery of the window functions to be used for polarization analysis. The in-flight assessment of the LFI main beams relies on measurements performed during observations of Jupiter. By stacking data from seven Jupiter transits, the main beam profiles are measured down to -25 dB at 30 and 44 GHz, and down to -30 dB at 70 GHz. It has been confirmed that the agreement between the simulated beams and the measured beams is better than 1% at each LFI frequency band (within the 20 dB contour from the peak, the rms values are 0.1% at 30 and 70 GHz; 0.2% at 44 GHz). Simulated polarized beams are used for the computation of the effective beam window functions. The error budget for the window functions is estimated from both main beam and sidelobe contributions, and accounts for the radiometer band shapes. The total uncertainties in the effective beam window functions are 0.7% and 1% at 30 and 44 GHz, respectively (at $\ell \approx 600$); and 0.5% at 70 GHz (at $\ell \approx 1000$).

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Planck 2015 results. XXIII. The thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect--cosmic infrared background correlation

We use Planck data to detect the cross-correlation between the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect and the infrared emission from the galaxies that make up the the cosmic infrared background (CIB). We first perform a stacking analysis towards Planck-confirmed galaxy clusters. We detect infrared emission produced by dusty galaxies inside these clusters and demonstrate that the infrared emission is about 50% more extended than the tSZ effect. Modelling the emission with a Navarro--Frenk--White profile, we find that the radial profile concentration parameter is $c_{500} = 1.00^{+0.18}_{-0.15}$. This indicates that infrared galaxies in the outskirts of clusters have higher infrared flux than cluster-core galaxies. We also study the cross-correlation between tSZ and CIB anisotropies, following three alternative approaches based on power spectrum analyses: (i) using a catalogue of confirmed clusters detected in Planck data; (ii) using an all-sky tSZ map built from Planck frequency maps; and (iii) using cross-spectra between Planck frequency maps. With the three different methods, we detect the tSZ-CIB cross-power spectrum at significance levels of (i) 6 $σ$, (ii) 3 $σ$, and (iii) 4 $σ$. We model the tSZ-CIB cross-correlation signature and compare predictions with the measurements. The amplitude of the cross-correlation relative to the fiducial model is $A_{\rm tSZ-CIB}= 1.2\pm0.3$. This result is consistent with predictions for the tSZ-CIB cross-correlation assuming the best-fit cosmological model from Planck 2015 results along with the tSZ and CIB scaling relations.

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Planck 2015 results. XII. Full Focal Plane simulations

We present the 8th Full Focal Plane simulation set (FFP8), deployed in support of the Planck 2015 results. FFP8 consists of 10 fiducial mission realizations reduced to 18144 maps, together with the most massive suite of Monte Carlo realizations of instrument noise and CMB ever generated, comprising $10^4$ mission realizations reduced to about $10^6$ maps. The resulting maps incorporate the dominant instrumental, scanning, and data analysis effects; remaining subdominant effects will be included in future updates. Generated at a cost of some 25 million CPU-hours spread across multiple high-performance-computing (HPC) platforms, FFP8 is used for the validation and verification of analysis algorithms, as well as their implementations, and for removing biases from and quantifying uncertainties in the results of analyses of the real data.

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Planck intermediate results. XXXIV. The magnetic field structure in the Rosette Nebula

Planck has mapped the polarized dust emission over the whole sky, making it possible to trace the Galactic magnetic field structure that pervades the interstellar medium (ISM). We combine polarization data from Planck with rotation measure (RM) observations towards a massive star-forming region, the Rosette Nebula in the Monoceros molecular cloud, to study its magnetic field structure and the impact of an expanding HII region on the morphology of the field. We derive an analytical solution for the magnetic field, assumed to evolve from an initially uniform configuration following the expansion of ionized gas and the formation of a shell of swept-up ISM. From the RM data we estimate a mean value of the line-of-sight component of the magnetic field of about 3microG (towards the observer) in the Rosette Nebula, for a uniform electron density of about 12cm-3. The dust shell that surrounds the Rosette HII region is clearly observed in the Planck intensity map at 353 GHz, with a polarization signal significantly different from that of the local background when considered as a whole. The Planck observations constrain the plane-of-the-sky orientation of the magnetic field in the Rosette's parent molecular cloud to be mostly aligned with the large-scale field along the Galactic plane. The Planck data are compared with the analytical model, which predicts the mean polarization properties of a spherical and uniform dust shell for a given orientation of the field. This comparison leads to an upper limit of about 45degr on the angle between the line of sight and the magnetic field in the Rosette complex, for an assumed intrinsic dust polarization fraction of 4%. This field direction can reproduce the RM values detected in the ionized region if the magnetic field strength in the Monoceros molecular cloud is in the range 6.5--9microG.

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Planck intermediate results. XXV. The Andromeda Galaxy as seen by Planck

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is one of a few galaxies that has sufficient angular size on the sky to be resolved by the Planck satellite. Planck has detected M31 in all of its frequency bands, and has mapped out the dust emission with the High Frequency Instrument, clearly resolving multiple spiral arms and sub-features. We examine the morphology of this long-wavelength dust emission as seen by Planck, including a study of its outermost spiral arms, and investigate the dust heating mechanism across M31. We find that dust dominating the longer wavelength emission ($\gtrsim 0.3\,$mm) is heated by the diffuse stellar population (as traced by 3.6$\,μ$m emission), with the dust dominating the shorter wavelength emission heated by a mix of the old stellar population and star-forming regions (as traced by 24$\,μ$m emission). We also fit spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for individual 5' pixels and quantify the dust properties across the galaxy, taking into account these different heating mechanisms, finding that there is a linear decrease in temperature with galactocentric distance for dust heated by the old stellar population, as would be expected, with temperatures ranging from around 22$\,$K in the nucleus to 14$\,$K outside of the 10$\,$kpc ring. Finally, we measure the integrated spectrum of the whole galaxy, which we find to be well-fitted with a global dust temperature of ($18.2\pm1.0$)$\,$K with a spectral index of $1.62\pm0.11$ (assuming a single modified blackbody), and a significant amount of free-free emission at intermediate frequencies of 20-60$\,$GHz, which corresponds to a star formation rate of around $0.12$M$_\odot\,$yr$^{-1}$. We find a $2.3\,σ$ detection of the presence of spinning dust emission, with a 30$\,$GHz amplitude of $0.7\pm0.3\,$Jy, which is in line with expectations from our Galaxy.

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Planck intermediate results. XXXIX. The Planck list of high-redshift source candidates

The Planck mission, thanks to its large frequency range and all-sky coverage, has a unique potential for systematically detecting the brightest, and rarest, submillimetre sources on the sky, including distant objects in the high-redshift Universe traced by their dust emission. A novel method, based on a component-separation procedure using a combination of Planck and IRAS data, has been applied to select the most luminous cold submm sources with spectral energy distributions peaking between 353 and 857GHz at 5' resolution. A total of 2151 Planck high-z source candidates (the PHZ) have been detected in the cleanest 26% of the sky, with flux density at 545GHz above 500mJy. Embedded in the cosmic infrared background close to the confusion limit, these high-z candidates exhibit colder colours than their surroundings, consistent with redshifts z>2, assuming a dust temperature of 35K and a spectral index of 1.5. First follow-up observations obtained from optical to submm have confirmed that this list consists of two distinct populations. A small fraction (around 3%) of the sources have been identified as strongly gravitationally lensed star-forming galaxies, which are amongst the brightest submm lensed objects (with flux density at 545GHz ranging from 350mJy up to 1Jy) at redshift 2 to 4. However, the vast majority of the PHZ sources appear as overdensities of dusty star-forming galaxies, having colours consistent with z>2, and may be considered as proto-cluster candidates. The PHZ provides an original sample, complementary to the Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich Catalogue; by extending the population of the virialized massive galaxy clusters to a population of sources at z>1.5, the PHZ may contain the progenitors of today's clusters. Hence the PHZ opens a new window on the study of the early ages of structure formation, and the understanding of the intensively star-forming phase at high-z.

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Planck 2013 results. XXXI. Consistency of the Planck data

The Planck design and scanning strategy provide many levels of redundancy that can be exploited to provide tests of internal consistency. One of the most important is the comparison of the 70GHz and 100GHz channels. Based on different instrument technologies, with feeds located differently in the focal plane, analysed independently by different teams using different software, and near the minimum of diffuse foreground emission, these channels are in effect two different experiments. The 143GHz channel has the lowest noise level on Planck, and is near the minimum of unresolved foreground emission. In this paper, we analyse the level of consistency achieved in the 2013 Planck data. We concentrate on comparisons between the 70/100/143GHz channel maps and power spectra, particularly over the angular scales of the first and second acoustic peaks, on maps masked for diffuse Galactic emission and for strong unresolved sources. Difference maps covering angular scales from 8deg-15arcmin are consistent with noise, and show no evidence of cosmic microwave background structure. Including small but important corrections for unresolved-source residuals, we demonstrate agreement between 70 and 100GHz power spectra averaged over 70<l<390 at the 0.8% level, and agreement between 143 and 100GHz power spectra of 0.4% over the same l range. These values are within and consistent with the overall uncertainties in calibration given in the Planck 2013 results. We also present results based on the 2013 likelihood analysis showing consistency at the 0.35% between the 100/143/217GHz power spectra. We analyse calibration procedures and beams to determine what fraction of these differences can be accounted for by known approximations or systematic errors that could be controlled even better in the future, reducing uncertainties still further. Several possible small improvements are described...(abridged)

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Planck 2013 results. XXVII. Doppler boosting of the CMB: Eppur si muove

Our velocity relative to the rest frame of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) generates a dipole temperature anisotropy on the sky which has been well measured for more than 30 years, and has an accepted amplitude of v/c = 0.00123, or v = 369km/s. In addition to this signal generated by Doppler boosting of the CMB monopole, our motion also modulates and aberrates the CMB temperature fluctuations (as well as every other source of radiation at cosmological distances). This is an order 0.1% effect applied to fluctuations which are already one part in roughly one hundred thousand, so it is quite small. Nevertheless, it becomes detectable with the all-sky coverage, high angular resolution, and low noise levels of the Planck satellite. Here we report a first measurement of this velocity signature using the aberration and modulation effects on the CMB temperature anisotropies, finding a component in the known dipole direction, (l,b)=(264, 48) [deg], of 384km/s +- 78km/s (stat.) +- 115km/s (syst.). This is a significant confirmation of the expected velocity.

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