arXiv subjects

Rajib Saha

Publications and source records attributed to Rajib Saha.

45 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Signals of Statistical Anisotropy in WMAP Foreground-Cleaned Maps

Recently a symmetry-based method to test for statistical isotropy of the cosmic microwave background was developed. We apply the method to template-cleaned 3-year and 5-year WMAP-$DA$ maps. We examine a wide range of angular multipoles from $2 < l < 300$. The analysis detects statistically signicant signals of anisotropy inconsistent with an isotropic CMB in some of the foreground cleaned maps. We are unable to resolve whether the anomalies have a cosmological, local astrophysical or instrumental origin. Assuming the anisotropy arises due to residual foreground contamination, we estimate the residual foreground power in the maps. For the W band maps, we also find a highly improbable degree of isotropy we cannot explain. We speculate that excess isotropy may be caused by faulty modeling of detector noise.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

CMB power spectrum estimation with non-circular beam and incomplete sky coverage

Over the last decade, measurements of the CMB anisotropy has spearheaded the remarkable transition of cosmology into a precision science. However, addressing the systematic effects in the increasingly sensitive, high resolution, `full' sky measurements from different CMB experiments pose a stiff challenge. The analysis techniques must not only be computationally fast to contend with the huge size of the data, but, the higher sensitivity also limits the simplifying assumptions which can then be invoked to achieve the desired speed without compromising the final precision goals. While maximum likelihood is desirable, the enormous computational cost makes the suboptimal method of power spectrum estimation using Pseudo-C_l unavoidable for high resolution data. We provide a (semi)analytic framework to estimate bias in the power spectrum due to the effect of beam non-circularity and non-uniform sky coverage including incomplete/masked sky maps and scan strategy. The approach is perturbative in the distortion of the beam from non-circularity, allowing for rapid computations when the beam is mildly non-circular. We advocate that it is computationally advantageous to employ `soft' azimuthally apodized masks whose spherical harmonic transform die down fast with m. We numerically implement our method for non-rotating beams. We present preliminary estimates of the computational cost to evaluate the bias for the upcoming CMB anisotropy probes l_max~3000, with angular resolution comparable to the Planck surveyor mission. We further show that this implementation and estimate is applicable for rotating beams on equal declination scans and possibly can be extended to simple approximations to other scan strategies.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Testing Isotropy of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

We introduce new symmetry-based methods to test for isotropy in cosmic microwave background radiation. Each angular multipole is factored into unique products of power eigenvectors, related multipoles and singular values that provide 2 new rotationally invariant measures mode by mode. The power entropy and directional entropy are new tests of randomness that are independent of the usual CMB power. Simulated galactic plane contamination is readily identified, and the new procedures mesh perfectly with linear transformations employed for windowed-sky analysis. The ILC -WMAP data maps show 7 axes well aligned with one another and the direction Virgo. Parameter free statistics find 12 independent cases of extraordinary axial alignment, low power entropy, or both having 5% probability or lower in an isotropic distribution. Isotropy of the ILC maps is ruled out to confidence levels of better than 99.9%, whether or not coincidences with other puzzles coming from the Virgo axis are included. Our work shows that anisotropy is not confined to the low l region, but extends over a much larger l range.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Probing Light Pseudoscalars with Light: Propagation, Resonance and Spontaneous Polarization

Radiation propagating over cosmological distances can probe light weakly interacting pseudoscalar (or scalar) particles. The existence of a spin-0 field changes the dynamical symmetries of electrodynamics. It predicts spontaneous generation of polarization of electromagnetic waves due to mode mixing in the presence of background magnetic field.We illustrate this by calculations of propagation in a uniform medium, as well as in a slowly varying background medium, and finally with resonant mixing. Highly complicated correlations between different Stokes parameters are predicted depending on the parameter regimes. The polarization of propagating waves shows interesting and complex dependence on frequency, the distance of propagation, coupling constants, and parameters of the background medium such as the plasma density and the magnetic field strength. For the first time we study the resonant mixing of electromagnetic waves with the scalar field, which occurs when the background plasma frequency becomes equal to the mass of the scalar field at some point along the path. Dynamical effects are found to be considerably enhanced in this case. We also formulate the condition under which the adiabatic approximation can be used consistently, and find caveats about comparing different frequency regimes.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

CMB anisotropy power spectrum using linear combinations of WMAP maps

In recent years the goal of estimating different cosmological parameters precisely has set new challenges in the effort to accurately measure the angular power spectrum of CMB. This has required removal of foreground contamination as well as detector noise bias with reliability and precision. Recently, a novel {\em model-independent} method for the estimation of CMB angular power spectrum solely from multi-frequency observations has been proposed and implemented on the first year WMAP data by Saha et al. 2006. All previous estimates of power spectrum of CMB are based upon foreground templates using data sets from different experiments. However our methodology demonstrates that {\em CMB angular spectrum can be reliably estimated with precision from a self contained analysis of the WMAP data}. In this work we provide a detailed description of this method. We also study and identify the biases present in our power spectrum estimate. We apply our methodoly to extract the power spectrum from the WMAP 1 year and 3 year data.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Non-Circular beam correction to the CMB power spectrum

In the era of high precision CMB measurements, systematic effects are beginning to limit the ability to extract subtler cosmological information. The non-circularity of the experimental beam has become progressively important as CMB experiments strive to attain higher angular resolution and sensitivity. The effect of non-circular beam on the power spectrum is important at multipoles larger than the beam-width. For recent experiments with high angular resolution, optimal methods of power spectrum estimation are computationally prohibitive and sub-optimal approaches, such as the Pseudo-Cl method, are used. We provide an analytic framework for correcting the power spectrum for the effect of beam non-circularity and non-uniform sky coverage (including incomplete/masked sky maps). The approach is perturbative in the distortion of the beam from non-circularity allowing for rapid computations when the beam is mildly non-circular. When non-circular beam effect is important, we advocate that it is computationally advantageous to employ `soft' azimuthally apodized masks whose spherical harmonic transform die down fast with m.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Angular power spectrum of CMB anisotropy from WMAP

The remarkable improvement in the estimates of different cosmological parameters in recent years has been largely spearheaded by accurate measurements of the angular power spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. This has required removal of foreground contamination as well as detector noise bias with reliability and precision. Recently, a novel model-independent method for the estimation of CMB angular power spectrum from multi-frequency observations has been proposed and implemented on the first year WMAP (WMAP-1) data by Saha et al.~2006. We review the results from WMAP-1 and also present the new angular power spectrum based on three years of the WMAP data (WMAP-3). Previous estimates have depended on foreground templates built using extraneous observational input to remove foreground contamination. This is the first demonstration that the CMB angular spectrum can be reliably estimated with precision from a self contained analysis of the WMAP data. The primary product of WMAP are the observations of CMB in 10 independent difference assemblies (DA) distributed over 5 frequency bands that have uncorrelated noise. Our method utilizes maximum information available within WMAP data by linearly combining DA maps from different frequencies to remove foregrounds and estimating the power spectrum from the 24 cross power spectra of clean maps that have independent noise. An important merit of the method is that the expected residual power from unresolved point sources is significantly tempered to a constant offset at large multipoles (in contrast to the ~l^2 contribution expected from a Poisson distribution) leading to a small correction at large multipoles. Hence, the power spectrum estimates are less susceptible to uncertainties in the model of point sources.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

A blind estimation of the power spectrum of CMB anisotropy from WMAP

Accurate measurements of angular power spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation has lead to marked improvement in the estimates of different cosmological parameters. This has required removal of foreground contamination as well as detector noise bias with reliability and precision. We present the estimation of CMB angular power spectrum from the multi-frequency observations of WMAP using a novel {\em model-independent} method. The primary product of WMAP are the observations of CMB in 10 independent difference assemblies (DA) that have uncorrelated noise. Our method utilizes maximum information available within WMAP data by linearly combining all the DA maps to remove foregrounds and estimating the power spectrum from cross power spectra of clean maps with independent noise. We compute 24 cross power spectra which are the basis of the final power spectrum. The binned average power matches with WMAP team's published power spectrum closely. A small systematic difference at large multipoles is accounted for by the correction for the expected residual power from unresolved point sources. The correction is small and significantly tempered. Previous estimates have depended on foreground templates built using extraneous observational input. This is the first demonstration that the CMB angular spectrum can be reliably estimated with precision from a *self contained analysis* of the WMAP data.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

The Dynamical Mixing of Light and Pseudoscalar Fields

We solve the general problem of mixing of electromagnetic and scalar or pseudoscalar fields coupled by axion-type interactions ${\cal L}_{int} =g_ϕ ϕε_{μν\a \b}F^{μν}F^{\a \b} $. The problem depends on several dimensionful scales, including the magnitude and direction of background magnetic field, the pseudoscalar mass, plasma frequency, propagation frequency, wave number, and finally the pseudoscalar coupling. We apply the results to the first consistent calculations of the mixing of light propagating in a background magnetic field of varying direction, which shows a great variety of fascinating resonant and polarization effects.

hep-ph↗