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Massimo Gervasi

Publications and source records attributed to Massimo Gervasi.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Cosmological observations in the radio domain: the contribution of extragalactic sources

The low frequency tail of the CMB spectrum, down along the radio range (~1 GHz), may carry weak spectral distortions which are fingerprints of processes occurred during different epochs of the thermal history of the Universe, from z~3\times 10^6 to reionization. TRIS and ARCADE2 are the most recent experiments dedicated to the exploration of this chapter of CMB cosmology. The level of instrumental accuracy they reached in the determination of the absolute sky temperature is such that the removal of galactic and extra-galactic contamination is the true bottleneck towards the recovery of the cosmological signal. This will be certainly the case also for future experiments in the radio domain. Here we present an update of a study originally done to recognize the contribution of unresolved extra-galactic radio sources to the sky brightness measured by TRIS. Despite the specific context which originated our analysis, this is a study of general interest, improved by the inclusion of all the source counts available up-to-date from 150 MHz to 8.4 GHz.

astro-ph.CO↗

A demonstrator for bolometric interferometry

Bolometric Interferometry (BI) is one of the most promising techniques for precise measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background polarization. In this paper, we present the results of DIBO (Demonstrateur d'Interferometrie Bolometrique), a single-baseline demonstrator operating at 90 GHz, built to proof the validity of the BI concept applied to a millimeter-wave interferometer. This instrument has been characterized in the laboratory with a detector at room temperature and with a 4 K bolometer. This allowed us to measure interference patterns in a clean way, both (1) rotating the source and (2) varying with time the phase shift among the two interferometer's arms. Detailed modelisation has also been performed and validated with measurements.

astro-ph.IM↗

CMB Observations: improvements of the performance of correlation radiometers by signal modulation and synchronous detection

Observation of the fine structures (anisotropies, polarization, spectral distortions) of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is hampered by instabilities, 1/f noise and asymmetries of the radiometers used to carry on the measurements. Addition of modulation and synchronous detection allows to increase the overall stability and the noise rejection of the radiometers used for CMB studies. In this paper we discuss the advantages this technique has when we try to detect CMB polarization. The behaviour of a two channel correlation receiver to which phase modulation and synchronous detection have been added is examined. Practical formulae for evaluating the improvements are presented.

astro-ph↗